Thumbelina (1994)

March 30, 1994 (US) • Animation, Fantasy, Romance, Family • 87m

Overview

Born of a flower and growing to only a couple of inches tall, poor Thumbelina is worried she'll never meet someone her own size, until she happens to catch the eye of Prince Cornelius of the Fairies. Just as soon as she finds love, however, it's torn away when she's kidnapped by Ms. Toad. Now Thumbelina has to escape Ms. Toad's grasp and search for Prince Cornelius. Luckily, there's a whole city of animals willing to help.

Directors

Gary Goldman, Don Bluth

Writer

Don Bluth

Top Billed

Jodi Benson

Keywords

witch france widow feminism fairy cartoon musical mole miniature people toad wanting a baby based on fairy tale spinster nightclub performer forced marriage beetle talking animal singing family family band

Where to watch

Free / Included

Rent

Buy

Top Billed Cast

Jodi Benson

Thumbelina (voice)

Gino Conforti

Jacquimo (voice)

Barbara Cook

Mother (voice)

Will Ryan

Hero / Reverend Rat (voice)

June Foray

Queen Tabitha (voice)

Kenneth Mars

King Colbert (voice)

Gary Imhoff

Prince Cornelius (voice)

Joe Lynch

Grundel (voice)

Charo

Mrs. Toad (voice)

Danny Mann

Mozo (voice)

Loren Lester

Gringo (voice)

Kendall Cunningham

Baby Bug (voice)

Tawny Sunshine Glover

Gnatty (voice)

Michael Nunes

Li'l Bee (voice)

Gilbert Gottfried

Berkeley Beetle (voice)

Pat Musick

Mrs Rabbit (voice)

Neil Ross

Mr. Fox / Mr. Bear (voice)

Carol Channing

Ms. Fieldmouse (voice)

John Hurt

Mr. Mole (voice)

Tony Jay

Cow (voice)

Randy Crenshaw

Berkeley Beetle (singing voice)

Stevie Vallance

(voice)

Crew

Don Bluth

Screenplay

Gary Goldman

Director

Don Bluth

Director

Jeannette Maher-Manifold

Camera Operator

Robert Sprathoff

Animation

Fred A. Reilly

Layout

Kevin M. O'Neil

Animation

Mark Swan

Storyboard Artist

Sandro Cleuzo

Animation

Dave Kupczyk

Animation Director

Martin Maryska

Sound Designer

Nikki Moss

Supervising Film Editor

Gregg Landaker

Sound Re-Recording Mixer

Fiona Trayler

Editor

Steve Maslow

Sound Re-Recording Mixer

Jim Harrison

Music Editor

Barry Manilow

Songs

Jack Feldman

Songs

Bruce Sussman

Songs

Hans Christian Andersen

Original Story

William Ross

Original Music Composer

Barry Manilow

Original Music Composer

Oliver Wade

Character Designer

Helene Blitz

Associate Producer

Don Bluth

Producer

John Pomeroy

Producer

Cathy Goldman

Production Manager

Nuala O'Toole

Assistant Director

Rowland B. Wilson

Production Design

Moya Mackle

Assistant Director

Peter Denomme

Production Manager

David Goetz

Production Design

Susan Vanderhorst

Assistant Production Manager

Gary Goldman

Producer

Russell Boland

Associate Producer

Gerry Shirren

Production Supervisor

Olga Tarin-Craig

Production Manager

Dan O'Connell

Foley Artist

Hilda Hodges

Foley Artist

Nerses Gezalyan

Foley Recordist

Randy K. Singer

Foley Mixer

Mo Henry

Negative Cutter

Reviews

Kamurai

⭐ 2/10

July 30, 2020

Horrible watch, won't watch again, and don't let people watch this.

Almost everything past the premise of this movie is confusing and ridiculous, starting with the spelling, "ThumbElina"? It should be "ThumbAlina", that's a nit pick, but it honestly made the movie harder to find.

I love the premise of a tiny person "birthed" to a wanting mother, but after that, the problems set in. Let's start with "birthed": she didn't magically appear out of the air, she wasn't born, she crawled out of a flower as a tiny adult, wearing a dress, and able to talk. This is some fey granted wish nonsense if I ever saw one.

I understand using the name Thumbelina to describe her size, as "Fingerling" would probably be inappropriate, but she is perilously tiny: able to be crushed without notice, any big animal (duck, goose, cow, horse) will eat her without noticing, she should have drowned in the first act, twice I think, the wind alone would sweep her away, though she doesn't have to worry about falling to her death. This girl is short to Tinkerbell, who is at least 6 inches, and Thumbelina is about 2 inches (and a half, maybe), so she's only coming up to Tink's booty. The movie never clearly demonstrates this and morphs her body size anywhere up to a foot based on the needs of the scene.

Bugs that wear clothes, with human eyes and teeth don't bother me, I get that because they don't have faces that translate, but amphibians and birds with very human teeth and tongues (geese have their own teeth) is disturbing, and that swallow was downright horrifying. It is a BIRD, the pinnacle of aerodynamic nature in, not only, boots, shirt, and a hat, but GLOVES, it may be the most distracting thing I've ever seen. Even when you anthropomorphize a bird to use their wings as hands, gloves don't make any sense if they fly. It was honestly worst than frog breasts, which I can't stand just as much, they just weren't as frequent.

Then there are lots of (horny) bugs, but then there are bumble bees that act like dogs, but should be loyal to their queen, not a fairy. We can blame fey magic, but since he has his own wings, he shouldn't RIDE it.

Now, the actual story: it makes sense to split up the nature dynamics into "nationalities", and the world is crafted in some detail, but why did they chose these details. We basically have a Spanish prince, a beetle pimp, a french...hobo(?) swallow, a mole that is a wealthy business man, and then the fairy kingdom which makes the most sense, other than they fail to have nature gradually deliver winter (why they're in charge, I don't know) and suddenly murder anyone who hasn't sheltered.

This movie has a problematic feminist story: she's born looking for companionship. She gets desperate for anyone, then wants a prince, so she doesn't even necessarily want the only guy she's ever seen, until she knows he's the prince and he promises her all this stuff. Then she's kidnapped, force on stage for entertainment (strips), led poorly by the hobo swallow, and pressured to marry the mole, but then marries the guy that sort of looks like her, and then he changes her to be just like him.

Just watch "Fern Gully" or any of the Disney fairy stuff instead, please.

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Status

Released

Original Language

Budget

$28,000,000

Revenue

$11,373,501

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Thumbelina (1994)

Gary Goldman, Don Bluth

Where to watch

Top Billed Cast

Crew

Reviews

Kamurai

Recommended Movies

Avatar: Fire and Ash

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Spirited Away

Hokum

Status

Original Language

Budget

Revenue

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