# Thumbelina (1994 film)
**Thumbelina** (also released as *Don Bluth's Thumbelina* or *Hans Christian Andersen's Thumbelina*) is a 1994 animated musical film directed by [Don Bluth](https://www.edgepedia.org/don-bluth) and Gary Goldman, adapted from [Hans Christian Andersen](https://www.edgepedia.org/hans-christian-andersen)'s 1835 fairy tale "Tommelise" and distributed by Warner Bros.[1](https://family.20thcenturystudios.com/movies/thumbelina) • [2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/59860-HANS-CHRISTIAN-ANDERSEN%27S-THUMBELINA) It follows [Thumbelina](https://www.edgepedia.org/thumbelina), a thumb-sized girl born from a flower, who falls in love with Prince Cornelius of the fairies, is kidnapped by a family of singing toads, and searches for her lost love with the help of the swallow Jacquimo.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1048880-thumbelina)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | March 30, 1994, wide release by Warner Bros.[1](https://family.20thcenturystudios.com/movies/thumbelina) • [4](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Thumbelina) |
| Directors / writers | Don Bluth and Gary Goldman (directors); screenplay by Don Bluth[1](https://family.20thcenturystudios.com/movies/thumbelina) |
| Source | Based on the short story "Tommelise" by Hans Christian Andersen (1835)[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/59860-HANS-CHRISTIAN-ANDERSEN%27S-THUMBELINA) |
| Music | Songs by Barry Manilow with lyrics by Jack Feldman and Bruce Sussman; score by William Ross and Barry Manilow[5](https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/culture-magazines/thumbelina-1994) |
| Voice cast | Jodi Benson (Thumbelina), Gary Imhoff (Prince Cornelius), Gino Conforti (Jacquimo), Carol Channing, John Hurt, Charo, Gilbert Gottfried[6](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/don-bluths-thumbelina-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0zmdgymjm) |
| Box office | $11,373,501 domestic, from an opening weekend of $2,318,822 in 1,502 theaters[4](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Thumbelina) |
| Reception | 40% Tomatometer (15 reviews) and 66% Popcornmeter on Rotten Tomatoes; Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Song ("Marry the Mole")[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1048880-thumbelina) • [5](https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/culture-magazines/thumbelina-1994) |
## Spoilers
### Story and adaptation
The plot follows Andersen's outline in places: a woman without children receives a magic barleycorn from a good witch, and a flower opens to reveal a girl the height of a thumb. Prince [Cornelius](https://www.edgepedia.org/cornelius), a fairy of her own size with transparent wings, hears her singing and falls in love, but she is kidnapped by a family of traveling toad singers whose mother sees stardom in her voice; she refuses to marry the eldest toad son and escapes with the help of the swallow Jacquimo.[9](https://www.commissionefilmcei.it/film/thumbelina-pollicina/) After winter hardships she is sheltered by a fieldmouse, who arranges her marriage to the wealthy Mr. Mole while Cornelius, frozen by the cold, is given up for dead; the beetles thaw Cornelius, who arrives at the wedding, defeats the toad, and marries Thumbelina, who grows wings and joins him in the Vale of the Fairies.[9](https://www.commissionefilmcei.it/film/thumbelina-pollicina/) • [10](https://www.cinnamondb.com/movie/thumbelina-1994)
Critics differed on how faithful the adaptation was. The Harvard Crimson's review said the adapters tried to follow Andersen closely, down to details such as Thumbelina's walnut-shell bed, but that the effort to include everything left the story muddled.[11](https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1994/4/7/fumbling-thumbelina-pithumbelinai-pdirected-by-don/) The Washington Post's Rita Kempley took the opposite view, writing that Andersen's story was largely abandoned in favor of a burlesque rendering that begins with the ending of Andersen's tale.[12](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1994/03/30/movies/77c60170-22cd-400f-bfff-bb08a88e614c/)
## Production
The film was produced by Don Bluth, Gary Goldman, and John Pomeroy through Don Bluth Ireland Limited, with Warner Bros. as distributor, and was a co-production of Ireland and the United States.[1](https://family.20thcenturystudios.com/movies/thumbelina) • [2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/59860-HANS-CHRISTIAN-ANDERSEN%27S-THUMBELINA) Bluth and Goldman had left the Disney studio in a widely discussed walkout of animators in 1979 and had directed the 1980s animated hits *An American Tail* (1986) and *The Land Before Time* (1988).[7](https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/small-world-the-30th-anniversary-of-thumbelina/) *Thumbelina* was the first time Bluth used a classic fairy story as the theme for one of his films.[8](https://am.animatedviews.com/Thumbelina.html)
The film's copyright was claimed by the Don Bluth Group of Companies on 26 July 1994, and the [British Board of Film Classification](https://www.edgepedia.org/british-board-of-film-classification) certified the cinema version at 86 minutes 23 seconds on 30 March 1994, with a shorter 82-minute 53-second version later classified for home video.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/59860-HANS-CHRISTIAN-ANDERSEN%27S-THUMBELINA) • [6](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/don-bluths-thumbelina-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0zmdgymjm) A 2015 VOD/streaming version ran 86 minutes 17 seconds.[6](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/don-bluths-thumbelina-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0zmdgymjm)
## Music
[Barry Manilow](https://www.edgepedia.org/barry-manilow) wrote the songs, with lyrics by Jack Feldman and Bruce Sussman, and William Ross shared the score credit.[5](https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/culture-magazines/thumbelina-1994) • [13](https://archive.cantonpl.org/observer/1994/03_Mar%201994/03-31-1994.pdf) The song "Marry the Mole" received a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Song at the 1994 Golden Raspberries.[5](https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/culture-magazines/thumbelina-1994)
## Reception and box office
The film opened wide on March 30, 1994, in 1,502 theaters and grossed $2,318,822 on its opening weekend, 20.4 percent of its eventual $11,373,501 domestic total, which was entirely domestic with no recorded international gross.[4](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Thumbelina) Gary Goldman later acknowledged that the film "did terribly at the box office, about $2 million less that [NIMH] did 20 years ago," while noting that it apparently did well on video.[8](https://am.animatedviews.com/Thumbelina.html)
Critical response was mixed to negative. Rotten Tomatoes recorded a 40% Tomatometer from 15 reviews and a 66% audience score from more than 50,000 ratings.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1048880-thumbelina) Roger Ebert gave it 2 of 4 stars, objecting to the title character's "woe-is-me act" and her matrimonial prospects as dramatic material.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1048880-thumbelina) The Harvard Crimson found the plot confused and most of the cameo voices wasted, with [Carol Channing](https://www.edgepedia.org/carol-channing)'s Mrs. Fieldmouse the exception, though it praised the opening computer-animated flight over Paris as the film's most technically advanced sequence.[11](https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1994/4/7/fumbling-thumbelina-pithumbelinai-pdirected-by-don/) The Los Angeles Times reported the opposite side of the audience response: children in theaters sang along, bounced in their seats, and left twirling and flapping their arms.[14](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-04-07-ol-43389-story.html) VideoHound's guide called it a lackluster adaptation with acceptable songs, pleasant enough for children but not at the level of the recent Disney animated features.[5](https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/culture-magazines/thumbelina-1994)
## Context in 1990s animation
*Thumbelina* reached theaters during the Disney-led animation renaissance, several years after *Beauty and the Beast* and *Aladdin* and three months before *The Lion King*, and it was one of many non-Disney films of the period built on the Disney formula in form and feeling.[7](https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/small-world-the-30th-anniversary-of-thumbelina/) The casting echoed Disney as well: [Jodi Benson](https://www.edgepedia.org/jodi-benson), the voice of Ariel in *The Little Mermaid*, played Thumbelina, and [Gilbert Gottfried](https://www.edgepedia.org/gilbert-gottfried), who had voiced Iago in *Aladdin* (1992), played Berkeley Beetle.[7](https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/small-world-the-30th-anniversary-of-thumbelina/) • [8](https://am.animatedviews.com/Thumbelina.html) Not long after the film's release, 20th Century Fox announced a new animation studio to be headed by Bluth and Goldman, whose first film, *[Anastasia](https://www.edgepedia.org/anastasia-1997-film)*, became a significant contender to Disney's dominance later in the decade.[7](https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/small-world-the-30th-anniversary-of-thumbelina/)
The film has remained in circulation on home video and streaming; it is available on Disney+ and Prime Video, and the BBFC classified a streaming version in 2015.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1048880-thumbelina) • [6](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/don-bluths-thumbelina-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0zmdgymjm)
## References
1. [Thumbelina, 20th Century Studios Family](https://family.20thcenturystudios.com/movies/thumbelina)
2. [Hans Christian Andersen's Thumbelina (1994), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/59860-HANS-CHRISTIAN-ANDERSEN%27S-THUMBELINA)
3. [Thumbelina, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1048880-thumbelina)
4. [Thumbelina (1994), The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Thumbelina)
5. [Thumbelina 1994, Encyclopedia.com (VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever)](https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/culture-magazines/thumbelina-1994)
6. [Don Bluth's Thumbelina, British Board of Film Classification](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/don-bluths-thumbelina-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0zmdgymjm)
7. [Small World: The 30th Anniversary of "Thumbelina", Cartoon Research](https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/small-world-the-30th-anniversary-of-thumbelina/)
8. [Thumbelina (1994), Animated Views](https://am.animatedviews.com/Thumbelina.html)
9. [Thumbelina (Pollicina), Commissione Nazionale Valutazione Film](https://www.commissionefilmcei.it/film/thumbelina-pollicina/)
10. [Thumbelina (1994), Cinnamon DB](https://www.cinnamondb.com/movie/thumbelina-1994)
11. [Fumbling `Thumbelina', The Harvard Crimson](https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1994/4/7/fumbling-thumbelina-pithumbelinai-pdirected-by-don/)
12. ['Thumbelina': Thumbs Down, The Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1994/03/30/movies/77c60170-22cd-400f-bfff-bb08a88e614c/)
13. [The Observer, March 31, 1994, Canton Public Library archive](https://archive.cantonpl.org/observer/1994/03_Mar%201994/03-31-1994.pdf)
14. ['Thumbelina': Big on Fairy-Tale Formula, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-04-07-ol-43389-story.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Films by genre, form, and subject › Adaptations of literature, stage, and other media › Films based on fairy tales, myths, and legends › Fairy tale adaptations*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license