| Thumbelina | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster. |
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| Directed by | Don Bluth Gary Goldman |
| Produced by | Don Bluth Gary Goldman John Pomeroy |
| Written by | Story: Hans Christian Andersen Screenplay: Don Bluth |
| Starring | Jodi Benson Gino Conforti Gary Imhoff Barbara Cook Gilbert Gottfried Carol Channing Joe Lynch |
| Music by | Barry Manilow William Ross |
| Editing by | Fiona Trayler |
| Studio | Sullivan Bluth Studios Warner Bros. Family Entertainment |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| Release date(s) | March 30, 1994 (USA) June 24, 1994 (Brazil) July 29, 1994 (UK) September 15, 1994 (AUS) |
| Running time | 86 min. (approx.) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $28,000,000[1] |
| Gross revenue | $11,373,501 |
Thumbelina is a 1994 American animated film directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman from a screenplay by Bluth based on Hans Christian Andersen's Thumbelina. The film was produced by Sullivan Bluth Studios and was released by Warner Bros. Family Entertainment on March 30, 1994.
Contents |
A lonely woman (Barbara Cook) longs for a child of her very own. One day, a good witch gives her a barley corn to plant, and the next day the flower blooms, revealing a little girl "no bigger than her thumb" (Jodi Benson). The woman names her Thumbelina. Thumbelina spends time with her mother's farm animals, but is worried that there is no one around of her own size. One night, her mother tells her a story about fairies. After being put to bed, Thumbelina imagines that someday she will be able to find someone to love. As she is humming to herself, Prince Cornelius of the Fairies (Gary Imhoff) flies by her windowsill and is enchanted by her. The two take a ride on Cornelius' Bumble Bee, during which they fall in love. During this ride, a toad named Grundel (Joe Lynch) sees Thumbelina and declares to his mother Mrs. Toad (Charo) that he loves her.
Cornelius returns Thumbelina to her windowsill and promises to come back for her the next day. After he leaves, Thumbelina goes to sleep in her walnut bed, and is kidnapped by Mrs. Toad. When Thumbelina awakes the next morning, she is on a lily-pad far away from home. Mrs. Toad declares that Thumbelina will join their family singing troupe "Singers de Espana". Thumbelina will also marry Grundel, and the group leaves her alone on the lily-pad to fetch the priest, despite her protests. Thumbelina's cries for help are heard by Jacquimo (Gino Conforti), who helps her free of the lily-pad and encourages her to follow her heart and find her way home to her mother. Jacquimo himself promises to find Cornelius, who lives in the Vale of the Fairies. Meanwhile, Cornelius has learned of Thumbelina's kidnapping and goes searching for her.
Thumbelina almost reaches home, but she is stopped by Berkeley Beetle (Gilbert Gottfried) who wants her to join his act at the Beetle Ball. Thumbelina is forced to perform at the Beetle Ball, but at the end is kicked out for being "too ugly". Grundel, who is also searching for Thumbelina, tracks down Beetle and forces him (by taking his wings) to help find Thumbelina. Searching for the Vale of the Fairies, Jacquimo seeks help from a fleeing rabbit and its pursuerer, a fox. The fox angrily shoves him out of the way and a strong gust of wind blows the swallow into a tree, driving a thorn through his wing. When the cold winter frost arrives, he becomes too weak to fly to the point that he loses consciousness and falls to the ground. The falling snow also causes Cornelius to fall from his Bumble into a pond, where he is frozen in ice. Beetle finds Cornelius and cuts out a block of ice in which the Fairy Prince is trapped to bring to Grundel. Elsewhere, Thumbelina's mother can only wait at home and hope for the best.
Thumbelina takes shelter from the winter frost in a shoe. She is rescued by Miss Fieldmouse (Carol Channing) who tells her that Cornelius is dead. Miss Fieldmouse convinces a heartbroken Thumbelina to join her to visit Mr. Mole (John Hurt), where Thumbelina is told to sing for him. They take a walk in Mr. Mole's extensive tunnels, where Thumbelina discovers the unconscious Jacquimo. Mr. Mole tells Miss Fieldmouse that he would like to marry Thumbelina, and she agrees to convince Thumbelina that it would be for the best. Grundel learns that Thumbelina is to marry Mr. Mole and abandons the frozen Cornelius with Beetle, allowing three young jitterbug children that Thumbelina befriended to light a fire to melt the ice that has trapped Cornelius. Thumbelina sneaks out of Miss Fieldmouse's home to visit Jacquimo. He wakes, and Thumbelina removes the thorn from his wing. Before she can explain that Cornelius is "dead", Jacquimo flies off, still determined to find the Vale of the Fairies.
When Thumbelina is prompted by the minister at the wedding ceremony, she responds that she cannot marry Mr. Mole, eventually leading into a chase by Beetle, Grundel and the others. However, Cornelius and the jitterbug children arrive to stop them and Cornelius engages Grundel. Despite his efforts in stalling the crowd long enough to secure Thumbelina's escape, the battle eventually culminates in both he and Grundel falling into a bottomless pit. Thumbelina manages to scare her pursuers by causing a mountain of jewelry to slide toward them, and she escapes to the surface, where she is found by Jacquimo, who says that he has found the Vale of the Fairies. They fly there, and after Thumbelina sings, the ice thaws and Cornelius, who survived the fall and is still with the jitterbug children, appears to be reunited with his love. Cornelius proposes, Thumbelina accepts, the pair kiss and wings sprout from Thumbelina's back. The wedding is celebrated with Thumbelina's mother, Jacquimo, the jitterbug children, and Cornelius' family in attendance.
Screenshots during the credits reveal that Beetle resumed his normal, popstar life; Grundel survived the fall with a broken leg and married a female toad; the rabbit and fox Jacquimo tried to ask for help ultimately found friendship; and Mr. Mole married Miss Fieldmouse.
The film's plotline is based on the fairytale of the same name, but features a number of changes for dramatic effect. Most prominently is that Thumbelina meets the Fairy Prince (Cornelius) very early on in the movie, before she gets kidnapped by Mrs. Toad. This sets up the rest of the film as Thumbelina tries to find her way home and to Cornelius, and creates a subplot where Cornelius has to search for Thumbelina.
Character changes include that the Mayfly in the original fairytale has been changed to Berkeley Beetle and Mr. Fieldmouse has been changed to Miss Fieldmouse. Additionally, various characters that Thumbelina only encounters briefly in the fairytale have also been extended, such as the Swallow (in this film, named Jacquimo) who meets Thumbelina relatively early in the film and helps her search for Cornelius in the Vale of the Fairies, as well as the villainous Toad (Grundel) and Beetle who continues to hunt down Thumbelina after she initially escapes from him.
Of note, three of these voice actors (Jodi Benson, Will Ryan, and Kenneth Mars) previously starred in another animated movie adapted from a story by Hans Christian Andersen (Disney's The Little Mermaid, in 1989), in which Jodi was Ariel, Will was the Sea Horse and Kenneth was King Triton. Additionally, Jodi Benson also played the leading female protagonist in both films. Christopher Daniel Barnes, who provided the voice of Jodi Benson's character's love interest in The Little Mermaid, later co-starred with Gary Imhoff in Spider-Man: The Animated Series.
The film's soundtrack was composed by Barry Manilow in what was originally a three-picture deal with Don Bluth. The second project following Thumbelina is The Pebble and the Penguin.
The film was not very successful; it was overshadowed by Disney's The Lion King and Warner Bros' Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, only making $11,373,501 at the US box office (the latter was also bombed at the box office but praised critically). It also won a Razzie in the category of "Worst Original Song" for "Marry The Mole", sung by Carol Channing.[2]
As of 2009, 25% of critics give it positive reviews at review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes (based on eight reviews). But on the other hand, the RT community gave it a score of 53% based on over 100 reviews, its score on Internet Movie Database is 5.8 out of 10, and it has a "C+" at Box Office Mojo. While still not spectacular, all three of these scores are an improvement over those received by Don Bluth's Rock-a-Doodle, which directly preceded Thumbelina.
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   | Tiny Angel - Tiny Angel : A Thumbelina Site |
 | Fansite - Don Bluth's Thumbelina Fansite - Click To Enter |
| | Tiny Angel - jeremy sumpter the swan princess at radish-spirit.com |
| | ''Im Mad'' - YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. |
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