Thumbelina

Year of release : 1994

 

Run time : 1h19min

 

Genre : Family / Musical / Animation

 

 

The animation is an independent movie based on Hans Christian Andersen 1835 fairy tale of the same name.

 

Once upon a time there was a lonely widow who wished to have a child of her own. A friendly witch visits her one day,and gives her a barely seed . The plant grows into a flower,which reveals a thumb size girl inside. The lonely widow names her Thumbelina.

Thumbelina is friends with all the animals at the farm, and longs to have someone like her, as she realizes she's the only one of her kind. The widow whom she calls Mother, tells her the fairies are the same size as her, just that they have wings.

 

That very night, Thumbelina is visited by the fairy prince who was speeding on his bumblebee, following his parents who brought autumn to the land.

They fall in love, and the prince gives her his ring as a token of his affection, telling her he'll return the next day.

 

Unluckily for Thumbelina, while traveling with the prince,dancing and singing, she was seen by a family of singing toads. Mrs. Toad kidnaps Thumbelina, wanting to have her in her singing band, and to have her marry her son, Grundel.

When Thumbelina hears Mrs. Toad wants to have her married to her son, she asks the help of a bird, Jacquimo, passing by, who helps her leave the lily patch she was on. Jacquimo is trying to find her home, while she travels with a few insects towards what she thinks to be home.

 

Hearing Thumbelina was kidnapped, the fairy prince is asking his parents to hold back the winter frost,until he finds her.

 

Thumbelina ends up being pursued by Berkeley Beetle, another singer, who wants her for his own, and gives her empty promises,who releases her upon hearing his beetle kind call her ugly.

 

Thumbelina is in the adventure of her life, as she's trying not only to find her way home, but to find her fairy prince.

 

I personally enjoyed the animation. It was definitely made for children, as Thumbelina and Cornelius meet and fall in love, after one date wanting to get married,thing they actually do, months later (6 to my guessing) when they finally meet again. Cornelius is 16 years old when they meet.

The world is a world of little creatures, small animals, insects and birds, who have human traits.

 

The only thing that bothered me was everyone found Thumbelina incredibly beautiful and wanted to marry her! No one asks her what she wants, they think they can have her,as long as they want her! Which I guess, was a reflection of the world at the time Thumbelina was written, when women didn't have a voice, and if a man wanted a woman, all he had to do was ask her father for her hand in marriage,and married her!

 

The animation is made in the traditional style of cel / hand drawn,which is my favorite. The colors are bold and beautiful. The world created, amazing.

 

The voice actors were good.

The voice of Thumbelina is the voice of Jodi Benson, who also voiced Ariel, from The Little Mermaid (1989).

 

The soundtrack was good. I usually don't enjoy musicals, but this one didn't bother me.

 

The animation was a box office flop, earning 17 million dollars against a budget of 28 million dollars.

 

You can watch the animation here for free (both versions have 3 songs,if I'm not mistaken, muted, my guess is due to copyright claims ) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHZaUVSYSXQ&ab_channel=GEM%3AFilmLibrary

 

or here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgWRyDV9Ozs&ab_channel=DDF%3AMovieDay

 

Rating : Worth a watch !