Thumbelina (1994 film)
Encyclopedia
Thumbelina is a 1994 American
Cinema of the United States
The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...

 animated film
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...

 directed by Don Bluth
Don Bluth
Donald Virgil "Don" Bluth is an American animator and independent studio owner. He is best known for his departure from The Walt Disney Company in 1979 and his subsequent directing of animated films such as The Secret of NIMH , An American Tail ,The Land Before Time , and All Dogs Go to Heaven ,...

 and Gary Goldman
Gary Goldman
Gary Wayne Goldman is an American Film Producer, Director, Animator, Writer and voice actor, he is well known for working on films with Don Bluth like Anastasia, An American Tail and The Land Before Time...

 from a screenplay by Bluth based on Hans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author, fairy tale writer, and poet noted for his children's stories. These include "The Steadfast Tin Soldier," "The Snow Queen," "The Little Mermaid," "Thumbelina," "The Little Match Girl," and "The Ugly Duckling."...

's Thumbelina
Thumbelina
"Thumbelina" is a literary fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen first published by C. A. Reitzel on 16 December 1835 in Copenhagen, Denmark with "The Naughty Boy" and "The Traveling Companion" in the second installment of Fairy Tales Told for Children. "Thumbelina" is about a tiny girl and...

. The film was produced by Don Bluth Entertainment
Sullivan Bluth Studios
Sullivan Bluth Studios was an American animated film production company established in 1985 by animator Don Bluth. Bluth and several colleagues, all of whom were former Disney animators, left Disney in 1979 to form Don Bluth Productions, later known as the Bluth Group...

 and was released to movie theaters by Warner Bros. Family Entertainment
Warner Bros. Family Entertainment
Warner Bros. Family Entertainment is the family film label of Warner Bros., established in 1992. It is best-known for producing numerous family films and television series in either live-action or animation .-History:The division was founded in 1992 to produce more family-friendly films.The first...

 on March 30, 1994.

Synopsis

The film starts with the narrator
Narrator
A narrator is, within any story , the fictional or non-fictional, personal or impersonal entity who tells the story to the audience. When the narrator is also a character within the story, he or she is sometimes known as the viewpoint character. The narrator is one of three entities responsible for...

, a swallow
Swallow
The swallows and martins are a group of passerine birds in the family Hirundinidae which are characterised by their adaptation to aerial feeding...

 named Jaquimo, flying through Paris, France and telling the audience
Fourth wall
The fourth wall is the imaginary "wall" at the front of the stage in a traditional three-walled box set in a proscenium theatre, through which the audience sees the action in the world of the play...

 about the story of Thumbelina.
A lonely woman 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". 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 flies by her windowsill and is enchanted by her. The two take a ride on Cornelius' bumblebee, during which they fall in love. During this ride, a toad named Grundel sees Thumbelina and declares to his mother, Mrs. Toad, 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 despite Hero the dog's attempt to stop her. 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', and Thumbelina will also marry Grundel. 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, 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 and is a friend of Jacquimo's. Meanwhile, Cornelius has learned of Thumbelina's kidnapping from Hero and goes to find her.

Thumbelina almost reaches home, but she is stopped by Berkeley Beetle, who becomes smitten with her and 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 pursuer, a fox. The fox angrily shoves him out of the way and a strong gust of wind blows Jacquimo into a tree, driving a thorn straight through his wing and wounding him severely. 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 eventually finds Cornelius and cuts out a block of ice in which he is trapped, and takes him to Grundel.

With both Cornelius and Jacquimo incapacitated, Thumbelina takes shelter from the winter frost in a shoe. She is rescued by Miss Fieldmouse, who tells her that she has heard that Cornelius is dead. Miss Fieldmouse convinces a heartbroken Thumbelina to join her to visit Mr. Mole, where Thumbelina is asked to sing for him. They take a walk in Mr. Mole's extensive tunnels, where Thumbelina discovers the unconscious Jacquimo. Mr. Mole also tells Miss Fieldmouse, in private, 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. Though she explains that Cornelius is dead, Jacquimo refuses to believe it, and ventures off to find Cornelius and the Vale of the Fairies.

When Thumbelina is prompted by the minister at the wedding ceremony, she responds that she cannot marry Mr. Mole, since she does not love him. Grundel and Beetle crash the ceremony, which results in a chase throughout Mr. Mole's caverns. 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, Cornelius is unable to defeat Grundel and the battle eventually culminates in the two 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 claims to have found the Vale of the Fairies. They fly there, but Thumbelina remains skeptical due to the winter having covered the Vale. At Jacquimo's urging, Thumbelina sings, and 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 and got his wings back; Grundel survived the fall with a broken leg and fell in love with a female toad; Mr. Mole married Miss Fieldmouse; and the rabbit and fox Jacquimo tried to ask for help ultimately found friendship.

Cast

  • Jodi Benson
    Jodi Benson
    Jodi Marie Benson is an American actress, voice actress, soprano singer, and Disney Legend. She is best known for providing both the speaking and the singing voices of Disney's Princess Ariel in The Little Mermaid and its sequels. In 2002 and 2006, she reprised the role of Ariel in the English...

     as Thumbelina
    Thumbelina
    "Thumbelina" is a literary fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen first published by C. A. Reitzel on 16 December 1835 in Copenhagen, Denmark with "The Naughty Boy" and "The Traveling Companion" in the second installment of Fairy Tales Told for Children. "Thumbelina" is about a tiny girl and...

  • Gary Imhoff
    Gary Imhoff
    Gary Imhoff is an American actor. He was a teacher at Milton Katselas' Beverly Hills Playhouse. He teaches The Professional Artists Workshop and The Musical Artists Workshop in Los Angeles...

     as Prince Cornelius
  • Gino Conforti
    Gino Conforti
    Gino Conforti is an American actor best known for his television roles.-Life and career:From 1962 to 1971, Conforti appeared in several Broadway musicals, including the role of the fiddler in the original production of Fiddler on the Roof with Zero Mostel. Beginning in the late 1960s, he appeared...

     as Jacquimo
  • Joe Lynch as Grundel
  • Barbara Cook
    Barbara Cook
    Barbara Cook is an American singer and actress who first came to prominence in the 1950s after starring in the original Broadway musicals Candide and The Music Man among others, winning a Tony Award for the latter...

     as Thumbelina's Mother
  • Will Ryan
    Will Ryan
    Will Ryan is an American voice actor and producer–writer–composer, well-known for singing about the American West. In the late seventies he teamed up with Phil Baron as Willio and Phillio. They had regular gigs on television, radio and comedy clubs and universities throughout the US...

     as Hero/Reverend Rat
  • Gilbert Gottfried
    Gilbert Gottfried
    Gilbert Gottfried is an American actor, voice actor and stand-up comedian, best known for his trademark comedic persona of speaking in a loud, grating tone of voice. He has played numerous roles in film and television, perhaps most notably voicing the parrot Iago in Disney's Aladdin , and...

     as Berkeley Beetle
  • June Foray
    June Foray
    June Foray is an American voice actress, best known as the voice of many animated characters...

     as Queen Tabitha
  • Kenneth Mars
    Kenneth Mars
    Kenneth Mars was an American television, movie, and voice actor. He may be best-remembered for his roles in several Mel Brooks films: the insane Nazi playwright Franz Liebkind in 1968's The Producers, and the relentless Police Inspector Hans Wilhelm Fredrich Kemp in 1974's Young Frankenstein...

     as King Colbert
  • Charo
    Charo
    María del Rosario Pilar Martínez Molina Gutiérrez de los Perales Santa Ana Romanguera y de la Hinojosa Rasten , better known as Charo, is a Spanish-American actress, comedienne, and flamenco guitarist, best known for her flamboyant stage presence, her provocative outfits, and her trademark phrase...

     as Mrs. Toad
  • Carol Channing
    Carol Channing
    Carol Elaine Channing is an American singer, actress, and comedienne. She is the recipient of three Tony Awards , a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination...

     as Ms. Fieldmouse
  • John Hurt
    John Hurt
    John Vincent Hurt, CBE is an English actor, known for his leading roles as John Merrick in The Elephant Man, Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four, Mr. Braddock in The Hit, Stephen Ward in Scandal, Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant and An Englishman in New York...

     as Mr. Mole
  • Danny Mann
    Danny Mann
    Daniel "Danny" Mann is an American voice actor, writer, singer, musician, and production manager. He is best known for his voice of Hector from Heathcliff and the Catillac Cats, Freeway, Cloudraker and Lightspeed in Transformers, Backwoods Beagle in DuckTales, Kaltag in Balto, Ferdinand from Babe,...

     as Mozo
  • Loren Lester
    Loren Lester
    Loren Lester is an American actor of stage, screen, and voice, best known for his portrayal of DC Comics superhero Robin and Nightwing in the numerous Batman animated series and features in the DC Animated Universe....

     as Gringo
  • Michael Nunes
    Michael Nunes
    Michael John Nunes is an American actor who worked for Don Bluth for a few years until Don and his partner, Gary Goldman left to work for 20th Century Fox when they began to work on the film Anastasia. He played L'il Bee in Thumbelina and Beany in The Pebble and the Penguin .-External links:...

     as Li'l Bee
  • Tawny Sunshine Glover
    Tawny Sunshine Glover
    Tawny Sunshine Glover is an American actress. She did voiceovers in two Don Bluth Movies. She was the voice of Gnatty in Thumbelina, and the voice of Rosie in A Troll in Central Park. It appears she hasn't done any more acting since.-Filmography:...

     as Gnatty
  • Kendall Cunningham as Baby Bug
  • Pat Musick
    Pat Musick
    Pat Musick is an American voice actress. She is the mother of Mae Whitman.-Television roles:* 2 Stupid Dogs - Additional Voices* The Adventures of Don Coyote and Sancho Panda - Additional Voices...

     as Mrs. Rabbit
  • Tony Jay
    Tony Jay
    Tony Jay was an English actor, voice actor and singer. A former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, he was known for his voice work in animation, film and computer games. Jay's distinctive baritone voice often landed him villainous roles...

     as the Cow

Musical numbers

The film's soundtrack was composed by Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow is an American singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, producer, conductor, and performer, best known for such recordings as "Could It Be Magic", "Mandy", "Can't Smile Without You", and "Copacabana ."...

 in what was originally a three-picture deal with Don Bluth. The second project following Thumbelina is The Pebble and the Penguin
The Pebble and the Penguin
The Pebble and the Penguin is a 1995 animated musical film, based on the true life mating rituals of the Adelie Penguins in Antarctica, produced and directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman. The film was released to theatres on April 11, 1995 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in the United States and...

.
  • "Follow Your Heart" (Intro) - Jacquimo
  • "Thumbelina" - Thumbelina, Farm Animals
  • "Soon" - Thumbelina
  • "Let Me Be Your Wings" - Cornelius, Thumbelina
  • "On the Road" - Mrs. Toad, Thumbelina, Singers de Espana (Los Sapos Guapos)
  • "Follow Your Heart" - Jacquimo, Jitterbugs, Birds
  • "Yer Beautiful, Baby" - Berkeley Beetle, Beetle Chorus
  • "Soon (Reprise)" - Thumbelina's Mother
  • "Let Me Be Your Wings (Sun Reprise)" - Thumbelina
  • "Marry the Mole" - Ms. Fieldmouse
  • "Let Me Be Your Wings (Wedding Reprise)" - Cornelius
  • "Let Me Be Your Wings" (Reprise) - Thumbelina, Cornelious, Jacquimo
  • "Follow Your Heart" (Finale) - Chorus
  • "Let Me Be Your Wings" - Barry Manilow
    Barry Manilow
    Barry Manilow is an American singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, producer, conductor, and performer, best known for such recordings as "Could It Be Magic", "Mandy", "Can't Smile Without You", and "Copacabana ."...

     & Debra Byrd
    Debra Byrd
    Debra Byrd is an American vocalist who has worked with Barry Manilow and Bob Dylan, appeared on Broadway, and serves as the head vocal coach for American Idol and Canadian Idol, also singing backup for the contestants....

  • Theatrical Short song: I'm Mad - Yakko, Wakko, Dot, Dr. Scratchnsniff Animaniacs
    Animaniacs
    Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs, usually referred to as simply Animaniacs, is an American animated series, distributed by Warner Bros. Television and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. The cartoon was the second animated series produced by the collaboration of Steven...


Reception

The film was a commercial failure, budgeted at $28 million but only making $11,373,501 at the US box office, as it was overshadowed by The Lion King
The Lion King
The Lion King is a 1994 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the 32nd feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series...

and Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm is a 1993 animated superhero film based on the fictional DC Comics character Batman, and is a spin-off of the Emmy Award-winning Batman: The Animated Series...

. It also won a Razzie
Golden Raspberry Awards
A Golden Raspberry Award, or Razzie for short, is an award presented in recognition of the worst in movies. Founded by American copywriter and publicist John J.B. Wilson in 1981, the annual Razzie Awards ceremony in Los Angeles precedes the corresponding Academy Awards ceremony by one day...

 in the category of "Worst Original Song" for "Marry the Mole", sung by Carol Channing
Carol Channing
Carol Elaine Channing is an American singer, actress, and comedienne. She is the recipient of three Tony Awards , a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination...

 and is the first & only animated film to win a Razzie award and was the first & only animated film to be nominated for a Razzie award until The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996 film)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a 1996 American animated drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released to theaters on June 21, 1996 by Walt Disney Pictures. The thirty-fourth animated feature in the Disney animated features canon, the film is inspired by Victor Hugo's novel of...

 in 1996 was nominated for a Razzie award for the "Worst Written Film Grossing Over $100 Million" which lost to Twister.

The film received mostly negative reviews from critics with Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...

 giving the film a middling two stars out of four, concluding his review "It is difficult to imagine anyone over the age of 12 finding much to enjoy in Thumbelina." As of 2009, 25% of critics give it positive reviews at review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

(based on eight reviews) with an average rating of 5.2 out of 10. 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.
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