Railway Children

It tends to say literally everything it thinks... A little too on the nose.

Touching and beautifully produced.

Dotted with lessons, this is initially a nostalgia trip handled with the cherubic faces of a children’s show.

Morgan Matthews’s film is rather clunky and exposes the limitations of its young lead actors... so maybe it should have dropped its Railway Children ties instead of trying to compete with a classic.

Perhaps not as heart-warming or charming as the first film, The Railway Children Return is engaging and entertaining in different ways, winningly played by its fresh cast.

If young people can cope with war they can surely understand the complexities of their own identities and pasts. It’s a shame, then, that the film goes so hard on pushing the myth of a progressive England that it sells its audience short.

Morgan Matthews weaves together a solid story of the peace the children find when they are transported to a relatively safe place with the inner turmoil they feel because of all the pain caused by the war.

“Railway Children” is more sober-minded than most American children’s films, as it teaches kids about the horrors of war and racism. Some may find it a little dry, but it has its share of gentle charms.

Even though the sappy drama Railway Children is told from the perspectives of children during World War II, it's still no excuse for how the movie mishandles issues such as racism and military desertion. The movie's last 15 minutes are atrociously mushy.

On one hand, The Railway Children is a sweet, harmless family film but on the other it tackles a lot for one film including war, death, racism, bombings, bullying and more. The child acting is also on a made for TV movie level not that of a feature film