Thomas & Friends: Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure

Thomas & Friends: Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure is a 2015 British animated fantasy adventure comedy film and the ninth feature-length special movie of the British television series, Thomas & Friends. The film is produced by HIT Entertainment and animated by Arc Productions.

The film stars the voices of Joseph May and John Hasler as the voice of Thomas in the US and UK dubs respectively. It stars the voices of Eddie Redmayne, Sir John Hurt, Jamie Campbell Bower, Olivia Colman, Keith Wickham, Tim Whitnall, Rob Rackstraw, William Hope, Kerry Shale, Christopher Ragland, Glenn Wrage, Joe Mills, Teresa Gallagher, Jules de Jongh, Steven Kynman and Tom Stourton in supporting roles. In the film, Thomas the Tank Engine becomes unwillingly caught in a conspiracy to steal recently-discovered pirate treasure.

The film marks the screen debuts of Rex, Bert and Mike, the Arlesdale Railway engines, the central characters of the Reverend Wilbert Awdry's twenty-second book, Small Railway Engines. The three characters, based on real locomotives from the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway, had previously only appeared in The Railway Series and had been omitted from the television series. Several characters who had been absent from the television series for many years also make their return, such as Donald, Douglas, Daisy and select members of the Sodor Construction Company.

The film received a theatrical release in the United Kingdom during July 2015 and in Australia during August, and was released on DVD on September 19. It was met with mostly positive reviews from critics, who praised the direction and plot but were critical of the film's somewhat dark undertone.

Plot
Thomas the Tank Engine wins a race against Bertie the Bus, who reveals that a new branch line is being built. This concerns Annie and Clarabel. The next morning, Thomas loses his temper and causes a derailment. Sir Topham Hatt sends Thomas to assist him in the construction on the new branch line as punishment for his actions, while new engine Ryan is given Thomas' job.

At the building site, part of the land subsides underneath the new track. Thomas does not pay attention to the danger signs and falls into a cavern where he finds a pirate ship. He tries to tell Sir Topham Hatt about the ship, but Hatt does not listen, believing he's making excuses. Rocky the crane is thus credited with discovering the ship, which is put on display at Arlesburgh Harbour. Partly repaired, Thomas meets Sailor John and his boat Skiff, who has been fitted with wheels that allow him to move on the rails. John says he is looking for treasure but is hesitant to give Thomas details.

Ryan accidentally lights some dynamite after taking on bad coal. Thomas gets rid of the dynamite, but Hatt is furious, thinking that Thomas is chasing Ryan with the dynamite. Fed up with Thomas' excuses, Hatt confines him to his shed for the rest of the afternoon and orders everyone else to get back to work. Marion the steam shovel finds a treasure chest full of gold and jewellery, which Hatt keeps in his office overnight intending to donate it to a museum. Thomas meets a furious John, who reveals that it is the treasure he had been looking for, and demands it to be handed over. Thomas says that Hatt has the treasure and refuses to help John take it.

That night, John breaks into Hatt's office and steals the treasure, using Skiff and the pirate ship as his getaway. Thomas chases them through a junction where the miniature engines slow the ship by derailing their ballast trucks. A loose rope is caught on Ryan, who derails the flatbed carrying the ship, leaving John with only Skiff to take him away.

At Arlesburgh Harbour, Thomas tries to knock Skiff off of the rails, but to no avail. At the rail-boat launch ramp John rows Skiff out towards the sea, and Thomas ends up partially submerged. With the help of a large wave, Skiff knocks Sailor John and the treasure off of him. The treasure sinks to the bottom of the harbour, and Sailor John is soon arrested by the police. Thomas is rescued and attempts to explain to Hatt, fearing he'll be furious with him again. However, Hatt is proud of Thomas, as Ryan explained everything to him, and Hatt assures Thomas that he will always be his "number one engine" as his engines are more important to him than anything else.

When the branch line is finished, Sir Topham Hatt gives a fully repaired Thomas his old job back, and lets him cut the ribbon to the new line. Skiff gives rail-boat tours around Arlesburgh Harbour.

Box office
The film grossed GB£889,927 in the UK, US$72,928 in Hong Kong and US$2,510,062 in China for a total of $3,472,917 worldwide.

Critical response
Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure currently holds an 80% "fresh" approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 5 reviews.

Andrew Pulver of The Guardian gave the film a 3/5 stating, "Like Tale of the Brave, Lost Treasure jams locomotive action together with a pop motif supposedly beloved of kids: Brave had dinosaurs, Treasure has pirates."