Reception
The film was premièred at the Odeon Leicester Square; for the purpose, a steam locomotive, no. 47298 painted to resemble Thomas, was brought to the cinema by low loader on 9 July 2000.
The film earned $19,748,009 in ticket sales, compared to its $19 million budget.
The film has received generally negative reviews from critics. Most of the criticism was geared toward the complicated plot and poor characterization. During by its second weekend of screening in Britain it had only taken in £170'000. It currently has a score of 19% on Rotten Tomatoes with the consensus: "Kids these days demand cutting edge special effects or at least a clever plot with cute characters. This movie has neither, having lost in it's Americanization what the British original did so right." However, it did receive a positive review from Associated Press and Gannett newspapers. Nell Minow of Common Sense Media also gave the film a positive review, giving it three out of five stars and writing that it "will please " but that the plot "might confuse kids". Roger Ebert gave the film one star and wrote "(the fact) That Thomas and the Magic Railroad made it into theaters at all is something of a mystery. This is a production with 'straight to video' written all over it. Kids who like the Thomas books might kinda like it. Especially younger kids. Real younger kids. Otherwise, no." While he admired the models and art direction, he criticized how the engines' mouths didn't move when they spoke, the overly depressed performance of Peter Fonda, as well as the overall lack of consistency in the plot.
Read more about this topic: Thomas And The Magic Railroad
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