Film Name: 摩尔庄园3：魔幻列车大冒险 / Legend Of The Moles-The Magic Train Adventure
Trains hold profound symbolic significance in animation, often serving as vehicles for conveying the emotion of separation. Imagine two people standing on opposite sides of railroad tracks, with a train roaring between them. Though geographically close, they remain utterly beyond reach—a classic case of being worlds apart despite proximity. And often, once the train passes, only a road stretching into the distance remains on the other side.
Therefore, when Mo Lele boarded the train, he should have encountered precisely such a scene of separation. The uncle and villagers, realizing Lele was missing, set out to find him, only to find themselves on opposite sides of the train tracks. Ultimately, it was the uncle’s arrival that prompted Lele to board the train. This narrative choice could have added greater dramatic tension to the film.
Trains, in animation, remain a fascinating prop—often serving as conduits to unknown worlds. Though the two rails lie within reach at every moment, they stretch for miles without end. From the instant your foot steps onto the train, your future holds countless possibilities, just as the rails themselves could lead in infinite directions. Harry Potter arrived at the magical kingdom by train, and The Polar Express follows a similar theme.
The Magic Train Adventure serves as such a conduit, carrying children on adventures to the fantastical lands of their imagination, allowing them to escape the confines of home. In truth, the train itself is that dream destination. Thus, portraying it merely as a tourist shuttle traversing Earth’s sights through black holes is an inadequate approach. Ordinary families can take their children on global tours; this train must journey to places beyond their reach.
We know that The Magic Train Adventure is fundamentally a story about home—children discover the warmth and meaning of home through their adventures aboard the train. The film’s task is to present the train as offering things families seemingly cannot provide, only to shatter those illusions one by one.
Take excessive freedom, for instance. At home, children are constantly being told what to do and constrained by rules. Yet aboard the train, they can do whatever they please. This grants them superficial joy. The film aims to shatter this illusion, revealing that such unrestrained freedom isn’t true happiness—because it lacks love.
The warmth of family always boils down to four words—selfless love. The train conductor could simulate all the superficial comforts he lost by not having a family—a cozy bed, endless delicacies, all sorts of toys—but he couldn’t give the children selfless love. His motivation for building the train was revenge, a negative emotion. So no matter how flashy his train was decorated, it couldn’t bring positive energy to the children.
I feel the film makes a conscious effort to explore this theme, yet it falls short of fully satisfying. The most critical issue is the unclear moment when Molele recalls the uncle aboard the train. Having reached a place of profound happiness where he could forget his home, why does he suddenly remember it? What exactly makes this place inferior to his own home? This core question remains unanswered by the film. The motivation for this shift—from wanting to leave home to wanting to return—needs greater clarity. Only then can Mo Lele feel a truly powerful surge of emotion when he sees the uncle’s tree, decorated like a blossoming flower.
Of course, these musings about the train are merely my nitpicky external observations. As a 2D animated film in a market dominated by 3D productions, as a children’s film so meticulously crafted in its storytelling, and as a work that weaves in Disney musical numbers, Miyazaki’s Laputa flying machines, and countless other classic references, “The Magic Train Adventure” is undoubtedly a highly successful piece of cinema.
When each passenger first boards the train, they are inevitably leaving home, their hearts brimming with excitement. Yet they may not realize that what truly excites them is precisely the moment they step off the return train one day—the moment they come home. That is the feeling the train gives us.
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