Warner Brothers' Thumbelina is an animated classic, and one that most millennials remember well. But there are a lot of details that kids probably didn't notice or understand in the film based on Hans Christian Anderson's story. Here are some things in Thumbelina that only adults would notice.
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00:00Warner Bros.' Thumbelina is an animated classic, and one that most millennials remember well.
00:06But there are a lot of details that kids probably didn't notice or understand in the film based on
00:11Hans Christian Andersen's story. Here are some things in Thumbelina that only adults would
00:16notice.
00:18Plenty of kids probably grew up thinking Warner Bros.' Thumbelina was a Disney movie,
00:22and this may have been for good reason. The animation has a similar look to Disney movies
00:27of the time, and creator Don Bluth drew inspiration from a Hans Christian Andersen story,
00:32as did the creators of Disney's The Little Mermaid. Thumbelina even
00:35uses some of the same voice actors as Disney.
00:39"...have you ever seen a fairy?"
00:42So it's probably no surprise that Bluth actually worked as an animator at the Walt Disney Company.
00:48He started his career at Disney drawing squirrels and birds for Sleeping Beauty and
00:52worked there for a total of ten years. He eventually left in 1979 to form Don Bluth
00:57Productions and later went on to make movies like The Secret of Nimh, An American Tale,
01:02and Anastasia.
01:04When it comes to animated movies, young viewers may not recognize even the most famous voices
01:09behind their favorite characters. Adults, however, can probably realize just how impressive the cast
01:14really is. Jodie Benson, who voices the titular character, was practically a household name after
01:20voicing Ariel in 1989's The Little Mermaid. Gilbert Gottfried, who plays Mr. Beetle,
01:26was a well-known performer in his own right and famously voiced Iago in Disney's Aladdin.
01:31These two actors alone are enough to make Thumbelina star-studded,
01:34but there are still some other impressive names in the cast.
01:38"...I love the sound of your voice."
01:42The great Carol Channing voices Mrs. Fieldmouse,
01:45Charo plays Mrs. Toad, and Kenneth Mars, who was in Young Frankenstein,
01:50The Producers, and The Little Mermaid, is behind King Colbert.
01:53Additionally, the film features a lot of big names in the animated movie world,
01:57including Will Ryan, who previously worked on The Land Before Time and An American Tale.
02:02June Foray, who plays Queen Tabitha, famously voiced Rocky the Squirrel,
02:07and she would later voice Grandmother Faw in Mulan.
02:10With book-to-movie adaptations, the film doesn't always match the original story,
02:15and Thumbelina is no different.
02:17While the team kept a lot of the same plot points, they expanded on the story quite a bit.
02:22For one thing, Mrs. Toad and her sons don't perform as a band in the original.
02:26In fact, they only play a small part in the story.
02:29The only words Mrs. Toad says to Thumbelina, or Tiny, in Hans Christian Andersen's story are,
02:34"'Here is my son. He will be your husband,
02:37and you will live happily in the marsh by the stream.'"
02:40So much for romance.
02:41Mr. Beetle, called the Cockchafer in the original story, doesn't perform in a nightclub.
02:46He doesn't even go to a nightclub. Instead, he acts more like a traditional beetle.
02:51And the prince doesn't appear until much later in the original story.
02:55Towards the end, the Swallow, who's portrayed as Giacomo in the movie,
02:59carries Tiny away from Mr. Mole's home and they head to, quote,
03:03"'warmer countries.'" There, she meets the Prince of the Flower People.
03:07"'What is the matter, Thumbelina?'
03:10"'I'm cold, I'm lost, and I'm hungry.'"
03:15Even in just one of the film's opening songs, Thumbelina nearly dies, multiple times.
03:21She's so light that a farm animal's breath sends her into a water trough,
03:25where she's only saved from drowning by a bull who, luckily, was there in time.
03:30Then she dances on the edge of that same trough and nearly falls into the water again.
03:35The dangers don't end there, though. Seconds later,
03:37Thumbelina falls through a hole and onto a pile of hatching eggs.
03:41It's a good thing she landed in a nest, because falling onto a harder surface
03:45after such a long drop could have been fatal. And before the song is over,
03:49she almost gets baked into a pie, but escapes just before being put in the oven.
03:53All those dangerous things happen when Thumbelina's safe at home, before she's kidnapped,
03:58and before she's almost drowned in a waterfall or gets stuck in a snowstorm without shelter.
04:04Once upon a time, there was a lonely woman who longed to have a child to call her own."
04:10That's how Thumbelina's mother is first described. Her wish comes true when she goes to see a fairy
04:16who gives her a seed to plant. When a flower grows and blooms from the seed,
04:21Thumbelina pops out of the flower.
04:23Kids watching the film might see Thumbelina's mother simply as a woman who wanted a child,
04:27but adults watching can see how heart-wrenching her storyline is.
04:31In the beginning, she's seen looking over an empty cradle. Once Thumbelina is born,
04:36the tiny character sleeps in a walnut shell inside a cradle in a nursery.
04:40The presence of these cradles makes it appear as though the woman had lost a child,
04:45or that she had always wanted a child, but wasn't able to have it.
04:48The mother's storyline gets even sadder when the child she waited for vanishes without a trace.
04:53Thumbelina's mother sings a song, a reprise of the movie's song Soon,
04:58that's all about heartbreak and the hope that Thumbelina is safe.
05:02The animals in Thumbelina have inconsistent speaking abilities. While almost all of the
05:07animals and insects Thumbelina encounters speak and sing as well as she does, two of the animals,
05:13Hero the dog and Prince Cornelius' bumblebee, don't talk at all.
05:17These two take on more traditional pet roles, with Hero acting like any other pet dog,
05:23and Cornelius' bumblebee acting something like a horse.
05:26Hey, would you like to go for a spin? Come on, let's go.
05:35One might explain Hero's and the bee's lack of language with the fact that they're meant to be
05:40pets. It's similar to the way Mickey Mouse's dog Pluto doesn't talk, but his pal Goofy does,
05:45which may be something the film's writer and director learned from Disney.
05:49When Mrs. Toad kidnaps Thumbelina, she takes her to a boat where she lives with her three sons.
05:55There, the Toads sing a jaunty tune, encourage Thumbelina to join their showbiz family,
06:04and try to arrange her marriage to Grundle. But these Toads aren't actually Toads at all.
06:09At least, they don't appear to be. Mrs. Toad and her family live on a boat in the water,
06:13which would be a good place for a frog to live, as they are mostly aquatic,
06:17but Toads are known to live on land. The four characters' smooth skin looks more like the
06:21slimy skin that frogs have, and not like the dry, bumpy skin of Toads, so it seems that these
06:28characters are actually meant to be frogs. But then again, maybe these creatures aren't frogs,
06:34either. Mrs. Toad is clearly shown to have breasts, and frogs, being amphibians, would certainly not.
06:41While Thumbelina eventually marries Prince Cornelius, the film doesn't follow a typical
06:46boy-meets-girl narrative. Prince Cornelius plays a large role in the movie, but the story doesn't
06:51revolve around his relationship with Thumbelina. Thumbelina is faced with many options for what
06:56path to go down in life. With Cornelius, she finds love, but with Mrs. Toad and her son,
07:02she's given a chance to pursue fame. When Mr. Beetle takes her under his wing,
07:07she could choose to enjoy a life of being celebrated for her beauty. Then, when she
07:11considers marrying Mr. Mole, she knows that, though she may not love him, at least she will
07:16be comfortable financially. The movie is all about life choices, and the paths a person can
07:21go down. The fact that Thumbelina is reunited with her love in the end may be beautiful,
07:26but Thumbelina isn't necessarily about romance.
07:30Thumbelina doesn't have the type of villains often found in fairy tale-inspired animated movies.
07:35The antagonists in this film include the Toad family, Mr. Beetle, and Mr. Mole,
07:40but none of these characters are the bad guys that viewers are probably used to finding elsewhere.
07:45Mrs. Toad is the most villainous, as she's the only one to actually do something illegal
07:50when she kidnaps Thumbelina. It's unclear, however, if she intended to keep Thumbelina
07:56captive. If Thumbelina didn't want to join the Toads on the road, Mrs. Toad could have
08:00planned on returning Thumbelina to her home. After all, she doesn't seem particularly ruthless.
08:06"'Buenos dias. I hope you sleep very, very good."
08:09Huh?
08:10Meanwhile, Mr. Beetle is guilty of some serious harassment,
08:13but Thumbelina seems to be willing to perform at the Beatle Ball,
08:17and she appears to be happy until she's rejected. And while Mr. Mole may not be as handsome as
08:22Prince Cornelius, the only thing he actually does to Thumbelina is try to marry her.
08:27These characters aren't evil, they're just selfish, and they don't act in Thumbelina's
08:31best interests. They may be less frightening characters for a movie, but they're more
08:35realistic villains.
08:37Thumbelina's physical beauty and singing voice are heavily emphasized throughout the film.
08:42Prince Cornelius first meets her because he hears her singing,
08:45Mrs. Toad kidnaps her because her son sees and hears her,
08:49Mr. Beetle makes her dance in his club because he thinks she's beautiful,
08:53and Mr. Mole, who's blind, decides he wants to marry her after hearing her sing.
08:57"'I wonder if…'
08:58"'Yes?'
09:00"'If I could ask you to help me persuade Miss Thumbelina to be my wife.'"
09:07None of Thumbelina's suitors seem to care about her personality.
09:11With the film's strong focus on attractiveness, one would think that Thumbelina would address
09:16the skewed idea of physical beauty. But even in a scene where Giacomo comforts Thumbelina,
09:21there is still importance placed on her looks. Thumbelina complains that Mr.
09:25Beetle says she's ugly, and Giacomo tells her not to worry about him.
09:30"'You love Zee Beetle?'
09:31"'No.'
09:32"'Then never mind Zee Beetle.'"
09:35Thumbelina is further comforted by the fact that Cornelius thinks she's beautiful.
09:39"'Does Prince Cornelius think you are ugly?'
09:44"'No. He thinks I'm beautiful.'
09:48"'And so you are.'"
09:49The thought puts her in a better mood, but it's still shallow.
09:53While Mr. Mole probably isn't evil, per se, he does have a terrifying home.
09:58Unlike Ms. Fieldmouse's underground home, Mr. Mole's home is pretty dark.
10:03The inscription over his door reads,
10:05"'What's mined is mine.'"
10:07It isn't exactly as friendly as a welcome mat,
10:10and his random collection of unusual items makes the space look cold and sad.
10:15When Mr. Mole shows Thumbelina more of his residence, there are dead bugs pinned to the
10:19wall. This is certainly macabre, especially since we know some of them to be Thumbelina's friends.
10:26For most of the film, little Thumbelina wants to get home, but she has a hard time finding her way
10:31there, so it's a good thing she's friends with a bird, Giacomo, who can fly her home.
10:36Oh, wait, he doesn't fly her home, and he doesn't even try to fly her anywhere until
10:40the very end of the movie when he finally takes her to the Vale of the Fairies.
10:44Being flown home would have easily solved Thumbelina's problems,
10:48so it doesn't make sense why neither she nor Giacomo had this idea.
10:52"'How can I be of service to you?'
10:55When Thumbelina and Giacomo meet, Thumbelina is trapped on a lily pad after the Toad family
11:00leaves her behind. Instead of picking her up, Giacomo helps her get off the lily pad by cutting
11:04its stem. When the lily pad and Thumbelina head toward a waterfall, Giacomo still doesn't think
11:09to pick her up. What gives?' No great animated movie is complete without a fabulous soundtrack,
11:16and the music in Thumbelina is certainly memorable. With catchy songs like
11:21"'Let Me Be Your Wings' and "'On the Road',"
11:23the soundtrack is sure to inspire kids to sing its songs over and over.
11:27But what young viewers probably don't realize is that the music in Thumbelina was arranged by the
11:32great music icon Barry Manilow, who's famous for hits like "'Mandy' and "'Can't Smile Without You.'"
11:38While the lyrics were written by Bruce Sussman and Jack Feldman,
11:42the music was arranged and produced by Manilow himself.
11:45Unfortunately, the soundtrack for Thumbelina didn't end up winning any awards,
11:49except for a Razzie for Worst Original Song for "'Mary the Mole.'"
11:53Still, the catchy tunes brighten up the movie and make it the lovable film it is.