Thumbelina: Difference between revisions

[[File:hans_christian_andersens_thumbelina.jpg|frame]]

 

It sticks to the basic story fairly closely. A woman pines for a child and, magically, she is gifted with a little girl no bigger than her thumb. Thumbelina, as she is promptly named, is a [[The Pollyanna|happy person]] but secretly pines to meet someone tiny like herself. Over the course of the film, she gets into several misadventures with [[Wacky Wayside Tribe|various characters]] who want to marry her (come to think of it, this is a pretty odd story). Eventually she finds the enchanted Fairy Prince of her dreams. They get married and Thumbelina transforms into a Fairy and good times are had by all.

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* [[Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal]]: Jacquimo wears only a hat, a scarf and boots.

* [[Acrophobic Bird]]: Why doesn't Jacquimo just take Thumbelina on his back and fly her home?

* [[Adorkable]]: Thumbelina.

* [[All Animation Is Disney]]: When test audiences first saw this movie with the [[Warner Bros]] logo, the reviews were mediocre at best. When aired with the [[Disney]] logo, reviews on average were much higher.

* [[Almost Kiss]]

* [[Analogy Backfire]]: Jacquimo's examples of love conquering the impossible, suggesting [[Did Not Do the Research|he should probably read more]]:

** The weird part is that "Marry the Mole" uses Romeo and Juliet properly as an example of love causing more trouble than its worth.

** It could be Fridge Brilliance in that he's listing impossible romances that failed before getting to the 'most impossible romance of all"... that ''[[Happily Ever After|succeeded]]''.

* [[Be Careful What You Wish For]]: If you stop and think about it, there's a pretty messed-up world view presented in this here story. The [[Powers That Be]] wait around as the woman pines away for a child. Then she says, offhand, "I don't even care if it's as tiny as my thumb." And then ''that'' comes true just to inconvenience everyone.

* [[Bishie Sparkle]]: Any scene with Cornelius or the other fairies; it's somewhat justified in that their wings are ''really'' sparkly.

* [[Carnivore Confusion]]: Jacquimo interrupts a sentient fox hunting a sentient rabbit. Everyone involved treats the situation strangely matter-of-factly.

* [[Cloudcuckoolander]]: Ms. Field Mouse is a bit... off her rocker. If you wear a pincushion as a dress while singing about Romeo and Juliet's death, you are a Cuckoolander.

* [[Disney Villain Death]]: Averted with The Toad, because the credits show that he survived with a broken leg and married a toad who is as ugly as he is.

* [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]: When Cornelius and Thumbelina exchange tokens, Cornelius gives Thumbelina a ring, which he places on the third finger of her left hand, where the engagement ring is traditionally placed. Even though he never actually makes a marriage proposal until several months later, its evocation of betrothal is made far from subtle by Thumbelina's statement "I think I'm gonna marry him" and a later scene when she looks at the ring [[You Have Waited Long Enough|as she walks down the aisle to marry Mr. Mole]] and is reminded of her love for Cornelius, which she cites as a reason for refusing to go through with marrying the mole. [[Genius Bonus|It's additionally brilliant for those who know that back when the story takes place, betrothal to a third party was considered a legitimate impediment to marriage between a man and a woman]].

* [[Emo Teen]]: Thumbelina after the ''bugs'' throw her out for being "ugly."

* [[Expy]]: Jacquimo is basically a dreamier version of Henri from [[An American Tail]]. French birds in [[Don Bluth]] films who sing a bouncy number early on about never giving up? Yeah.

* [[Fainting]]: Mocked mercilessly by [[The Nostalgia Chick]]: "And like all animated heroines she has a tendency towards fainting. Boom! Unconscious!"

* [[Four-Legged Insect]]: All of the insects except for the Fairy Prince's pet bumblebee.

* [[Fourth Date Marriage]]: Thumbelina falls in love with a fairy prince after ''half an hour'' and goes on a quest to find him and marry him. This is all ''just because he's the same size as she''.

'''[[The Nostalgia Chick]]:''' I mean I've known him for all of twelve hours! }}

** Incidentally, this is a step up from the [[Hans Christian Andersen]] fairytale, which has Thumbelina meet the prince for the first time, fall in love with him, and marry him ''at the very end of the story''.

* [[Gay Paree]]: The prologue takes place here. Odd, since the rest of the film has nothing to do with Paris and given the author's nationality you would expect the story to take place in Denmark.

* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]: The beetle spanking Thumbelina after her bug costume comes off, and her reaction to said spanking.

* [[Heroes Want Redheads]]

* [[He's a Friend]]: The dog wants to attack the prince, as Thumbelina forgot to greet him as a guest.

* [[Marry for Love]]: Thumbelina. Ms. Field Mouse begs to differ.

* [[Mars Needs Women]]: Against her will, Thumbelina is ''very'' popular with other species, though it's partially subverted at the end of ''Yer Beautiful Baby'' when the crowd realizes she ''isn't'' a bug, but "an ugly human". At first [[Angst? What Angst?|she takes it in stride]] and seems slightly annoyed about it, yet in the ''very next scene'' she has turned into an [[Emo Teen]].

* [[Mole Miner]]

* [[Non-Mammal Mammaries]]: Mrs. Toad. Good God, Mrs. Toad.

* [[Pep Talk Song]]: "Marry the Mole" is a strange pseudo-example. While Miss Field Mouse thinks she's giving Thumbelina good advice and encouragement, she's also telling her to marry someone for their money and that love is over-rated.

* [[Pop Star Composer]]: Oh, Barry Manilow.

* [[The Renaissance Age of Animation]]

* [[Royals Who Actually Do Something]]: Prince Cornelius covers a surprising distance (considering his size), nearly dies in a frozen lake, and fights a large irate frog to save Thumbelina.

* [[She's a Man In Japan|She's A Man In The Original Fairy Tale]]: Ms. Field Mouse.

* [[Shout-Out]]: Mr. Beetle's first name is [[wikipedia:Busby Berkeley|Berkeley]], though the ballroom sequence isn't a [[Busby Berkeley Number]].

* [[Songs of Solace]]: "Soon" is sung by Thumbelina to comfort herself because she's lonely. Her mother later sings it to comfort herself over her missing daughter.

* [[Species Surname]]: Mrs. Toad, Mr. Beetle, Miss Field Mouse, and Mr. Mole.

* [[Villain Song]]: Depending on who you consider to be the villains and who are just [[Jerkass|mean]], we have "On the Road", "Yer Beautiful Baby", and "Marry the Mole".

* [[Wacky Wayside Tribe]]: Pretty much of the whole damn movie.

* [[What Measure Is a Non-Cute?]]: Oh, hell yes, but it all comes from the original story. Thumbelina is courted, over the course of the story, by a toad, a beetle, and a mole. She finally marries the cute Fairy Prince.

** And it's also played with (and again, it has roots in Andersen): the Beetle intentionally disguises Thumbelina for the Beetle Ball because, to bugs, ''she'' is ugly. When the disguise falls apart, she's jeered so badly that he has no problem helping the others kick her out.

[[Category:Films of the 1990s]]

[[Category:Thumbelina]]