I'm old enough to remember seeing "Thumbelina" in theaters. At the time, I was a ten-year old boy being dragged by his mom and two sisters to see what I perceived as a "girly movie". (And I know some reading this will immediately protest whether or not this actually counts as a "girly movie", but keep in mind when you're a ten-year old boy, anything with a female lead seeking after the prince of her dreams tends to be automatically labeled "girly movie".) At the time, I hated it. Cut to decades later, and now I'm a father with two young daughters of my own. We were trying to think of a family movie to watch, and I brought up this movie. All I remembered was I didn't like it as a kid. Curious, we all sat down to watch it. Within five minutes, my daughters were already in love with it. As the end credits finally began to roll, even I had to openly declare, "Alright, it was cuter than I remember it."
If you're already familiar with the Thumbelina story, this movie follows it fairly faithfully. The only difference might be that the character of the toad is now the primary villain, with the beetle becoming his secondary accomplice. The role of the prince is also expanded, so that Thumbelina meets him early on, and much of the movie involves the two of them trying to relink with each other. Voice acting overall is well done, with Jodi Benson doing her thing as Thumbelina (man she can hit those high notes), and even John Hurt doing a great job as the Mole. The songs are surprisingly good and catchy, to the point that I got the soundtrack for my daughters to listen to, and they still enjoy it to this day. (And my wife and I can't help but sing the final line of "Let Me Be Your Wings" to each other.) Of course, one of the biggest highlights for me is Don Bluth's animation, which is smooth and crisp. I must admit that sometimes I watch scenes from his movies just for the animation quality alone.
Is this the greatest movie ever? No, I'm not going to say that. Let me also add that, while I love and adore Don Bluth as an animator, and I think he's a master of his craft, I'm willing to lambaste his movies when I think they deserve it. (Don't get me started on "The Pebble and the Penguin"...) Sure, there are some legitimate complaints you can make about the film. For example, "follow your heart" is one of those corny moral lessons that sounds great in fairy tales, but tends to do really poorly in real life. Also, it's kinda funny that for a movie that seems to make that the front and center lesson, very little of the movie involves Thumbelina following her heart until the very end. But hey, it didn't affect my opinion of the movie too much too much. On that note, I think the film has gotten way too much criticism over the years, and I think it holds up a bit better than some people will give it credit for. For example, it got the Razzie for worst song ("Marry the Mole"), which just goes to show the Razzies are more focused on poking fun at mainstream films than making objectionably true statements. As someone who was sitting there in a theater when this film was fairly new, I can promise you nobody during the "Marry the Mole" scene was cringing or thinking "This is the worst song ever." In fact, people were enjoying themselves, and I even remember the room breaking out in laughter at the "They're DEAD! DEAD! VERY VERY DEAD!" line. (I'll add that, while I do love the soundtrack, "Marry the Mole" was probably the only song I remembered from the movie as a kid, which adds to the fact it wasn't all that bad.)
If you're looking for a simple family feature, I say give this a go. Or, if you're looking for one of Don Bluth's better hits than one of his misses, I suggest giving this a go as well.
If you're already familiar with the Thumbelina story, this movie follows it fairly faithfully. The only difference might be that the character of the toad is now the primary villain, with the beetle becoming his secondary accomplice. The role of the prince is also expanded, so that Thumbelina meets him early on, and much of the movie involves the two of them trying to relink with each other. Voice acting overall is well done, with Jodi Benson doing her thing as Thumbelina (man she can hit those high notes), and even John Hurt doing a great job as the Mole. The songs are surprisingly good and catchy, to the point that I got the soundtrack for my daughters to listen to, and they still enjoy it to this day. (And my wife and I can't help but sing the final line of "Let Me Be Your Wings" to each other.) Of course, one of the biggest highlights for me is Don Bluth's animation, which is smooth and crisp. I must admit that sometimes I watch scenes from his movies just for the animation quality alone.
Is this the greatest movie ever? No, I'm not going to say that. Let me also add that, while I love and adore Don Bluth as an animator, and I think he's a master of his craft, I'm willing to lambaste his movies when I think they deserve it. (Don't get me started on "The Pebble and the Penguin"...) Sure, there are some legitimate complaints you can make about the film. For example, "follow your heart" is one of those corny moral lessons that sounds great in fairy tales, but tends to do really poorly in real life. Also, it's kinda funny that for a movie that seems to make that the front and center lesson, very little of the movie involves Thumbelina following her heart until the very end. But hey, it didn't affect my opinion of the movie too much too much. On that note, I think the film has gotten way too much criticism over the years, and I think it holds up a bit better than some people will give it credit for. For example, it got the Razzie for worst song ("Marry the Mole"), which just goes to show the Razzies are more focused on poking fun at mainstream films than making objectionably true statements. As someone who was sitting there in a theater when this film was fairly new, I can promise you nobody during the "Marry the Mole" scene was cringing or thinking "This is the worst song ever." In fact, people were enjoying themselves, and I even remember the room breaking out in laughter at the "They're DEAD! DEAD! VERY VERY DEAD!" line. (I'll add that, while I do love the soundtrack, "Marry the Mole" was probably the only song I remembered from the movie as a kid, which adds to the fact it wasn't all that bad.)
If you're looking for a simple family feature, I say give this a go. Or, if you're looking for one of Don Bluth's better hits than one of his misses, I suggest giving this a go as well.