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Best movie of this year hands down!

Admirable film.

Absolutely the worst movie.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

If I'm going to be technically honest, it's not a great movie. If I'm going to be nostalgically honest, I like it and don't stop watching it. The story's about a girl that is named Thumbelina (who is no bigger than your thumb), her love for the fairy prince Cornelius, and the three villains that want to marry her. Almost the same as the original story, just adding the prince being a major character, songs, side plots with the villains, setting it in Paris, and animal side characters, one of which gets a main role (Jacquimo the swallow). While I like this movie a lot, there are a lot of problems with the movie. One is that it came out around the time Disney was making such beloved classics such as Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Lion King which came out the same year as this movie. If it waited a few more years later, it might have had a better chance. In fact the story resembles The Little Mermaid in many ways (same author, voice actress Jodi Benson, and unique hair). And the music is a hit and miss. Half of the songs are irritating, one of which won a Razzie (Marry the Mole) and another sung by Gilbert Gotfried. But the biggest issue has got to be that Thumbelina had every chance to get home since Jacquimo could fly, but he doesn't even try to take her home, tell any of the jitterbugs to grab her by the arms and fly her to the top of a flower, or even fly above and tell her what direction to go while he searches for her prince. He just leaves her to look on her own. In the original story it made sense, because there are no friends to help her, and she doesn't meet the swallow until the end. Also, she couldn't figure out where she was, so she legitimately gave up. This Thumbelina has friends to get her home but nobody helps her, nor does she think to ask them to fly her home, except with one of the villains, but as that's not one of her allies that doesn't quite count. However, for all its flaws, I still love it. The animation is beautiful, and it's easy to see the hard work on the character designs, fairy wings, fairy magic, and backgrounds. It almost is like Disney animation and yet not quite; it's its own thing. The way it's animated makes you feel like you're the same height as the main characters. In my opinion, some of the best animation can be seen in the song "Let Me Be Your Wings." Speaking of which, I consider that to be the best song in the entire movie. Yes it's a knock off of "A Whole New World" and the romance may be rushed, but the lyrics are well done, the music is beautiful, and of course the duet is wonderful. Jodi Benson singing is a saving grace for even the bad songs. Also, I think the voices are spot on, including Carol Channing as Field Mouse. Something about her voice actually does sound a bit like a dry, cynical, greedy mouse. And as bad as "Marry the Mole" was, I give her credit for trying to make the song work, and that it didn't stop the plot. It's not a good song, I don't like it, but I don't think it's the worst either. And for anybody who loves the original story better, this movie encouraged me to read the story. It's not my favorite Anderson story, but it's a lovely little adventure.What amazes me about this movie is that it got harsher criticism than A Troll in Central Park when it first came out. While A Troll in Central Park also has amazing animation, that movie was pandering and nothing but filler. This movie has an actual plot; an not very well done plot, but at least tried to be something decent. I don't care if it's a "Disney knock-off"; I think it's not terrible. This was probably a hard story for Don Bluth to adapt to a feature length film, but I'm not sure if even Disney would tackle it. I don't stop enjoying the movie, but at the same time I understand the flaws.

Thumbelina, from director Don Bluth, is one of those animated films where the material is utterly wasted on such good animators. Because this is a pretty movie. The colours are soft as cotton candy, the character designs are creative and it's just utterly gorgeous to watch. But the story is nonsensical, the main character is so passive that half of the time I had to question whether she was even breathing, and all in all it simply jumps around too much.So yeah, Thumbelina is a tiny girl. One of the little people, the size of a finger in fact, and for the longest time she and her adopted human mother believed that she was the only one. Until one night a fairy prince flies by on his bumblebee steed, and wouldn't you know it, love at first glance. But then she gets taken by some Latino circus frogs - I just realized I had to type that, give me a moment - from where she ends up on an adventure all over the surrounding woodlands. These include sleazy cockroach night clubs, wealthy pervert moles, more Latino frogs - because I have done something heinous in past life and I must be punished - backstabbing mice and more song numbers than you can safely consume in a month, let alone in little over an hour. And I mean it. Scarcely a scene goes by without someone breaking out the background dancers. It's ridiculous! Some of them are okay. But then there are so many of them that it would be a small miracle if they didn't hit at least a few catchy notes.It's a mess. It has good things in it, certainly, but the overall structure, or lack thereof, means that it's hard to enjoy them properly. Still, if you're into Don Bluth or great animation in general, it just might be worth your while.

During the closing credits of 'Thumbelina' I actually checked to see when this movie was made. Seriously, the animation in this movie is so tired and washed out that I thought that it was a film from the early 70's being rereleased without any retooling. If that sounds like a supreme insult to the animators just wait because I haven't yet described the movie.'Thumbelina' is another in a long string of duds from former Disney animator Don Bluth. He has made wonderful movies like 'The Secret of NIMH', 'The Land Before Time' and two underrated films 'Anastasia' and 'Titan A.E.'. But, Thumbelina isn't a work of imagination, it is a striking assumption that kids will eat up anything that you throw at them as long as it happens to be animated.To begin with Thumbelina herself is a lifeless bore. She is as big as a thumb and falls in love with a geek named Cornelius. I have no problem when animated heroines look away and dream of what could be, but about the eighth or ninth time that Thumbelina did that, I started thinking that she didn't need Cornelius, as much as she needed an anti-depressant.Nearly every supporting character in the film seems preoccupied with trying to get the girl married off to everyone but Cornelius. She is kidnapped by a Toad who tries to marry her to one of her sons. We meet an alarmingly dismal cast a characters, all of whom are thrown in to sing a song, do a dance and then let another character have a turn (the songs by Barry Manilow range from forgettable to instantly forgettable).Then Cornelius shows up to rescue her. He's a goofy looking doofus with a bad hairstyle and a personality as languid as tree bark. Then there is the animation in which every scene seems flushed and faded as if the film had sat on the shelf for about a decade and a half. As I watched the film I wondered if I was seeing a bad print. This is one of the most worn out animated features that I've ever seen.

I have read a few reviews about this Don Bluth classic and I am truly disappointed by its scrutiny. Bluth's Thumbelina tells the traditional story of the little girl "no bigger than your thumb" and transports audiences into a world of fairies, toads and adventure. While not critically acclaimed, the film features catchy songs, family fun, and the traditional story of following your heart as shared with Hans Christian Andersen readers many years ago. As a little girl I loved this film, it was enjoyable, but also magical - exactly what children love. How could it be better? It's a heartwarming family film that I'll one day share with my own children.