The Railway Children Return: Film Review
If you thought Top Gun: Maverick coming out 36 years after the original was a big gap, wait until you get a load of The Railway Children Return! This film is the follow-up to the 1970 classic The Railway Children – a sequel more than 50 years in the making.
The film is set during World War II and follows three children – Lily (Beau Gadsdon), Pattie (Eden Hamilton) and Ted (Zac Cudby) as they are sent to Oakworth in Yorkshire as evacuees from Manchester. Roberta ‘Bobbie’ Waterbury – Jenny Agutter reprising her role from the original – has remained in Oakworth and she lives with her headmistress daughter Annie (Sheridan Smith) and grandson Thomas (Austin Haynes). Naturally, they take in the trio and we follow their adventures around the railway and countryside once again.
The Railway Children Return is an old-fashioned, innocent and earnest adventure, just like the original. It tells a lovely, heartwarming tale that will charm many, particularly fans of its predecessor looking for that hit of nostalgia. We mostly just watch the children playing in their new village but the story steps up a level when they find Abe (Kenneth Aikens), a Black wounded US soldier, in an abandoned train carriage and help him find safety. It tries too hard and gets a bit too sentimental and contrived towards the end but otherwise, it’s a solid, likeable story.
I haven’t seen the original for many many years so I can assure you that you don’t need to have seen it (or seen it recently) to understand and enjoy it, as long as you know the importance of Bobbie. That being said, you will miss all the nods to the original (there are quite a few) and certain connections but they’re not huge deal-breaking things so you’ll cope just fine without knowing all that.
It’s so lovely to see Agutter back as Bobbie and she’s not in it too much either – the children take the centre stage. And what a trio they are! I particularly warmed to Gadsdon as the eldest child and fearless leader and Pattie as the outspoken one who doesn’t like dresses. John Bradley is delightful as the new station porter Richard and Tom Courtenay is woefully underused as Bobbie’s brother-in-law.
This sequel feels like a proper throwback to films I used to watch as a kid. They don’t really make them like this anymore! I’m not sure if modern children will be into this as it’s so old-fashioned and dialogue-heavy (and quite educational about evacuees) so that leads me to wonder who this will appeal to, given the 50+ gap between films. This feels aimed at children and yet the original fans are all adults so it’s a tricky one and we’ll have to see how it fares at the box office.
It has some issues but The Railway Children Return is a sincere, sweet film that very much honours its predecessor.
In cinemas from Friday 15th July