The Little Engine That Could (Film)



The Little Engine that Could is a 1991 animated short film directed by Dave Edwards and co-produced by Edwards and Mike Young, animated at Kalato Animation in Wales and co-financed by Universal Studios through their MCA/Universal Home Video arm and S4C, Wales' dedicated Welsh-language channel. It was released on VHS by MCA. The film features the voice talents of Kath Soucie and Frank Welker. It is based on the book of the same name, by Watty Piper.

In Wales the film was joint-released in both English and Welsh, under the title Yr Injan Fach Fentrus (The Adventurous Little Engine) and was broadcast on television in both languages. As a native production it was widely available on VHS in Wales and thus achieved a degree of cult status during its time, though never touching on the level of other iconic characters such as Fireman Sam and Superted, both of which featured production staff members who worked on The Little Engine That Could.

Plot (Spoilers)
Eric, a young boy, is excited about his birthday after reading a book and believes that a train will come for him, despite his sister Jill's disbelief. A few hours later, the train station's control tower wakes up and in the roundhouse, Tillie, a young little blue switcher engine, along with her best bird friend, Chip, wakes up four other trains: Georgia, a kind all-purpose engine, Farnsworth, a stuck-up passenger engine, Jebediah, a worn-out old engine, and Pete, a gruff, burly freight engine. After the tower assigns Farnsworth and Pete their jobs, Tillie tries to help with the milk train assigned to Jebediah, but the tower insists that she is too small for the job. Georgia is assigned to pull the birthday train. A clown named Rollo leads the toys into the train, including Stretch, a basketball player; Missy, a ballerina; a Handy Pandy, a panda; Perky, an elephant; and Grumpella, a stuffed bird.

During her journey, Georgia breaks down and is taken back to the roundhouse by Doc. Left behind, Rollo eventually takes Doc's advice of flagging down one of the other engines returning from their daily runs over the mountain. Farnsworth and Pete turn down their offers to pull the train. Meanwhile, Tillie asks Tower to rescue the stranded train, but he insists that Tillie will never do the job. Jebediah turns down his offer to pull the train because of his age, and returns to the roundhouse. Chip and Tillie sneak past the sleeping tower and pulls the birthday train up a mountain. Despite being ridiculed by the animals along the way, Tillie manages to reach the summit.

However, an avalanche knocks Tillie out cold. Eric is woken up by a thunderstorm and is worried about Tillie and the birthday train. After Tillie regains consciousness, she pulls the train out of the snow using her cowcatcher as a snowplough and down the mountain before they reach the town, much to Eric and Jill's happiness. The film ends with Tillie, who although very tired from her long and adventurous journey over the mountain, is very proud and happy and tells her best friend Chip that she did what she could.

Cast

 * Kath Soucie as Tillie and Missy
 * Frank Welker as Perky, Jeepers, Eagle, Farnsworth, Jebediah and Rollo
 * B.J. Ward as Grumpella
 * Neil Ross as Doc, The Big Wolf, Tower and Panda
 * Bever-Leigh Banfield as Georgia
 * Peter Cullen as Pete and the cave's voice
 * Scott Menville as Chip and Stretch
 * Billy O'Sullivan as Eric and The Little Wolf
 * Dina Sherman as Jill

Goofs

 * It would have been impossible for Tillie to pull Pete very quickly cause he should be too heavy.
 * Georgia said that her breaking down didn't hurt, but earlier she said "ouch" right after breaking down.
 * How was Georgia able to signal for help when her boiler was busted?
 * It was very dangerous for Rollo to flag down Pete and Farnsworth in the middle of the tracks.
 * In real life, Rollo would have been killed when Farnsworth ran into him.
 * Tillie struggles to get up the mountain. But Farnsworth and Pete make it up the mountain and back just fine and they're heavier than her.
 * Cabooses should have been added to Pete's, Jebediah's and Tillie's trains.