Thumbelina

1994 | 86 minutes | 6.4 ★ (485)

Thumbelina
  • 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 from her when she is 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 her.

  • Release Date

    30 March 1994

  • DirectingDon Bluth
  • Budget

    $28,000,000.00

  • Revenue

    $17,000,000.00

  • Stars

Videos

User Reviews

See more
K

Kamurai

23 June 2021

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.

More Like This

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Captain Jack Sparrow works his way out of a blood debt with the ghostly Davy Jones to avoid eternal damnation.

See more
Spirited Away

Spirited Away

A young girl, Chihiro, becomes trapped in a strange new world of spirits. When her parents undergo a mysterious transformation, she must call upon...

See more
Trouble in Paradise

Trouble in Paradise

Thief Gaston Monescu and pickpocket Lily are partners in crime and love. Working for perfume company executive Mariette Colet, the two crooks...

See more
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

When eccentric candy man Willy Wonka promises a lifetime supply of sweets and a tour of his chocolate factory to five lucky kids, penniless Charlie...

See more
RuPaul's Drag Race Holi-Slay Spectacular

RuPaul's Drag Race Holi-Slay Spectacular

In this musical extravaganza, RuPaul's Drag Race favorites like Trixie Mattel, Latrice Royale and Shangela return home for the holidays to compete...

See more
Goodbye, Medeo

Goodbye, Medeo

The director and choreographer from Prague are preparing a show performance "Oriental Fairy Tale" - a ballet on ice with the participation of vocal...

See more
Our Town

Our Town

Change comes slowly to a small New Hampshire town in the early 20th century. People grow up, get married, live, and die. Milk and the newspaper get...

See more
Browsers

Browsers

Set in contemporary Manhattan, it follows four young people as they start their first jobs at a news website.

See more
The Ride to the Abyss

The Ride to the Abyss

‘La course à l’abîme’ is a depiction of the final ride into hell from ‘La Damnation de Faust’ (1846) by Hector Berlioz.

See more
Big Fish

Big Fish

Throughout his life Edward Bloom has always been a man of big appetites, enormous passions and tall tales. In his later years, he remains a huge...

See more
Grease

Grease

Australian good girl Sandy and greaser Danny fell in love over the summer. But when they unexpectedly discover they're now in the same high school,...

See more
The Wizard of Oz

The Wizard of Oz

Young Dorothy finds herself in a magical world where she makes friends with a lion, a scarecrow and a tin man as they make their way along the...

See more
Lolita

Lolita

Humbert Humbert is a middle-aged British novelist who is both appalled by and attracted to the vulgarity of American culture. When he comes to stay...

See more
Aladdin

Aladdin

Princess Jasmine grows tired of being forced to remain in the palace, so she sneaks out into the marketplace, in disguise, where she meets street...

See more
Moulin Rouge!

Moulin Rouge!

A celebration of love and creative inspiration takes place in the infamous, gaudy and glamorous Parisian nightclub, at the cusp of the 20th century...

See more
Finding Neverland

Finding Neverland

During a writing slump, playwright J.M. Barrie meets a widow and her four children, all young boys—who soon become an important part of Barrie’s...

See more
Singin' in the Rain

Singin' in the Rain

In 1927 Hollywood, a silent film production company and cast make a difficult transition to sound.

See more
Again

Again

Yeon-ju is an assistant director who has been trying to be a writer-director for ten years. After being turned down her last script and assigned an...

See more
In Mezzo Alle Terre

In Mezzo Alle Terre

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Harry Potter has lived under the stairs at his aunt and uncle's house his whole life. But on his 11th birthday, he learns he's a powerful...

See more