A Small Person In A Large World

Don Bluth did a wonderful musical version of Hans Christian Anderson’s tale of ‘Thumbelina’. This story takes place outside of Paris, France many years ago.

There was a lonely older woman (Barbara Cook) who had no child to call her own. She visited a good witch who gave her a magic seed and told her to plant it. The seed grew a flower and when it opened there was a tiny little girl asleep in the center. The woman named her Thumbelina (Jody Benson), because she was no bigger than her thumb.

Thumbelina was a happy girl who loved everyone and was greatly loved in return. Even the animals on the farm where she lived loved her and looked out for her. She was sad, though to think that she was the only one her size. Her mother told her about fairies who were supposed to be her size, but they were only stories. Until one night, Thumbelina meets the Fairy Prince Cornelius (Gary Imhoff). The two of them spend an enchanted evening together singing, dancing, and flying (on the back of a bumble bee and in the prince’s arms as he flies) as they explored the world around them and fell in love.

When Cornelius was flying with Thumbelina, they went near a traveling boat of performing toads. Grundel Toad (Joe Lynch) decided that he loved Thumbelina and wanted to marry her. Cornelius returned Thumbelina home, and promised to return for her tomorrow. Grundel’s mother (Charo) sneaks into Thumbelina’s house later that night and kidnaps her.

Meanwhile Cornelius has returned home to inform his parents, King Colbert (Kenneth Mars) and Queen Tabitha (June Foray), that he has found the girl of his dreams. Only when he returned to Thumbelina’s home, he found that she had been taken. He then set out on a quest to find her and bring her back.

After Thumbelina is kidnapped, she ends up on one adventure after another. She meets the Toad family, a bird named Jacquimo (Gino Conforti), a Mr. Beetle (Gilbert Gottfried), Miss Fieldmouse (Carol Channing), and a Mr. Mole (John Hurt). All the while she is trying to find her way back to the farmhouse and Cornelius. Jacquimo tells her that all fairies live in the Vale of the Fairies. So then she sets out to find the Vale

Personally, I think that this version is the best of all the Thumbelina movies I’ve seen. This movie is rated G.