Thumbelina: Musical Hell Review #50

In which Don Bluth tries to out-Disney his former employers.

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[essiethomas]

The majority of Thumbelina's predicaments are pretty much summed up with this:

*"Doesn't anybody care what I think!?"* Tellingly, no one answers

[elsie]

Literally what the heck is Mama Toad's argument? "Oh, don't get married, you'll end up having children and having to fix roofs and stuff and won't be able to become famous just trust me on this one even though I myself have THREE sons and obviously still have a showbiz career. And I also want you to marry my son."???

[headfullofdreams]

What we really need is a movie of Thumbelina overcoming her PTSD she got from being sexually harrassed and forced into weddings, and getting herself together before she ultimately marries the loving and supportive prince who helped her get through it. Now THAT is a story.

[lyricdemers]

Also as a little, blonde girl who was harrassed by many random men starting at a very young age, I found this movie quite comforting to show how weird, creepy men can get obsessed with young women and girls and that it is not the girls fault that it happens.

[elsie]

Poor Thumbelina's mother. She wanted a child so badly and is miraculously given one, only to have her for a grand total of ONE DAY before said child gets lost. And then Thumbelina marries the fairy prince, so even if her mother did eventually find out that she was safe, she's still right back where she started with an empty nest.

[rosebyanyname]

I was thinking over the plot the other day...
- A bland female protagonist with a strange name is brought into a strange new environment and spends the rest of the movie trying to get back home
- She is accompanied by a male animal-like creature who is capable of having wings
- She is brought to several different people who all know each other and try to get her on their side or convince her to go through with a wedding she doesn’t want
- She does nothing throughout the entire movie to affect her outcome and blindly follows orders
DID "JUPITER ASCENDING" RIP OFF THIS MOVIE?

[pinkwings]

If they wanted to keep the “does your boyfriend think you’re ugly” scene, they could have at least changed the moral to something like “you have someone who loves you, who cares what other people think?” Or something better than “this mans opinion is the determining factor in your worth as a person”.

[FreyaQuirksALot]

Not gonna lie. I really love this film. It's masked in nostalgic wonder for me!

[nostalgiaworks]

Here's a fact. During the focus testing for this movie, the kids had negative reception. They did another focus test afterward with the Disney logo at the beginning, and the kids loved it. The distributor came to the conclusion that the only reason why the kids didn't like the movie to begin with was because it wasn't a Disney movie. Considering that flaw unavoidable, they released the movie anyway.

[tultsi]

Fun fact: Don Bluth wanted Thumbelina being about searching youself. In the original script, she was offered several options that she could think and choose what she wants from her life. But the people rejected the script so he had to change it.

[hexhells]

how to fix the movie:
-1: cornelius, instead of being a prince, is perhaps a fairy that was born far from the veil of fairies (tragic event? idk) and is convinced he’s the ONLY fairy.
-2: thumbelina, cornelius and jaquimo are all Established Friends and all Want something with the outside world (perhaps jaquimo was ThumbMom’s pet?) and all convince eachother that theyre all gonna set off for the outside world together in an act of Rebellion or something. also they FLY ON THE DAMN BIRD.
-3: big scary event (storm, big spooky animal or what have you) happens and the three are all separated.
-4: cornelius is frozen, jaquimo has his wing pierced like in the movie.
-5: the whole mrs field mouse thing happens, and instead of trying to marry thumbelina off to the mole, the mole is some sort of tyrant that offers to grant her a way to become Big IF she finds the veil of the fairies for him bc mr mole insists she MUST be a fairy since she’s so tiny
-6: jacquimo, who’s in the moles collection, wakes up and is all “uhh hey this dude sux lets SCRAM” like in the middle of the night and they try to escape, mole finds out, enter chase sequence
that’s all i really got so far... its a shame how easy it couldve been to rewrite some things in the beginning and suddenly it’s set up to be adventure that gives the protagonist agency in the story and has the side characters (jaquimo, cornelius) have some sort of emotional stakes for the audience??
but yeah if anyone has ideas for how this could potentially end feel free to add on. im by no means a writer

[hpdanfan]

“You’re not the sparkliest fairy in the meadow, are you Thumbs?”
Cut her a break, she was born last week

[spiceupyourafterlife]

I actually really love the mother’s reprise of Soon. It’s a very emotional moment and it's kind of dark when you consider how real it is for parents who have had their kids go missing, not knowing when they will come home or *if* they will come home.

[kolbyhollis]

Why are the chickens sounding like Marge simpson

[billyweed]

Gotta admit: Jodi Benson can make anything sound charming.

[CJCroen]

"What you've never seen a bee before?"
To be fair, Diva, that's a very cute bee.

[Nightmank]

Maybe it's because I used to watch this a lot as a child, I still really like a lot of things about this movie even if it's not perfect. I really like that Thumbelina went through character growth and found confidence in standing on her own two feet after having facing so many hardships and people using her. By the end of the movie you can tell she's not going to be manipulated by anyone anymore. I like the aisle part because visually it showed that she doesn't want a loveless marriage with the rich mole because she knows what true love felt like and she knew that real love is the only love worth having and even if Cornelius was dead she knew she deserved to be happy.

I do kind of wish that the movie didn't end with Thumbelina magically getting wings just because I kind of like the idea of her confidence not needing a physical change to represent it. Plus it's kind of cute that Cornelius would be her wings and fly with her. But I do understand the idea of being rewarded for perseverance so it's not too inexcusable.

Plus, the fact that she tells off everyone manipulating her and treating her like a trophy was a really cool thing to see. And even though I love her, Ariel didn't even get to pull off a strong moment of opposition to her villain in her own movie. That and it's cool that Jodi Benson got a lot more chance to sing as Thumbelina. "Soon" (and the Mother's reprise of "Soon") "Let Me Be Your Wings, " and "Sun" are still very beautiful songs even if the "Thumbelina" song, "Marry the Mole" and "Yer Beautiful Baby" are bad (gotta admit I kinda think "Marry the Mole" is just bad enough for "so bad it's good")

[sweeney]

I personally love Marry The Mole because I love Carol Channing's delivery of it. For me the saving Grace of the film really is Barbara Cook and her reprise of soon. Its so beautiful and with all the forced moments of emotion in the whole movie, her lament for her daughter to come home is the only time you actually feel for a character.

[cassyblack]

"Do fairy girls get their wings when they go into heat?" might be my favorite question I've heard all month.

[bethanymorgan]

3:49 let's just cheerfully brush off her mother's genuine horror when she realises she nearly cooked her child alive.