''The Little Engine that Could'' is a 1991

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...

adventure film An adventure film is a form of adventure fiction, and is a genre of film. Subgenres of adventure films include swashbuckler films, pirate films, and survival films. Adventure films may also be combined with other film genres such as action, an ...

directed by Dave Edwards and co-produced by Edwards and Mike Young, animated at Kalato Animation in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

and co-financed by

Universal Studios Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

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 Kath or KATH may refer to: * Kath (city), the historical capital of Khwarezm * Kath (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname * KATH-TV, the NBC TV station in Juneau, Alaska * KATH (AM) KATH (910 kHz) is an ...

and

Frank Welker Franklin Wendell Welker (born March 12, 1946) is an American voice actor. He began his career in the 1960s, and holds over 860 film, television, and video game credits as of 2022, making him one of the most prolific voice actors of all time. With ...

. It is based on the 1930 book of the same name, by

Watty Piper ''The Little Engine That Could'' is an American folktale (existing in the form of several illustrated children's books and films) that became widely known in the United States after publication in 1930 by Platt & Munk. The story is used to teac ...

(specifically based on the 1976 illustrations by Ruth Sanderson). The film was also syndicated in the US on broadcast television as an

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

special in March/April 1993.

Plot

Eric, a young boy, is excited about his birthday after reading a book and believes that a train will come for him, much to his teenage sister Jill's disbelief. A few hours later, the train station's

control tower Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airsp ...

wakes up and in the roundhouse, Tillie, a young little blue switcher engine, along with her best

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

friend, Chip, wakes up four other trains: Georgia, a kind all-purpose engine, Farnsworth, a stuck-up, shiny, new passenger engine, Jebediah, a worn-out, rusty, old engine, and Pete, a gruff, burly, big, strong freight engine. After the tower assigns Farnsworth and Pete their jobs, he declines Tillie's offer to help with the

milk train Rail terminology is a form of technical terminology. The difference between the American term ''railroad'' and the international term ''railway'' (used by the International Union of Railways and English-speaking countries outside the United Sta ...

assigned to Jebediah due to her small stature. Georgia is assigned to pull the birthday train. A clown named Rollo leads the toys and friends into the train, including Jeepers, a monkey, Stretch, a basketball player, Missy, a ballerina, Handy Pandy, a panda, Perky, an elephant, and Grumpella, a stuffed bird. However, during her journey, Georgia breaks down and Doc takes her back to the roundhouse. 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 blind eyes to the offer, and Jebediah explains that going over the mountain is too much for him. Meanwhile, despite the tower turning down Tillie's offer to help carry the birthday train, she and Chip sneak past the tower and pulls the birthday train up a mountain. Despite being ridiculed by the animals along the way, Tillie reaches the summit after crossing a bridge that collapses but loses the last train car, which snaps off and falls into the river along the way. When Tillie sees the scary cave, she tries to go through the cave. However, the cave says that she is too little. Unfortunately, an

avalanche An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a slope, such as a hill or mountain. Avalanches can be set off spontaneously, by such factors as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, animals, and earth ...

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 snowplow and down the mountain before they reach the town, much to Eric's delight and Jill's amazement. Although very tired from her long and adventurous journey over the mountain, Tillie is very proud and happy that she could and tells Chip it was worth it.

Voice cast

as Tillie, Missy and the Little Wolf *

as Farnsworth, Jebediah, Rollo, Jeepers, Perky, the Big Wolf and the Eagle * B.J. Ward as Grumpella *

Neil Ross Neil David Ross is a British-American voice actor and announcer. Noted for his Trans-Atlantic accent, he has provided voices in many American cartoons, most notably ''Voltron'', ''G.I. Joe'', and ''Transformers'', as well as video games, inclu ...

as Doc, Tower and Sandy Pandy * Bever-Leigh Banfield as Georgia *

Peter Cullen Peter Claver Cullen (born July 28, 1941) is a Canadian voice actor. He is best known as the voice of Optimus Prime in the original 1980s ''Transformers'' animated series, reprising the role many times since 2007. He has also voiced many other c ...

as Pete and the Cave *

Scott Menville Scott David Menville (born February 12, 1971) is an American actor who is known for his voice work in animated films, television series and video games. Life and career Menville was born on February 12, 1971, to television animator and writer C ...

as Chip and Stretch * Billy O'Sullivan as Eric * Dina Sherman as Jill

Broadcasting history

Despite being released as a direct to video film, ''The Little Engine That Could'' had been broadcast on 56 independent television stations as an Easter special for two weeks two years later. In the United States, it has never been released on DVD and is only available on VHS and Laserdisc format, but can also be viewed on

Amazon Prime Amazon Prime is a paid subscription service from Amazon which is available in various countries and gives users access to additional services otherwise unavailable or available at a premium to other Amazon customers. Services include same, one- ...

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References

External links

* *
The 1991 movie
on

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Little Engine That Could, The 1991 animated films 1991 films Universal Pictures direct-to-video animated films Universal Pictures direct-to-video films American children's animated fantasy films American animated featurettes American animated short films 1991 direct-to-video films Animated films based on children's books 1990s American animated films British direct-to-video films American direct-to-video films Animated films about trains Animated films about birds Animated films about animals Welsh-language films Films about toys British animated short films 1990s children's animated films 1990s British animated films 1990s English-language films 1990s British films

Plot

Voice cast

Broadcasting history

See also

References

External links