BACKGROUND
Around the 1990s, it seemed that every movie that was animated had to be from Disney, just because Disney Animation had really taken the world by storm in this decade, after struggling for years on end after the death of Walt Disney.
It is actually not the case that every animated movie is from Disney, even if they are based on a fairy tale and are musicals, like Thumbelina.
I am fully aware that Thumbelina is currently on Disney+, so how can it not be a Disney movie? Well, that’s because technically Disney do own the film, BUT they had nothing to do with its production. Thumbelina was part of 20th Century Fox’s catalogue at the time that Disney acquired it, so that is why it is on Disney+.
Anyway, for years, I’ve heard people claiming that things like Anastasia (1997) and Thumbelina are Disney movies. I try to just roll my eyes and ignore it, but I find it really irritating that people don’t want to do their research. And that’s where I come in.
Thumbelina was in fact created by Don Bluth and his animation studio. Bluth was a Disney animator back in the 1970s, but he subsequently left and made a variety of movies, some being remembered fondly and others less so. Thumbelina is in the “less so” group.
But I’ve always loved Thumbelina. I didn’t watch it at the cinema, and only remember viewing it on a VHS where we must’ve recorded it off the TV, probably from Channel 5. I remember Thumbelina sort of creeped me out a bit as a child as Thumbelina is continuously kidnapped and stalked by weird creatures, and yet, I still liked it. There’s also another reason I shouldn’t like Thumbelina. Not because Thumbelina isn’t a “progressive female lead” or because the story “drags” – those are other people’s problems. No, mine is because of the animation style.
I’m overly sensitive to colours and patterns, to the point that I have been known to avoid sitting on certain furniture if I don’t like the look of it. Weird, I know. It’s a good thing I didn’t grow up in the 70s! I don’t watch Pinocchio (1940) because the colours and illustration style just don’t work for me, plus, all the other weird stuff in that film that makes me not enjoy the story. Thumbelina has a similar illustrative look, i.e., a more traditional storybook style, and lacks the general vibrancy and light that makes me enjoy Disney animated films.
And yet, I still like it. I don’t really know why, I just know I really like this film.
PLOT
The opening of Thumbelina starts with a scene showing a windmill by a lake, before we zoom through the streets of Paris, seeing sights like Notre Dame Cathedral, as we follow a swallow to its home inside the cathedral. This swallow is called Jacquimo, and he claims to be a “swallow extraordinaire” and lover of beautiful things. He constantly talks about following your heart and saying how nothing is impossible. Inside his home, he has multiple books, all love stories about impossible problems, like Samson and Delilah, and Romeo and Juliet. Yes, such romantic stories with lovely happy endings… Anyway, Jacquimo actually wants to talk about the story of Thumbelina and as the storybook opens, he tells us the beginning of the story.
Once upon a time, there was a lonely woman who was desperate to have a child. She went to a good witch who gave the woman a tiny barley corn. The good witch told the woman to plant it. The woman did as she was told and after some time, a flower blooms from it. As the petals open up, they reveal a tiny girl – who is about sixteen-years-old though – who is the size of a thumb. Because of this, the woman names her Thumbelina.
However, Thumbelina soon learns that this world isn’t so great for someone of her height, finding herself smaller than all the farm animals that her “mother” owns, and almost ending up baked inside a pie. That night, her mother tries to tell her a story about a noble dog, obviously after her own pet, Hero, but Thumbelina asks her to stop, instead wanting to hear a story about someone small like her. Her mother shows Thumbelina a story about fairies who are a similar size. When Thumbelina asks if fairies are real, her mother’s response is unconvincing, leading Thumbelina to feel sad that she’ll never find where she belongs, and will never find love. Thumbelina wants nothing more than “to be big”, but her mother tells her not to wish to be anything more or less than she already is.
As Thumbelina is taken to bed, where she sleeps inside a walnut – random – she asks to be placed by the open storybook so she can look at pictures of the fairies whilst she goes to sleep. Her mother places her by the window with the book, and asks her dog to protect her overnight. Thumbelina wishes for fairies to be real, and pretends to have a conversation with one of the pictures. Suddenly, the page is cut open by someone with a sword. Terrified, Thumbelina goes to hide in a teapot. The intruder apologises for scaring her and tries to convince her to come out of her hiding place. Thumbelina does so and finds that the intruder is an actual, real-life fairy! Thumbelina is overjoyed to find someone as small as her, but Hero is woken by this conversation and starts to bark at the fairy. Thumbelina quickly begins formal introductions to show Hero the fairy is a friend. The fairy introduces himself as Cornelius, which Thumbelina finds to be a hilarious name. Yeah, because Thumbelina is such a normal name! Thumbelina starts to ask if he knows about a Fairy Prince. Cornelius says there is one and he’s very handsome. The two are interrupted by the buzzing of a bumblebee on the windowsill. That is Buzzbee, Cornelius’ bee that he rides around on. Cornelius asks Thumbelina if she wants to go for a ride and they fly off together.
On returning to Thumbelina’s home, Cornelius is about to kiss Thumbelina when he hears his name being called. He says his parents, the King and Queen of the Fairies, are calling him, because he missed the “golding of the leaves” that evening, when summer turns to autumn. Thumbelina learns that this must mean Cornelius is the Fairy Prince that he was talking about. Cornelius says that is true and asks whether he could come back tomorrow, to take her to meet his parents. Thumbelina would love to see him again, and Thumbelina gives him a necklace of forget-me-nots, so he never forgets her, and Cornelius puts a ring on Thumbelina’s finger. Wow, engaged after just an hour or two together. Interesting. Very fairy tale… Cornelius returns to the Fairy Court. However, as Thumbelina sleeps, she is kidnapped by a toad, who came in through the open window, just like Cornelius. Rookie error. Keep your doors and windows locked, people! Despite Hero the dog’s attempts to retrieve Thumbelina, her and the walnut are gone, as the toad floats them down the river.
Thumbelina wakes up the next morning, presumably after fainting from terror, to find herself on a boat. The toad who took her away, Mrs. Toad, tells Thumbelina that she lives on this boat with her three sons and that they are a very rich and famous singing group. Mrs. Toad heard Thumbelina singing with Cornelius last night and wants her to join their group, touring the world together. Thumbelina says she’s going to marry the Fairy Prince, but Mrs. Toad says that would be a big mistake and a waste of her life. Thumbelina is almost convinced to join them, until Mrs. Toad’s eldest son, Grundel, who also saw Thumbelina last night and became instantly infatuated with her, says he wants to marry Thumbelina. Mrs. Toad breaks the news to Thumbelina, who refuses, but Mrs. Toad won’t take “no” for an answer and leaves Thumbelina on a lily pad whilst they prepare for the wedding.
Since Thumbelina can’t swim, she is trapped on this lily pad. Until Jacquimo arrives. He hears about Thumbelina’s problems but is excited to hear she’s engaged to the Fairy Prince and helps her, by cutting the stem of the lily pad, so it starts to float. However, the lily pad starts floating to a huge waterfall. Thumbelina and Jacquimo panic as they try to stop Thumbelina from falling to certain death, but Thumbelina faints – again – and Jacquimo almost drowns himself. Instead, two fish and a group of bugs manage to rescue them both and get them to solid ground. Thumbelina wakes up, surrounded by bugs, who ask her if it’s true that she’s going to marry the Fairy Prince. She says she hopes it’s true but she needs to get home so she can see him again. Thumbelina thinks it’s impossible but Jacquimo tells her nothing is impossible, giving Thumbelina some motivation to get herself home. Three little bugs join her on the journey and Jacquimo tells Thumbelina he will find the Vale of the Fairies, as this is where Cornelius lives.
Cornelius is already at Thumbelina’s house though, and finds the room an absolute mess. Shocked, he asks Hero what happened. Hero manages to act out the incident, leading Cornelius to learn a toad took Thumbelina. He says he will find her. Cornelius then goes to his parents to ask them to delay the winter frost to give him time to search for her. The King and Queen tell him they cannot delay it for more than a day, and fear for their son’s safety. At the same time, Grundel is being teased by his toad brothers about how Thumbelina disappeared. He tells them he will marry Thumbelina and goes off to find her.
Thumbelina and her little insect friends start walking but they are soon stopped by a beetle who flies down and blocks their way. The little bugs run off scared. The beetle introduces himself as Berkeley Beetle. He heard Thumbelina singing, and insists she doesn’t talk and only sings to him. Thumbelina asks if the beetle can fly her up to a tree to see if she can see her house from there. He asks why he would do that for her, and Thumbelina responds that she’ll sing for him. This gives Berkeley Beetle an idea. Thumbelina won’t sing for him; she’ll sing at the Beetle Ball. The beetle takes her there against her will. Thumbelina is dressed up as a butterfly and made to perform alongside Berkeley and his beetle back-up dancers. The audience seem impressed with this new butterfly but after a spinning section goes too fast and most of Thumbelina’s costume falls off, it is revealed Thumbelina is not in fact a butterfly and the audience turn against her, calling her ugly. Berkeley Beetle goes with the crowd and rejects Thumbelina, ditching her. Alone and cold in a tree, Thumbelina is soon found by Jacquimo who tells her to forget about the beetle. She does not love the beetle so who cares what he thinks. They’ll resume their journeys tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Thumbelina’s little bug friends run into Grundel the toad who overhears them talking about a beetle. The bugs run off scared again, but Grundel now knows he needs to find this beetle. Cornelius is also still searching for Thumbelina through stormy weather. He asks some bugs where Thumbelina is. They say she is “out there, somewhere”. Cornelius heads back out into the harsh weather, knowing winter is almost here.
The next day, Jacquimo continues to ask around for where the Vale of the Fairies might be, asking a fox, a hare, and a bear, but nobody seems to want to talk to him. Jacquimo also ends up being slammed into a thorny bush, getting a thorn stuck in his wing. Luckily, he can still fly, even though it hurts him. Thumbelina finds herself cold and lost again though, with snow starting to come down thick and fast. Thumbelina sees an old shoe and sock nearby. She wraps herself up in there and falls asleep.
Grundel has managed to find Berkeley Beetle and starts to choke him, wanting information on Thumbelina. Berkeley says he doesn’t know what happened to her after the show, but does have a plan. If Grundel can get the Fairy Prince, setting up a trap for Thumbelina using the Fairy Prince as bait, then that’ll bring Thumbelina to him. Berkeley Beetle is told to find the Fairy Prince, with Grundel ripping off his wings, saying he will return them when he has brought back the Fairy Prince. Luckily, Berkeley Beetle and his friends quickly discover Cornelius frozen in a lake, having fallen off his bee into the lake in the bad weather. They cut Cornelius out of there as a block of ice and take it back to Grundel.
Back with Thumbelina, she has found herself in a warm tunnel underground. She was rescued by Ms. Fieldmouse and taken back to her home. Ms. Fieldmouse reveals she knows all about Thumbelina, like how she was engaged to the Fairy Prince, but blurts out that Cornelius was found “stone cold, frozen dead”. Thumbelina is distraught, not knowing this little important fact about her life. Ms. Fieldmouse says they need to go see her friend Mr. Mole, and forces Thumbelina to go even though she’s not feeling very much like socialising after finding out the love of her life is dead… Thumbelina meets Mr. Mole, who is completely blind and hates sunlight, but loves stories and singing. Ms. Fieldmouse encourages Thumbelina to sing for him, before the two are taken by Mr. Mole into one of his tunnels to see a dead bird. It turns out the dead bird is Jacquimo and Thumbelina runs over to him, but she hears a heartbeat and says she’ll come back that evening to see him again.
On returning to Ms. Fieldmouse’s home, she tries to convince Thumbelina to marry Mr. Mole, since the two had a conversation about how Mr. Mole has “been meaning to take a wife for some time” and will pay Ms. Fieldmouse if he can get Thumbelina to marry him. Gross. Thumbelina initially refuses to marry Mr. Mole and sneaks off to see Jacquimo. Jacquimo wakes up as Thumbelina tells him that she probably should marry Mr. Mole because Cornelius is dead and Ms. Fieldmouse told her that at least he’s rich! Thumbelina removes the thorn from Jacquimo’s wing but he vows to continue his search for the Vale of the Fairies, despite Thumbelina trying to tell him that the search is pointless since Cornelius is dead. Jacquimo won’t listen to her and flies away.
Grundel learns that the Fairy Prince is dead, going against his and the beetle’s initial plan, but he’s glad the Prince is dead. Berkeley Beetle then says that Thumbelina is underground and they go to find her. The little bugs from earlier overhear this and decide to build a fire to melt the ice, hoping the Fairy Prince will live again. He starts to wake up.
The next day is the day of Thumbelina and Mr. Mole’s wedding, though it’s not a happy day for Thumbelina, as she hears and sees Cornelius everywhere as she starts to walk up the aisle. When asked if she will take Mr. Mole to be her lawful wedded husband, she refuses. Grundel then comes in through the ceiling and says he will marry her, but Thumbelina manages to get away from him and runs through the tunnels, with Berkeley Beetle also attempting to stop her. As Mr. Mole, the wedding guests, and Grundel chase after Thumbelina, Cornelius arrives to battle Grundel. The two fall over a ledge, seemingly to their deaths, after Cornelius becomes distracted by a scream from Thumbelina.
Thumbelina is actually fine and has seen a way out of the tunnel, using Mr. Mole’s treasure to block anyone from following her. She comes back to the surface, happy to see the sun again. Jacquimo then arrives at just the right moment yet again, and tells her to get on his back so he can fly her to the Vale of the Fairies. They arrive at an area that just looks like a patch of frozen weeds, but Jacquimo tells her to sing. She does, unconvincingly, but Jacquimo sees an icicle break. He pushes her to keep singing, but she soon gets angry and says Cornelius is never coming back. At this point, Cornelius arrives and finishes Thumbelina’s song. Overjoyed and reunited, the two kiss, causing the Vale of the Fairies to defrost and the fairies to reveal themselves. Thumbelina even gets her own wings.
As so many fairy tales do, the story ends with Thumbelina and Cornelius getting married in the presence of the King and Queen, as well as Thumbelina’s mother and all her farmyard friends. Thumbelina and Cornelius fly off together on Buzzbee and Jacquimo tells us they lived happily ever after as the tiny storybook closes.
CHARACTERS & CAST
There are some big names in the voice cast of Thumbelina.
Let’s start with our main character. Thumbelina is very naïve to the world, though to be fair, although she was born a sixteen-year-old, she was only born right at the start of the film. She has no time to learn about anything before she is thrown into bizarre situations, like being kidnapped by a toad, and a beetle, and then being forced, or at least guilt-tripped, into marry a mole. It’s the strangest life that Thumbelina has lived within just a few weeks of being alive. Oh, and she managed to find her true love in only a day! Thumbelina is not a headstrong, independent female lead. Thumbelina is mostly just pretty, sweet, and kind, which is probably why everyone thinks they can walk all over her, but I still like her as a character, and she does have some inner strength to jilt Mr. Mole at the altar because she knows it’s wrong to marry someone else, someone she doesn’t love, just because Cornelius is dead. I think Thumbelina gets some harsh criticism in reviews of today.
Thumbelina was actually voiced by Jodi Benson, whose name, and voice, should be very recognisable to Disney fans. That is because Benson is the voice of Ariel in Disney’s The Little Mermaid (1989), having reprised the role multiple times, for spin-off films, television series, and theme park attractions over the years. Benson got the role having worked with Howard Ashman, the lyricist for The Little Mermaid, on the musical Smile in 1986, which flopped on Broadway and closed after only 87 performances. Benson became a Disney Legend in 2011 for her work for the company, which also included her voicing Helen of Troy in the television series spin-off Hercules (1998-99); Barbie in Pixar’s Toy Story 2 (1999) and Toy Story 3 (2010); and appearing in the live-action/animation hybrid Disney film Enchanted (2007), which was a parody of Disney’s princess films, as Edward’s assistant, Sam. This is probably one reason why many people believe Thumbelina is a Disney movie, although Benson was asked to put on a higher pitched, more delicate voice for the character here, making it sound slightly different to Ariel’s voice.
Cornelius is the Fairy Prince who finds Thumbelina singing to herself and decides it’s perfectly alright to go into her room just so he can meet her. This guy must’ve been taking lessons from the Prince in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). But fairy-tale world is a very different world from reality so I’ll cut him some slack. Cornelius is the answer to all Thumbelina’s prayers. She wanted to meet a fairy and she wanted to find love; Cornelius was both of those things. Although it was very much a whirlwind romance, with the two of them falling in love over a song and a moonlit flight on a bumblebee, it is clear how much Cornelius cares about her, so much so that he is willing to risk his life to find her and save her from this horrible toad who took her, and Cornelius does almost die in the process a couple of times. But he does not die and manages to reveal he’s actually alive in the most theatrical of ways, before marrying Thumbelina so they can be together forever. Aww.
Gary Imhoff voiced Cornelius. Imhoff went on to voice the character of Harry Osborn / Green Goblin II in Spider-Man: The Animated Series (1995-98) originally for Fox Kids. He also appeared in a small role in The Green Mile (1999).
Then there is Jacquimo the swallow, who is both the narrator of Thumbelina as well as a big figure in the story. Jacquimo first comes across Thumbelina when she is stuck on the lily pad after the toads have left her momentarily. Because Jacquimo acts before he thinks, he helps Thumbelina by cutting the stem of the lily pad but then almost kills her when the lily pad starts heading towards the waterfall. Jacquimo also gets himself in trouble by asking lots of predator animals where the Vale of the Fairies is because he is so desperate to bring Thumbelina and Cornelius together again. Jacquimo gets a thorn stuck in his wing and is believed to be dead, but this brings Thumbelina to him and he once again finds renewed energy to search for the Vale even when Thumbelina thinks it’s not worth it anymore. Jacquimo stays loyal to her and her love throughout and keeps Thumbelina believing that anything is impossible, even if the most difficult circumstances.
Gino Conforti was cast as Jacquimo, having previously been seen in the recurring role of Felipe Gomez in the last few seasons of the sitcom Three’s Company (1977-84). He went on to appear as Cardinal Pugini in Angels & Demons (2009), the sequel to The Da Vinci Code (2006). Unlike Jacquimo, Conforti is not French and is actually of Italian descent, meaning that his French accent is quite obviously exaggerated. It’s fairly stereotypical, perhaps offensive to some, but I think he tried his best!
Thumbelina’s mother and Cornelius’ parents, the King and Queen, both feature in Thumbelina but they are not overly prominent figures in this story. Thumbelina’s mother is initially seen at the beginning of the movie, telling Thumbelina not to wish she was bigger, and is seen to be devastated when Thumbelina is taken. However, after the initial ten minutes or so of the movie, Thumbelina’s mother is only seen briefly in a couple of other places, though it is good to see the two reunited at the end of the film for Thumbelina’s wedding. Thumbelina’s mother was voiced by Barbara Cook, a singer and stage actress, who originated the role of Marian in The Music Man on Broadway in 1957, opposite Robert Preston as Professor Harold Hill. Cook won a Tony Award for her performance. She also had leading performances in other stage shows, including as Anna Leonowens in The King and I around 1960, and as Fanny Brice in the 1967 performance of Funny Girl.
The King and Queen of the Fairies are first seen as the fairies turn the leaves gold for autumn, where the Queen realises their son, Cornelius, is not there for the ceremony, and is worried about how much he buzzes around on his bumblebee. The King tells her not to worry and that’s just what sixteen-year-olds do. They are then seen again when Cornelius asks them to delay the winter frost, but they are unable to hold it off to prevent Cornelius from becoming frozen in the lake. We then don’t see the King and Queen again until Cornelius and Thumbelina’s wedding at the end, but I’m sure they were pleased that their son came home safely and managed to find the girl of his dreams again.
Kenneth Mars was chosen to voice the Fairy King, King Colbert, with Mars’ voice again being familiar to Disney fans since he voiced Triton in The Little Mermaid franchise. Outside of that, Mars appeared in two of Mel Brooks’ most famous films: as Franz Liebkind in The Producers (1967) and as Police Inspector Kemp in Young Frankenstein (1974). Mars also voiced Grandpa Longneck in the series of The Land Before Time direct-to-video sequels, from 1994 to 2006. Mars passed away in 2011. June Foray voiced the Fairy Queen, Queen Tabitha. Foray is well-known for her voice work, voicing numerous characters for Looney Tunes, such as Granny and Witch Hazel, as well as Rocky the squirrel, and others, in Rocky and Bullwinkle (1959-64). She also had some history with Disney, “voicing” Lucifer the cat in Cinderella (1950) and Grandmother Fa in Mulan (1998).
Now let’s get to the villains of Thumbelina, of which there are many. First up, let’s talk about Berkeley Beetle. Berkeley Beetle scares Thumbelina by just appearing in front of her as she’s minding her business and trying to get home. Berkeley Beetle then proceeds to try and charm her, by kissing her arm and calling her “toots”, something Thumbelina doesn’t like, although she does like him saying she’s beautiful. He seems quite taken with Thumbelina, but when she is revealed to not be an insect during his performance with her at the Beetle Ball, the peer pressure soon makes him reject her. He is later forced to work with Grundel the toad to help him find her, which he isn’t thrilled about doing, but does so, nonetheless, wanting the wings back that Grundel ripped off his back. Ouch.
Once again, the voice of Berkeley Beetle should be familiar to Disney fans, since Gilbert Gottfried voiced the character, and he is well-known as the voice of Iago, Jafar’s fast-talking parrot sidekick in Aladdin (1992), reprising the role often. Gottfried began his career as a stand-up comedian, before moving into film roles. Some of these earlier credits include Beverly Hills Cop II (1987) as Sidney Bernstein, and the 1990 film Problem Child and its 1991 sequel as Mr. Peabody. In 1994, he also had a small role as Bert Banner in Saved by the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas. Gilbert Gottfried continued to appear in television and film projects throughout his life. Gilbert Gottfried passed away in April 2022.
On to the toads, or “The Singers de España”. Mrs. Toad hears Thumbelina singing with Cornelius and instantly decides that kidnapping her and convincing her to sing with them is a good idea. Mrs. Toad and her three sons, Mozo, Gringo, and Grundel want Thumbelina to be part of their group, but none more so than Grundel, who also saw Thumbelina with Cornelius the night before and has somehow fallen in love with her after she blew him a kiss. After Thumbelina manages to escape them, Mrs. Toad doesn’t seem bothered and is not seen again, however, after being mocked by his brothers, Grundel becomes obsessed with the idea of finding and marrying Thumbelina, getting others to help him with his plight. Grundel is a very creepy character in this movie. I quite like Berkeley Beetle, and Mrs. Toad is funny, but I don’t like Grundel at all.
Grundel was voiced by Irish actor Joe Lynch. Yes, once again, that was not a real accent you were hearing! Lynch appeared in various series over the years, including as Ron Mather in Coronation Street (1960-present); and in the main role of Dinny Byrne in Glenroe (1983-2001). He was also cast as Blazes Boylan in the 1967 film adaptation of Ulysses. Lynch passed away in 2001. Mrs. Toad was voiced by Spanish singer, actress, and television personality Charo. Recently, Charo was cast as the Queen of the United Kingdom in the disaster film Sharknado 5: Global Swarming (2017) and makes regular appearances on RuPaul’s Drag Race (2009-present). Charo was also a contestant on Dancing with the Stars (2005-present) in 2017 and even appeared in one episode of Disney Channel’s The Suite Life on Deck (2008-11), being cast as Esteban’s mother.
Finally, we have Mr. Mole and Ms. Fieldmouse, the final two characters that Thumbelina finds herself in the company of. Ms. Fieldmouse initially doesn’t seem too bad; she does save Thumbelina from catching her death out in the cold, but she also tells Thumbelina that Cornelius is dead without even thinking and then proceeds to force Thumbelina to spend time with Mr. Mole, using the fact she “saved Thumbelina’s life” to guilt her in to it. Mr. Mole is a bit of a miser, and hoards money and treasure throughout the tunnels he calls home. Him and Thumbelina aren’t exactly compatible – she loves the light and he loves the dark and cold, for example – and yet he is desperate to marry her. Get in line, mate; there are two others vying for Thumbelina’s attention at this point! Mr. Mole asks Ms. Fieldmouse to convince Thumbelina to marry him, which is just disgusting, with Ms. Fieldmouse only happy to do so, since he did pay her! Thumbelina is essentially guilt-tripped into the wedding, but refuses to go through with it. Any normal person should have just let Thumbelina leave, but no, Mr. Mole and Ms. Fieldmouse have to go and chase her down. What were they going to do if they caught up to her? Tie her up and make her go through with it? Grim.
Anyway, despite their unpleasant characters, the voice actors for both Mr. Mole and Ms. Fieldmouse are both legends in their respective fields. Mr. Mole was voiced by British actor Sir John Hurt. Hurt starred in major movies such as Alien (1979); The Elephant Man (1980), for which he was nominated at the Academy Awards in the Best Actor category and won the BAFTA for; and The Midnight Express (1978), where he was nominated at the Oscars for Best Supporting Actor, and won it at the BAFTAs. Hurt was no stranger to voice acting either, voicing Hazel in Watership Down (1978); Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings (1978), and The Horned King in Disney’s The Black Cauldron (1985). Later in his career, he also played Ollivander in the Harry Potter film series and voiced The Great Dragon in the BBC series Merlin (2008-12). Sir John Hurt sadly passed away in January 2017.
Ms. Fieldmouse was voiced by stage performer Carol Channing. I didn’t actually know who Carol Channing was until many years after I first watched Thumbelina. I looked her up after seeing Ryan Stiles impersonating her on Whose Line Is It Anyway? (1998-present), something which he has done a few times on the shpw. It was specifically after seeing the infamous clip where Stiles is pretending to be “Carol Channing whose head keeps getting stuck to things” and ends up slamming his head into host Drew Carey’s desk and breaking the glass! But Channing did much more in her career, other than being impersonated by comedians. She played the part of Dolly Levi in Hello, Dolly! numerous times on stage from the 1960s into the 1990s, being the first person to play the character in the 1964 original Broadway show and winning a Tony award for her performance. She was also part of the original Broadway cast of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes back in 1949, playing Lorelei Lee, and went on to be cast as Muzzy Van Hossmere in the film adaptation Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), starring Julie Andrews in title role. Channing won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for this role. Because of her commitment to the stage, she also earnt a Tony Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995. In voice acting, Channing had previously voiced the character of Granny Frump in the animated ABC series The Addams Family (1992-93) prior to Thumbelina. Channing died in 2019.
A fun fact about Ms. Fieldmouse is that allegedly Betty White had recorded the lines for the role first, but Channing was asked to come in and record the lines instead after White’s performance was deemed not right for the character. However, White had not been informed of this until after finding out from Channing herself that Channing had been hired instead. Don Bluth, director of Thumbelina, apologised to White for the misunderstanding[1].
MUSIC
Perhaps unsurprisingly after that star-studded voice cast, Don Bluth headed for another big name to work on the music for Thumbelina.
Bluth approached singer-songwriter Barry Manilow, famous for hits in the 1970s like “Mandy”, “I Write the Songs”, and “Copacabana”, to write the music for Thumbelina. Manilow had wanted to write Broadway musicals early on his career but somehow found himself going in a different direction in the world of music. Working on an animated musical like Thumbelina was a good opportunity for this dream to come true. Manilow was also given the opportunity to compose the score for Thumbelina, something he had not done before, alongside William Ross, who also wrote the music for another movie in 1994, The Little Rascals, as well as working as an orchestrator on other 1990s movies like The Bodyguard (1992), Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991); and the animated movie FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992)[2].
For the songs, Manilow collaborated with lyricists Jack Feldman and Bruce Sussman, who had worked with Manilow on his song “Copacabana”. All three had also written the song “Perfect Isn’t Easy” performed by Bette Midler as poodle Georgette in Disney’s Oliver & Company (1988), before working on Thumbelina. Jack Feldman even went on to work on the music for the Disney direct-to-video sequel The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride (1998) and contributed to some of the songs in Disney’s live-action remake Snow White (2025) – but let’s not get in to that disaster right now; that’s a story for another time. Following Thumbelina, Manilow and Sussman worked with Don Bluth again for his next movie, The Pebble and the Penguin (1995).
Thumbelina consists of seven original songs. The first one that was written, and my favourite in the film, was “Let Me Be Your Wings”. Manilow handed a demo tape of this song to Don Bluth and Bluth boarded the sequence for it himself[3]. “Let Me Be Your Wings” is a romantic love song between Cornelius and Thumbelina, as they dance in the moonlight, on the river, and, randomly, on a pumpkin on the same night they meet for the first time. It’s a beautiful song and a beautiful piece of animation, with the highlight really being when Cornelius sings “and I’ll never let you fall”, proceeding to drop Thumbelina as he gets lost in the music, having to swoop down and rescue her since he is the only one who can fly! Luckily, Thumbelina’s eyes are closed at this point and she doesn’t even seem to notice.
“Let Me Be Your Wings” is really the anthem of the movie, appearing in the Opening Credits as an instrumental piece; in a reprise known as “Let Me Be Your Wings (Sun Reprise)”, when Thumbelina sings about her love of the sun, actually a metaphor for her love for Cornelius, to Ms. Fieldmouse and Mr. Mole; and then at the end of the movie. Thumbelina sings it in the Vale of the Fairies and is reunited with Cornelius. These versions of the song were performed by Gary Imhoff as Cornelius and Jodi Benson as Thumbelina. Finally, there is a special arrangement for their wedding, performed by a chorus. It also appears in the End Credits, this time performed by Barry Manilow and Debra Byrd, who was one of the vocal coaches in the first ten seasons of American Idol (2002-present).
I might as well now go through the remaining songs in my own order of preference, so following “Let Me Be Your Wings” we have “On the Road” performed by Charo, Joe Lynch, Danny Mann, and Loren Lester as Mrs. Toad and her sons, a.k.a. The Singers de España, with the addition of Jodi Benson as Thumbelina. This song is a fun, flamenco-inspired number with lots of fast lyrics and dance beats. It is all about the toads trying to convince Thumbelina to go on tour with them as part of their singing group. I just think it’s so upbeat and funny at the same time, even if it might be a bit stereotypically Spanish… The best bit is really when Mrs. Toad stomps on Thumbelina’s foot to get her to “sing” with them, though really, she is just screaming in tune.
Another song I really like in Thumbelina is “Yer Beautiful, Baby”, which is Berkeley Beetle’s song that he performs at the famous Beetle Ball, so it’s a number fit for the stage, with backing dancers and big, elaborate costumes, such as the butterfly costume Thumbelina is put in, before it flies off her after an erratic spinning section of the dance. The song is interrupted by complaints from the audience about how Thumbelina is ugly since she isn’t an insect like them, and they feel duped. Despite Berkeley Beetle being voiced by Gilbert Gottfried, he did not sing this song. The singer was Randy Crenshaw, who did a good job of imitating Gottfried’s distinctive voice; I never really noticed it wasn’t Gottfried. Additional vocals are provided by Irish vocal group Anúna.
The next song in my list is “Soon”, Thumbelina’s “I Want” song – all the best musicals have them. This is where she sings about wanting to find love, preferably with a fairy or someone small like her. It’s a lovely song, giving Jodi Benson a proper opportunity to show off her wonderful singing voice in the first of Thumbelina’s only two solos. This song is later reprised, being performed by Barbara Cook as Thumbelina’s mother as she hopes for Thumbelina’s safe return to her, twisting Thumbelina’s “I Want” song into her own. Since Cook had a long history as a performer in stage musicals, this gave her the chance to showcase her singing talents as well.
Then, we have “Follow Your Heart”. It’s one of my least favourite songs in the movie, even though following your heart is one of the main messages of the film. It just a bit too “in-your-face” for me, especially since the main performance of this song consists of birds can-canning like they’re in A Chorus Line or something; it’s too much but it is at least happy and positive to counteract some of the darkness in the story. This main performance is primarily sung by Gino Conforti in that overly French accent that Jacquimo has. Anúna once again contribute to this song both here and when it appears again at the end of the finale song. “Follow Your Heart” is also performed briefly by Jacquimo when we are first introduced to him in the opening scene, and in the End Credits.
Now, we’re getting to songs I don’t like, although there are only two left. The first is “Thumbelina” which is our introduction to Thumbelina and her struggles of being in this world where everything is too big for her. It’s mostly performed by Thumbelina’s mother’s farmyard animals who tease Thumbelina about her height and narrate as she gets herself into scrapes, like falling into the animals’ drinking trough and almost gets baked into a pie. The performers of this song are listed as Jodi Benson, who laments her height in this song, and Anúna who must sing all the other parts. The song “Thumbelina” seems to have been shortened for the movie, as I heard a version with lines I’d never heard before that seemingly came from the original soundtrack.
Finally, we get to “Marry the Mole”, performed by Carol Channing as Ms. Fieldmouse. This song is all about Ms. Fieldmouse telling Thumbelina that marrying for love is a mistake and she should marry Mr. Mole for his money… Hmm, that’s a strange message for a children’s movie. Thankfully, Thumbelina proves that you should in fact marry for love and not money. Ms. Fieldmouse is just a gold-digger apparently. Maybe she should go marry Mr. Mole if he’s so great! Anyway, “Marry the Mole” is not a good song, and in my opinion, is the weakest in the soundtrack, probably because it’s just plain weird. But I don’t think it was Razzie Award-worthy.
At the 15th Razzie Awards in 1995, the award for Worst Original Song went to “Marry the Mole”. Thumbelina gained itself a lifelong reputation by becoming the first animated movie ever to win a Golden Raspberry Award, the Oscar parody where awards are given for the “worst” in cinema instead of the best. It was up against “Under the Same Sun” from On Deadly Ground (1994), and “The Color of the Night” from the 1994 movie Color of Night, which strangely enough was also nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Original Song. It lost to “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” from Disney’s The Lion King (1994). The Worst Original Song category was presented at the Razzies from 1980 until 1999, with one final award presented in this category in 2002 for Britney Spears’ “I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman” from Crossroads (2002), before the category was retired.
But don’t worry. Thumbelina may’ve been the first animated movie to win a Razzie, but The Emoji Movie (2017) would top it, by winning four Razzie awards, including Worst Picture and Worst Director, so it’s not so bad!
PRODUCTION
I’ve already mentioned some Disney Animation connections in Thumbelina’s voice cast, but there is another more important one, and that is Don Bluth, the writer and co-director here.
Many devout Disney fans view Bluth harshly, with much criticism levelled at him over the years. Clearly Don Bluth is a difficult character in the history of animation but there are two sides to every story. Bluth says that he spent about a year working at the Disney Studios, specifically on Sleeping Beauty (1959), right after he graduated from high school. He then went off to college and returned to the studio in 1971 and worked on Robin Hood (1973). At this time, he met Gary Goldman and John Pomeroy, who would become key collaborators in the years to come. Goldman was the other co-director on Thumbelina, for example. Bluth and others were then asked to work on The Rescuers (1977), but Bluth was starting to feel like they weren’t making great movies at Disney Animation anymore and when younger artists from CalArts arrived, a friction was created between the two “camps” of animators: those younger, new arrivals and these more experienced animators, who were still a level lower on the hierarchy than some of Walt’s “Nine Old Men” who were still working at the studios. Eventually, Bluth found his creativity was being stifled and did not like working with the younger artists so he and his group left the company[4].
Those who were at Disney and continued to remain at Disney after Bluth left tell a different story. Bluth had many creative differences with the team during production on The Fox and the Hound (1981), choosing to resign from the Disney company in 1979 to set up his own company, taking fifteen other animators with him; this was around 17% of the total animation workforce. Naturally, this caused the release date of The Fox and the Hound to be pushed back by six months from Christmas 1980 to Summer 1981[5]. His departure was viewed as being purely down to arrogance at his animating ability, believing himself to be better than the other animators at the Disney Studios, and he was not forgiven for leaving them in the lurch during one of Disney Animation’s most troubling times.
Although Bluth perhaps could’ve picked his timing a little bit better, and maybe had a less dramatic departure, it is a well-known fact that not every animator, talented or otherwise, is able to get on with Disney’s way of making movies. If they do leave, it doesn’t make them bad animators, bad creatives, or even bad people. Just look at Tim Burton. His animation style didn’t gel with Disney and he left the company, doing amazing things thereafter. Whichever side of the story you believe, the basics of it is that, for whatever reason, Bluth left Disney, took his friends with him, and they made their own movies.
Don Bluth and his team now had to learn how to make animated movies on their own, but they were free to do it their way. They first chose to adapt the book Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, written by Robert C. O’Brien and published in 1971, for their first animated feature made under the new studio Don Bluth Productions. Bluth made his feature film directorial debut with The Secret of NIMH (1982), which just so happened to be released during Disney’s troubled production on The Black Cauldron (1985). The Secret of NIMH was well-received, putting more pressure on the Disney artists. Bluth’s success and overshadowing of Disney Animation continued with his second movie, An American Tail (1986), another “mouse movie”, released just four months after Disney’s The Great Mouse Detective (1986). It beat out The Great Mouse Detective at the box-office by $22 million. At the time, An American Tail was the highest-grossing non-Disney animated movie in history.
From this point, Bluth and his team went on to make The Land Before Time (1988), at which point the team moved their studio from the US to Dublin, starting the company Don Bluth Ireland Limited, allegedly due to financial concerns. They went on to make All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989) and Thumbelina in Ireland[6].
For Thumbelina, the filmmakers decided to adapt another story, this time it was Hans Christian Andersen’s Thumbelina. The original 1835 tale was titled Tommelise in Danish with “Tomme” meaning inch. It was first published as part of Hans Christian Andersen’s second volume of Fairy Tales Told for Children. It was first translated into English in 1847.
Thumbelina had previously been adapted a few times prior to Bluth’s 1994 movie, including a 1964 Russian movie; a 1992 Golden Films movie; and two anime Japanese films, including the 1992 series Thumbelina: A Magical Story, which was edited into a movie in 1993. Since 1994, Thumbelina has continued to be made into movies, including The Adventures of Tom Thumb & Thumbelina (2002); Barbie Presents: Thumbelina (2009), and even a 2021 short film called Tulip, a modern version of the tale which was shown at the New York International Children’s Film Festival.
Don Bluth’s Thumbelina kept quite closely to the original Hans Christian Andersen tale with some additions and few changes. One of the biggest was that Mrs. Toad in the original story only has one son, and the toads are not singers. Because of the little detail given to these characters in the book, it was decided to make the toads a Spanish singing group, giving Mrs. Toad two other sons and having them travel around on a house boat. Bluth had Charo in mind for the role of Mrs. Toad, and had worked with her before, loving her entertaining personality. When Charo agreed to voice the role, Mrs. Toad was “glammed up” to fit her actual image. Another change was that the Fairy Prince does not appear in the story until the very end of the movie. The two are instantly married and Thumbelina is proclaimed the Queen of all the flowers, given wings and the new name Maia. Random. If audiences were already moaning that Thumbelina and Cornelius fell in love too quickly in Bluth’s film, keeping this original ending would’ve been even more criticised.
There is a swallow in the original tale, but he is not called Jacquimo, is not French, and doesn’t meet Thumbelina until she is shown the “dead” swallow in Mole’s tunnel. Thumbelina does help revive it, and the swallow plans to fly her out of there when spring comes. Spring does come and the swallow flies away, leaving Thumbelina to marry Mole, but he does return for her on the day of her wedding to take her away. Other changes include: only the fish get Thumbelina off the lily pad when she meets the toads; there is no Beetle Ball, although the ugly comments still exist; and Thumbelina approaches Field Mouse for food and is allowed some if she promises to clean Field Mouse’s home and tell her stories, meaning Field Mouse does not save her life in this original story[7].
Thumbelina was probably influenced somewhat by the Disney animated movies of the 1990s, because it is a fairy tale, adapted into a musical, and this was something Disney had a huge amount of success with. Thumbelina’s voice cast even uses five actors who had voiced characters for some of Disney Animation’s greatest movies previously. However, Don Bluth’s An American Tail was also a musical, so this was not the first time he had made an animated musical movie. Thumbelina also uses some early computer animation, something Disney were dabbling with at the time as well. The most obvious use of this is in the opening scene where we follow Jacquimo as he flies through Paris[8]. I was sadly disappointed by the simplistic view of Notre Dame Cathedral in this sequence, but as it is not the focus of the film, I guess it would’ve been pointless to make a completely accurate animation of it. The opening shot of the toads’ houseboat also appears to be CGI.
When Thumbelina was getting ready to be theatrically released, according to an article from the Los Angeles Times in June 1997, Warner Bros., who ended up distributing the movie after Bluth’s deal with MGM fell through due to concerns around the stability of Bluth’s studio, held two separate test screenings of Thumbelina. At the first screening, the movie was shown just as it was and the audience reaction was flat. Sneakily, at the second screening, the movie was played with the Disney logo being shown to the audience at the start. This led to the movie getting a more favourable audience reaction, which proves a bias in society towards Disney and their animated movies, as well as their stellar reputation[9]. Still, it’s a bit sad, really, that other animated studios have to try so much harder to sway public opinion. I’ll admit I’m as guilty as anyone else of favouring Disney though…
RECEPTION
Thumbelina was released in US theatres on 30th March 1994, which is not prime time for new movie releases, especially not those geared towards children. It appears that Thumbelina was meant to be released by MGM during Thanksgiving in 1993, but their distribution did not go ahead, and Warner Bros. stepped in instead.
Thumbelina was released alongside the Animaniacs short I’m Mad (1994), however, this was seen by some reviewers to have been better than Thumbelina. Animaniacs (1993-98) was an animated series about the three Warner siblings who live in the water tower at Warner Bros. Studios. I’m Mad later aired as part of Season 2 of the series. Although Don Bluth had been competitive with Disney back in the 1980s, his movies since All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989) had struggled against the movies from the Disney “Renaissance Era”, and Thumbelina was included as one of those that was “not good enough”.
Others also said Thumbelina was odd, unexciting, a Disney “copycat”, and a “fever dream”. I will admit Thumbelina is a strange story, but that’s because Hans Christian Andersen wrote it that way, not because of how it was adapted. Some said Thumbelina was a bit too pathetic; she may seem like that in comparison to Disney’s Belle or Ariel, who are quite brave and resilient. Despite the big names in the voice cast, they were seen to have had their talent wasted, perhaps because it was said the plot was rushed and muddled, with some of these characters not getting enough screen time. Something that I do agree with is that there were some racial stereotypes in Thumbelina. I don’t believe it was meant to be offensive to anyone, but I see how it could be to some.
Then again, Thumbelina does have its fans, especially those who loved it as a child. In particular, the songs are seen to be catchy and some of the animation was praised, such as the swopping CGI sequence, and all of “Let Me Be Your Wings”. Others said Thumbelina was not the best animated movie, but that it is better than the negative reviews say.
Perhaps if Thumbelina had been released in 1993, a year when Disney Animation did not release a new movie, it may’ve done a bit better, however, in 1994, Disney Animation released The Lion King, a movie still loved three decades later and a favourite of many. In fact, The Lion King topped the worldwide box office in 1994, with the No. 2 spot going to multiple-Oscar-winning movie Forrest Gump. Thumbelina only took in around $17 million against a reported budget of $28 million. The movie would obviously come to VHS over the coming years though where it would find an audience. Around 2002, distribution rights were moved over to 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, allowing it to be part of the same “family” as another of Don Bluth’s movies: Anastasia (1997).
LEGACY
Although Thumbelina was not particularly well-received, there does appear to have been some merchandise that was available to purchase around the time of the film’s release, including movie posters, books, and a play figure set, as well as dolls of Thumbelina and Cornelius. There is also a piece of “lost media” relating to Thumbelina and that is the 30-minute behind-the-scenes documentary Back to Enchantment: The Making of ‘Thumbelina’ that never appeared on a DVD release and is unavailable to view online.
But the biggest continuation of Thumbelina’s legacy comes from Disney’s purchasing of 21st Century Fox for $71.3 billion on 20th March 2019. Disney now owns Fox’s entire TV and film libraries, from the likes of 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight, FX, and National Geographic[10]. This has opened up a huge catalogue to viewers who otherwise may not have ever watched these series or films. The purchasing of 21st Century Fox is why Thumbelina appears on Disney+, despite it not being a Disney movie. Disney+ now contains all sorts of movies and programmes, like The Simpsons (1989-present) and the Ice Age film series, because they were made by Blue Sky Studios, Fox’s animation company.
Despite Disney buying up 21st Century Fox, and other companies, it is important to differentiate what Disney actually made themselves and what they have simply purchased, to give proper credit to those who made it.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The tale of Thumbelina is a strange one, but one that tells you that regardless of personal circumstances, you can achieve in life, especially when you believe that anything is possible.
Unfortunately, Thumbelina did not become a major part of animation history, being dwarfed by Disney’s The Lion King. No movie in the world could’ve competed against that; it was unlucky timing for Thumbelina.
However, the obvious bias towards Disney animated movies would not have helped either. At the time, Thumbelina was discarded because it was not from Disney, and yet nowadays, we have people believing that Thumbelina is from Disney, just because it is an animated musical story. It irritates me when the tiniest bit of research can correct these statements, but the same falsities then become “truths” to some. It’s important that we give credit to the filmmakers who make the movies we watch. In the case of Thumbelina, that was Don Bluth and his team.
It’s also important to remember that not everything Disney make is wonderful, and not everything any other animated studio makes is awful. We should be able to make a judgement on whether we like something based on how it makes you feel and what you get out of it, not simply because of the name attached to it.
REFERENCES
[1] Credit: Black Case Diaries, ‘The Case of Don Bluth’, BlackCaseDiaries.com, 16th April 2024.
[2] Credit: Bob Strauss, ‘Manilow Follows Heart To Score Movie’, Deseret.com, 20th April 1994.
[3] Credit: Credit: Bobbie Wygant, ‘Don Bluth “Thumbelina” 1994 – Bobbie Wygant Archive’, The Bobbie Wygant Archive YouTube Channel, uploaded 17th April 2021.
[4] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘In His Own Words: Don Bluth on His Early Career’, CartoonResearch.com, 3rd September 2021.
[5] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘The Fox and the Hound (1981)’, pp. 70-72.
[6] Credit: Carlos Aguilar, ‘Don Bluth made animation history by leaving Disney. Looking back, he has no regrets’, LATimes.com, 21st August 2022.
[7] Credit: BBC Bitesize, ‘English KS1 / KS2: Tales of Hans Christian Andersen – 1. Thumbelina’, BBC.co.uk, date unknown.
[8] Credit: Bobbie Wygant, ‘Don Bluth “Thumbelina” 1994 – Bobbie Wygant Archive’, The Bobbie Wygant Archive YouTube Channel, uploaded 17th April 2021.
[9] Credit: Michael Lyons, ‘Small World: The 30th Anniversary of “Thumbelina”’, CartoonResearch.com, 1st March 2024.
[10] Credit: Emily St. James, ‘Here’s what Disney owns after the massive Disney/Fox merger’, Vox.com, 20th March 2019.
The Disney Purist 