Thomas & Friends: Misty Island Rescue

Thomas & Friends: Misty Island Rescue is a 2010 British computer-animated fantasy adventure film and the fourth feature-length special based on the British television series Thomas & Friends. The film was produced and distributed by HIT Entertainment with animation production by Canadian-based Nitrogen Studios. The movie centres on Thomas being whisked away to an island near Sodor called "Misty Island" in search of Joby Wood and his verge to get back home to prepare for the opening of the Sodor Search & Rescue Centre.

Thomas & Friends: Misty Island Rescue
Official poster
Directed by	Greg Tiernan
Written by	Sharon Miller
Produced by	Nicole Stinn (Nitrogen) Denise Green (HIT)
Starring	Ben Small (UK) Martin Sherman (US) Jules de Jongh (US) William Hope (US) David Bedella (US) Glenn Wrage (US) Keith Wickham Teresa Gallagher (UK) Togo Igawa Kerry Shale Matt Wilkinson
Narrated by	Michael Angelis (UK) Michael Brandon (US)
Edited by	Kevin Pavlovic
Music by	Robert Hartshorne
Production companies	HIT Entertainment Nitrogen Studios
Distributed by	HIT Entertainment
Release dates	July 2, 2010 (2010-07-02) (United States) October 2, 2010 (2010-10-02) (United Kingdom)
Running time	63 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Box office	$175,885

Misty Island Rescue was first released in the United States on 2 July 2010 as a limited theatrical release. The special was also given a limited theatrical release in the United Kingdom as well.

Plot

A new Sodor Search and Rescue Centre is being built for Harold the Helicopter, Rocky the Crane, and Captain, a new lifeboat; Jobi wood from Japan is required to build it. All of the engines want to help deliver the Jobi wood. Salty, the dockyard diesel, tells the other engines a story about Misty Island, an island off the southern coast of Sodor that is perpetually surrounded by mist, although it is mentioned that, on occasion, the mist clears, allowing the island to be visible. Thomas the Tank Engine inadvertently insults Diesel for being a diesel engine, prompting Diesel to attempt to prove himself by taking the Jobi wood, resulting in a chase between him and Thomas, and all the Jobi wood being lost in the sea after Diesel almost falls off an unfinished bridge. Thomas saves Diesel and is rewarded with visiting the mainland. Being told there is no room on the boat, Thomas asks to be carried on a raft behind the boat. However, along the way, the chain to the raft snaps and, after falling asleep, Thomas wakes up only to find himself landing on an island.

Thomas explores the island and soon finds it to be inhabited by the "Logging Locos", consisting of a Climax Class C engine named Ferdinand and two small twins, Bash and Dash, who were sent to the island after causing trouble on the mainland. As Thomas continues exploring the island, Sir Topham Hatt receives a call telling him Thomas is missing, prompting him, Harold and Captain to send out a search party to find him.

After experiencing the entire island, Thomas discovers a logging station that the Logging Locos are running, and learns that Misty Island is the only place other than Japan that grows Jobi wood. He and the others decide they want to go back to Sodor with some of the wood and use a tunnel that connects Misty Island to Sodor. However, as they are halfway through the tunnel, the tunnel caves in on both sides, causing them to get stuck. Simultaneously, the Logging Locos run out of oil due to Thomas using logging machines whilst on the island. Thomas finds a hole in the ceiling of the cave; he puffs steam out through the hole to alert his friends of his location. The steam soon alerts the rest of the engines of Thomas' location, convincing his best friend Percy and the garbage dump engine Whiff to go into the tunnel. After finding them, Percy and Whiff then charge through the wall caving Thomas and the Logging Locos in, rescuing them. The three then haul the Logging Locos out of the tunnel and take them to be fixed up. However, Sir Topham Hatt, Edward, James, and Gordon have all sailed to Misty Island in order to find Thomas; the latter rushes back to Misty Island to find them. Once he does, the Logging Locos are all welcomed to Sodor, attending the grand opening of the Sodor Search and Rescue Centre.

In a post-credit scenes, Diesel 10, the main antagonist of Thomas and the Magic Railroad, watches the engines from above the rescue centre and vows that he will have revenge on the steam engines, foreshadowing the events of the following film Thomas & Friends: Day of the Diesels.

Voice cast

Main article: List of Thomas & Friends voice actors

United Kingdom

• Ben Small as Thomas, Ferdinand and Toby
• Matt Wilkinson as Bash, Victor, Rocky, Cranky, Kevin and the Dock Manager
• Keith Wickham as Dash, Percy, Whiff, Edward, Henry, Gordon, James, Harold and Sir Topham Hatt
• Kerry Shale as Diesel
• Teresa Gallagher as Emily
• Togo Igawa as Hiro

United States

• Martin Sherman as Thomas and Percy
• William Hope as Bash, Whiff, Edward, Rocky, Toby and the Dock Manager
• Kerry Shale as Dash, Henry, Gordon, James, Harold, Kevin and Sir Topham Hatt
• Michael Brandon as Diesel
• Glenn Wrage as Ferdinand and Cranky
• Jules de Jongh as Emily
• David Bedella as Victor

Both

• Keith Wickham as Salty and Captain
• Togo Igawa as Hiro
• Matt Wilkinson as Diesel 10

Reception

Common Sense Media gave the film 3 stars out of 5 and said of the film, "For fans of Thomas & Friends, this is standard fare and follows the formula that is well established."

External links

• Thomas & Friends: Misty Island Rescue at IMDb