Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I read a review of a first-time Thomas viewer with a 20 month old who said she was shocked by the behavior of the trains--I can identify with that: My wife and I bought about six of them at once because they were on sale, only to be dissappointed by how mean some of the characters are. We've since come to love the videos, tho, since our little boy got interested in them, and sibling rivalry has erupted between he and his slightly older sister. Thomas and his friends act like children. Sometimes children aren't very kind either, but the engines respond to the gentle-but-firm redirection of the "parent" (Sir Topham Hatt). I think my kids love these (and I do, too) because they can identify with the simple sorts of conflicts the engines have with each other and the other characters, they appreciate the boundaries and safety of the parental character, and it allows them to explore conflict and authority in a way that is meaningful to them--the fact that Sir Topham Hatt has to step in and resolve a conflict from time to time is a plus in my opinion. My 2 year old son is an absolute Thomas nut--he has most of the vids and the wooden trains and plays with them all the time. (My daughter loves Thomas, too, but she's not in the same league of Thom-ism that my son enjoys. Frankly, the shows are more weighted toward little boy issues, if you ask me.) I've always loved trains, too, so it's a natural for me. These vids win you over--the production quality and attention to detail is just astonishing. But what ultimately wins you over is the realization that despite the perception we parents frequently have that children are naturally "nice" until corrupted by some outside influence, the reality is that we must all learn to deal with conflict and authority, and that theme is presented nowhere in children's entertainment as well as it is in the Thomas series of videos and books. I highly recommend them to anyone, but especially if you have a little boy.
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VHS Movie.
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