Steaming ahead

Very young cinemagoers will be keen to see Thomas the Tank Engine in his cinema debut, Thomas and the Magic Railroad, which opens at cinemas across the country next Friday. The film features Mara Wilson (the young star of Matilda and Miracle on 34th Street) as an 11-year-old girl who takes the wrong train on her way to see her grandfather (Peter Fonda). She meets Mr Conductor (Alec Baldwin) and ends up in the town of Shining Time where she embarks on an adventure to the Island of Sodor, the toy world where Thomas, the tiny blue steam engine lives.