Thumbelina (1994 film)

Plot

A widowed old woman (Barbara Cook) is given a seed by a good witch. Once planted, the seed grows into a flower, and a tiny girl (Jodi Benson) emerges from inside the blossom, no bigger than the old woman's thumb. The old woman names the tiny girl Thumbelina and raises her as her own.

Although Thumbelina loves her mother, she craves companionship from someone her own size. One night, the fairy prince Cornelius (Gary Imhoff) stumbles upon Thumbelina after hearing her beautiful singing. The two take a ride on Cornelius' bumblebee, and fall in love; during this ride Mrs. Toad (Charo) and her son Grundel (Joe Lynch) are enchanted by Thumbelina's singing. Cornelius promises to return the next day, but that night, Mrs. Toad kidnaps Thumbelina from her bed and takes her away to her show boat, where she desires Thumbelina to join their troupe and marry Grundel, who is in love with her. They leave Thumbelina alone on a lily pad to fetch a priest; she is rescued by a friendly swallow, Jacquimo (Gino Conforti). Jacquimo's friends, the jitterbugs, promise to help Thumbelina get home safely while Jacquimo sets off to find Cornelius. Meanwhile, Cornelius learns of Thumbelina's kidnapping and ventures out to find her.

While trying to get home, Thumbelina is ambushed by Berkeley Beetle (Gilbert Gottfried), who scares the jitterbugs away. He too becomes enamored with her singing and promises to show her the way home if she sings at his Beetle Ball first. She reluctantly complies, but her bug disguise falls off during the concert and she is denounced as ugly. Beetle throws her out without helping her. Jacquimo appears and promises that he will find Cornelius and bring him to Thumbelina, but winter arrives and Jacquimo impales his wing on a thorn and is knocked out by the cold while Cornelius falls into a lake and ends up frozen in the ice. Thumbelina is later found by Miss Fieldmouse (Carol Channing) and taken to her underground home for shelter. She tells her of Cornelius' fate, leaving her devastated. She later meets Miss Fieldmouse's neighbor, Mr. Mole (John Hurt), who leads her to Jacquimo's body, though Thumbelina realizes he is alive. Mr. Mole expresses a desire to marry Thumbelina, and she reluctantly accepts after persuasion from Miss Fieldmouse. Jacquimo, however, recovers and leaves to find Cornelius, refusing to believe he is dead.

Grundel ventures out to find Thumbelina and finds Beetle, who he coerces into helping him by removing his wings to ensure his cooperation. Beetle finds Cornelius and brings him to Grundel, also informing him of Thumbelina's wedding to Mr. Mole. They head for Mr Mole's home to retrieve Thumbelina, while the jitterbugs find and thaw Cornelius' body out. At the wedding, Thumbelina finds herself unable to marry Mr. Mole. Grundel and Beetle appear and a chase ensues. Cornelius appears and confronts Grundel; the ensuing fight sends them both falling into an abyss. Thumbelina escapes and is reunited with Jacquimo, who takes her to Cornelius' kingdom, the Vale of the Fairies, and has her sing in order to lure Cornelius out. He appears, having survived the fall, and proposes to her; Thumbelina accepts.

With Jacquimo, Thumbelina's mother and the fairy court in attendance, Thumbelina and Cornelius are married and depart on Cornelius' bumblebee. Images shown during the credits reveal that Beetle resumed his singing career and apparently grew new wings; Miss Fieldmouse married Mr. Mole; Grundel survived the fall with minor injuries and married a female toad; and Mrs. Rabbit and Mr. Fox settled their differences and found friendship.

Voice cast

Music

Barry Manilow agreed to compose the songs for three Don Bluth pictures. Thumbelina was the first, followed by The Pebble and the Penguin, and the third was canceled. The film's soundtrack was released for a limited time and has since gone out of print. "Marry the Mole" won a Razzie for Worst Original Song.

Production and release

Thumbelina was in production from February 1991 to May 1993 at Don Bluth Entertainment (formerly known as Sullivan Bluth Studios at that time) in Dublin, Ireland, even though principal recording and animation would not begin until early 1992. The film was completed with funds from filmmaker John Boorman and Hong Kong-based Media Assets after Don Bluth Entertainment filed for bankruptcy.

It was originally scheduled to be distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in North America and J&M Entertainment overseas, and was also originally slated for a Thanksgiving 1993 release in the United States. However, by the time it was completed, both companies dropped the arrangement due to concerns about the bankruptcy of Bluth's studio. Warner Bros. subsequently bought the distribution rights in March 1993, and Thumbelina was released the following year. When released, it was preceded by the Animaniacs short, I'm Mad.

Since December 2001, the film's rights ownership, along with A Troll in Central Park (1994) and the non-US rights to The Pebble and the Penguin (1995) are currently held by Fox (although since 2006 and until June 2020, Fox is handling home video distribution of the MGM library including The Pebble and the Penguin).

Box office

The film grossed $11.4 million at the US box office, against a budget of $28 million.

Critical reception

Critical response aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 25% approval rating based on 8 reviews, with an average score of 5.2 out of 10.

Roger Ebert gave the film 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."

It also won a Razzie in the category of "Worst Original Song" for "Marry the Mole", sung by Carol Channing.

Home media releases

Warner Home Video released Thumbelina on VHS and LaserDisc on July 26, 1994 in the United States and Canada, and internationally in different countries throughout the 1990s. The film was re-released on VHS in the United Kingdom in 1995.

In December 2001, Thumbelina was re-released on VHS and DVD; by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. On March 6, 2012, Thumbelina was released on Blu-ray.