I love how Dumb Cornelius is up until you remember he's only 16 xD

Fun Fact: Hans Christian Anderson wrote Thumbelina and the Little Mermaid so it’s funny that Jodie Benson plays both of these characters.

"Started out so cute and now it's kinda depressing." I mean...this is the director of An American Tail and Land Before Time we're talking about.

my interpretation is that she was born without wings because her flower was kissed by a human so she took that form until she kissed the fairy prince and gained her wings like she should've if she was born in the flower patch with the other fairies

Wacky how all of this happened within a mile of the lady's house

I was obsessed with this movie as a child, Jodi Benson's singing and acting talents as Thumbelina were the best things about it.

This movie TERRIFIED me as a child and it wasn’t until later in life that I realized it was because she literally gets kidnapped and basically trafficked by everyone around her. Even as a kid it really made me uncomfortable. But a lot of it is cute ❤

the way i cried when cornelius was looking for her. mans been through it😭

"He's love boming you girl get out......oh thats romantic" 🙃 ⚰️

I kind of found it interesting that Thumbelina started out seeming very optimistic Disney princess-like and becomes more and more jaded throughout the story as things go on. Her irritated little grimace when she first starts singing at the end in that patch of thorns feels so real. She was so done.

You're right. I honestly thought Cornelius had more personality than the disney princes.

First of all, RIP Gilbert Gottfried, voice of Berkeley Beetle. Secondly, here's a couple of fun facts: Warner Bros. did two test screenings of this movie, one with their logo at the begining, and one with the Disney logo instead. The audience score for the "Disney" version was much higher. Also, the song "Marry The Mole" "won" a Golden Razzie award for worst song, making Thumbelina the first animated film to recieve a Razzie, which no other film would until The Emoji Movie, and the only one to "win" worst song.

Every once in a while i listen to 'Soon' and 'Let me be your wings'. theyre such beautiful songs

Omg I never noticed the bugs pinned to the wall in the mole's cave WHAAAAT that makes him way more creepy than he already was 😶😶😶😶 I kinda love those dark details in animated movies tbh

The whole middle of the movie is absolutely depressing and I remember having an “off” feeling watching the movie as a kid.

I love how Jodie Benson does the voices for both Thumbelina and Ariel! I feel like Don Bluth movies are so ahead of their time and highly underrated.

I loved their relationship as a kid and how pretty Thumbalina was and had a crush on Cornelius. But omg all the creepy guys scared me, I was like aren't you all a lot older then her? Also everyone trying to kidnap her😨 not it.

Thumbelina's color scheme is one of my favorites. So memorable and iconic.

The concern about the mole's collection of insects.

Thumbelina holds a special place in my heart bc my grandma had it on vhs, and my sister and I would always watch it with our cousins whenever we visited as little kids. The story definitely doesn't hold up quite as well as some of the classic Disney movies, but it still has its charm! I was absolutely dying at your commentary about the Beetle being the weird furry of his group since he's the only one who found Thumbelina attractive without her bug outfit 🤣 Also kept hoping you'd feel vindicated at the end for getting spring vibes from the movie since it does technically end with her causing the spring bloom!

I also watched Thumbelina for the first time recently! And I ALSO kept going "wait, Jac, you can just carry her- just- why didn't you just- stop leaVING HER" Maybe I would have liked it if I watched it as a kid, but as an adult I was frustrated no one listens to Thumbelina, they sweep her along into whatever they want her to do and ignore what she says, even her supposed bird friend Jac who at the end finally grabs her and carries her off instead of letting her talk for 30 seconds to go "hey I want to go home because I found out elf prince is dead". Also the timeline doesn't make sense, the day the prince and Thumbelina meet is the first day of Autumn, the next day when Thumbelina is missing his parents say they can't delay the first frost "more than a day", so I guess Paris only has autumn for like, a week before it is solidly winter? It's also wild that in the beginning montage of Thumbelina's daily life she is working around the farm (albeit on her small scale), she's not scared of lifting (comparatively) heavy things or getting between feeding hens, but then for the rest of the movie she has to repeat the "it's impossible" line to set up for Jacquimo's "Nothing Is Impossible" song. She doesn't go "it's impossible for me to get off this lily pad because I can't swim" or "it's impossible for me to find my way home because the toads took me somewhere I didn't fly over just last night", she just immediately gives up and goes along with everything. But she MAY also qualify as the Born Yesterday trope, since she did pop out of a flower fully grown (or at least teenager), for all we know she's just a few months old at the end of the movie! Because magic!

Imagine how much more depressing it would be if this was a live action movie 😭

I watched this movie so many times as a little girl but only for the dresses and how they moved. It was so satisfying to me 😭 these movies did such a good job at animating fabrics, even the sock looked cozy to me 💀

"He's basically Dimitri with different hair!" Oh girl...wait till you see Titan A.E. 😅

GIRL the WAY I was obsessed with this movie growing up. Yeah I still watch it a few times a year, and I think once I hit rational thought age I was like... girl hold on, you just met this dude with a sword, now you love him, then this toad sees you, and LITERALLY in the span of SECONDS he decides he ALSO loves you and wants to marry you, and then you need validation from the beetle? GIRL still love it though LOL

I would watch this religiously as a kid 😂

Listen. I love this movie. But even I can't defend Jaquimo for not *immediately* flying Thumbelina home when he could've done so the WHOLE TIME. Also, if you're taking suggestions for springtime nostalgia movies, may I recommend Once Upon a Forest? It's a little obscure, but I somehow had it on VHS as a kid and *adored* it. Surprisingly really good animation, a good soundtrack, a very 90s environmentalist aesop that's actually handled rather well, plus it has the original Phantom of the Opera himself, Michael Crawford!

I remember have a recording of this on VHS as a kid. I think this was one of those "started as Don Bluth's but corporate ideas killed it" kind of things. It was cute as a kid, as an adult it's ridiculous from the plot holes to the rushed ending. I did love the songs "Soon" and "On The Road." And I found Juqamo's logic to Thumbalina after Beetle says she's ugly weirdly comforting as a young teen. "Do you love the beetle? Then who cares about the beetle!"

The actress who played the field mouse is Carol Channing aka original Dolly Levi and the actress who voices Thumbelina's mother was Barbara Cook, original Marian Paroo (Marian the Librarian in The Music Man)

Cut Cornelius some slack, he's doing the best he can! 😂 Better than giving up

I didn't know this "Land before time" and "Anastasia" were connected 😮

Sophia, you should write one of those "choose your own adventure" books about Thumbelina. The Give Up choices always lead to the bad ending. But alternative choices could be with her teaming up with the bird to impress the fairy royalty, or simply returning home, or marrying the prince, or setting up an interspecies war between the frogs and the mammals (mice and moles), stuff like that. I bet that's something that you'd have fun with :)

He do be kinda thicc also to be fair shes never seen someone her size before so I could imagine she wouldn't want him to leave

The frog with boobs was my childhood sleep paralysis monster 😱

I just started rewatching Thumbalina, you reaction youtubers really be on my wave length 😂🤎

I feel this is one of those H.C. Andersen stories that make the most thematic sense if we assume he is just channeling his 1800's gay angst again. She is born different from everyone else, not knowing if there is anyone else like her, she dreams of this magic prince who is like her and loves her instantly to come and sweep her away, everyone around her tries to get her into marriages with these people she can't love and in the end she finally ends up with people like her despite how impossible it seems. Iirc the script for this film had to be written in like 3 days or something, because the original script was scrapped very late. From what I heard the original script was a more explicitly feminist take on the story, but iirc someone (either the studio or Bluth) felt the tone of the script had developed in a way that wouldn't work for the younger audience (compared to Bluth's earlier film) that the movie was aiming for, so they did a much more 1:1 adaption of the original fairy tale. This of-course came with a lot of the old fairy-tale tropes that are less accepted these days; protagonist not being an active driver for the plot, the plot itself being mostly a repetitive cycle of unrelated events playing on a theme, "fairy-tale-logic" like how the seasons work or Thumbelina getting wings at the end just kinda happening. I do somewhat respect how, apart from things like making the frog literally just Charo, the film is just straight-up a fairy-tale put on screen. There is something kinda charming and naïve to that. Also "Marry the Mole" is straight-up my favorite song from this film, it's just such a perfect character number for the Mouse's character, including how it sounds and how the music is just a bitter, cynical parody of that one wedding melody, like it's something she improvised in-universe.

It explains a lot about me that this was my favorite movie growing up.

god I LOVE this movie, it was one of my favorites as a kid and I still think about it all the time. This is easily my favorite performance by Jodi Benson.

the beetle ball scared me so bad as a kid 😭

I always forget about this fever dream from my childhood and then it comes back to haunt me when I least expect it

5:53 "Why does every male protagonist in a Don Bluth movie look the same?" oh! because Don Bluth used the same model for all of them when rotoscoping, and liked the model's face. so Don Bluth didn't exaggerate any of the said model's features or draw over them. he used the same model for Dimitri in "Anastasia" as he did for Cornelius in "Thumbelina" as he did for Cale in "Titan A.E.". due to the nature of the job, i dont think it's considered standard to put said model in the credits? i dont think anyone knows who this model is, but maybe im wrong. but what i DO know is the Don Bluth fandom cracks jokes and calls the model "Don Bluth's boyfriend" (re: is not actually Don Bluth's boyfriend, i don't know if Bluth is queer, i just know that's the joke people make about how often Don Bluth used this specific model AND did not alter said model's face during the rotoscoping process lmao) to better explain what i mean, i do want to mention the two main types of "rotoscoping" and it's adjacent form. it's a bit of a tangent but it explains how and why Don Bluth did this. rotoscoping is defined as taking film reel of someone and drawing ontop of it. Don Bluth is the big example people point to, especially "Anastasia" as an example of rotoscoping done right. it's other most famous example, not done by Don Bluth, would be any footage of Cab Calloway's dances being rotoscoped into a Betty Boop cartoon by Flesicher Studios. an example people like to use about rotoscoping done in a way that feels uncanny is the Rankin-Bass version of "Lord Of The Rings". all of these included filming a model and then taking a paper and using the model as a base to, basically, trace over. this can be done where much of the features of the model are kept, like with Don Bluth's boyfriend in those three aforementioned movies, or you can create a completely original character ontop of it that just uses the model's moves (Cab Calloway's dance moves being rotoscoped for a walrus in the Betty Boop cartoon "Minnie The Moocher" is probably the most famous example of that). another more contemporary example of keeping the model's face would be like "Loving Vincent" where they filmed the movie and then had every frame be rotoscope-painted on glass. either way, it's called rotoscoping. an adjacent form of it is where you use a live model and draw from afar based on their movements; this was done with a lot of older Disney animated projects, and we have photos of these live modelling sessions (the most famous is probably the model for Aurora spinning as Disney animators learn to capture her dress for "Sleeping Beauty"). but there's also Glen Keane confirming all of Ariel's hair-tucks and lip-bites were from her model, Sherri Stoner, that they then kept. there's LOTS of footage of Sherri Stoner being used for both live modeling sessions, which is drawing from afar, and the filmed live-action segments they used to rotoscope her by taking that film and drawing over it (or, in some animators case: using it to heavily reference rather than draw ontop of). one of my favorite examples is also Katheryn Beaumont who not only modeled for both Alice in "Alice in Wonderland" and Wendy Darling in "Peter Pan" (both for live modeling sessions and for rotoscoping), but she also voiced both characters! ans you may think we don't do a lot of rotoscoping anymore, but we do! it's predominatly used now in 3D-CGI projects, where people will wear those black suits with dots all over called "performance capture suits", in order to be filmed and then have digital artists render the footage into a CHI animated character! that's called "motion capture". you'll see motion capture happen in 3D-CGI movies like "How To Train Your Dragon", in VFX for when they don't want to risk stunt actors like in various MCU movies, and in 3D-CGI video games like "The Last of Us" series. other projects, like the "Spiderverse" movies, have the animators film themselves on their phone as models and use that as reference (or sometimes they rotoscope! that's moreso done by storyboarders). so it's a very common practice done in properties that include human characters. Don Bluth, for example, doesn't really use these models in his animal projects (though Papa/Bernard Mousekewitz in "An American Tale" looks very similar to Vlad in "Anastasia" to me lol also Don Bluth tends to draw his villains with a similar visual throughline, regardless of if they are humanoid or animal, mainly the mouth/teeth if you ask me. Don Bluth could stand to vary his character design principles a bit more. but Cale, Dimitri, and Cornelius facial re-using is WILD lmao i prefer Don Bluth's animal designs though, like "Secret of Nimh" or the unused Cats The Musical concept art. he is less likely to repeat his animal designs, and animal designs often will include filming the animals to capture their movement or having live modelling sessions too, but are less likely to rotoscope. but yeah, idk, im saying this while also obsessed with "Anastasia" tho so i digress) but yeah! so Don Bluth just re-hired the same model to play those three characters for himself and other animators in the respective film to reference + rotoscope. and Don Bluth thought the model was handsome, and had himself and other said animators keep to the model's actual face! it's not that uncommon a job to take nor is it uncommon to re-use the same model within multiple studio projects. it is funny to notice and make jokes about though, because Don Bluth has a relatively small indie-filmography for a studio and re-using the same model back to back for your male lead (and NOT changing the facial features significantly as you rotoscope) is wild. no wonder people noticed and have made jokes. i wish i knew who the guy was who modelled for all of them (someone please correct me if the model has been found). but damn, Don Bluth's boyfriend does indeed have an attractive face lmao i can't fault Don Bluth for deciding to just keep it anyway, i had to answer to question before i forgot about it. ill comment again if you have any other question (that i know the answer to lmao) later in the video, but im having a great time so far. if i dont comment again, ill say here and now: thanks for the fun video! hope you and yours are doing well!! much love ♡

Ngl, I think the depressing part of the movie is the most interesting because it's this obvious message about how often beautiful girls and women are objectified and used by greedy people who don't care about what they want. I think they had to shoehorn in the message about how "nothing is impossible" because it was a little too serious for very young kids, and that pulls the movie down imo. I do love the parts with Cornelius though, the romance is fast-paced but I find it very sweet

Girl your look in this is GORGEOUS, you look like a fairy princess (fitting for the movie) ☺️

For the reason why the love interests look similar in most of these films is cuz they're all Don Bluth's animated boyfriend lol

Oh I love Thumbelina! It’s one of my favorite Don Bluth movies growing up. I love singing along with the songs.

Bro I love Thumbelina, Jodi Benson always eats.

When he says he is looking for a beautiful young woman and she says “aren’t we all,” really cracked me up! 😂

The movie peaked with Ms Toad. Charo unironically was my favorite character. Also Thumbelina needs some extensive therapy like girl has been through it. My favorite singing that Thumbelina personally does is her little reprise for the Mole. It's sad and bittersweet but Jodi has such good emoting with her voice. I wonder how Barry Manolow feels about this movie in hindsight.

This was a fun movie. It had great songs, great characters, a golden story of love and adventure. Mrs Toad stole my heart when I became an adult. She needs more fanart.

Don Bluth movies from the 80’s and 90’s are the best. I grew up watching “The Land Before Time” and “Anastasia”. They are underrated for sure

I grew up watching this as a young girlie, always focused on Thumbelina more. Didn't realize back then all the bisexual panic going on lol

I'm pretty sure the only thing I got out of this movie as a child was that men are creepy and the ugly ones will try to marry you. As an adult I would agree but also add that you shouldn't try to get out of a bad situation, just say it's impossible until someone else gets tired of the whining. And when they do finally help you, it's the bare minimum and will most likely leave you in an equally bad or worse situation. I don't remember much good things from my childhood.

Her milkshake brought all the boys to the yard.

Ah yes, the second feature film in the quartet of Don Bluth dark age, based on the Hans Christian Anderson story of the same name - that's the same author who wrote The Little Mermaid, and both movie adaptations star Jodi Benson. Turns out that Don not only co-directed and co-produced this film, but also wrote the script himself after the previous screenwriter got fired. MGM dropped out of the film due to concerns of Sullivan-Bluth Studios facing bankruptcy. Not only did it get a poor box office reception, it also became the first animated movie to win a Razzie, mostly because of the song "Marry the Mole". You could also watch the three other poorly-done early 90s Bluth films (Rock-a-Doodle, A Troll in Central Park, and The Pebble and the Penguin). However, at least this version of Thumbelina herself was at least sympathetic. At the same time, there's another version you should check out, which a lot of people say is better than this vesion. It's called The Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina, from 2002 (starring Elijah Wood and Jennifer Love Hewitt) and made by Hyperion Animation (the same studio who did The Brave Little Toaster).

so excited to watch but SOPHIAAAAAA U LOOK SO PRETTY!!! i love the butterfly clips in ur hair!

I do wish Thumbelina and Cornelius spent more time together rather than them spending one night together and circumstances essentially forcing them to tush their feelings.

Jacomo is really the only reason why the movie pissed me off so much. Like just give the tiny chic a lift and this entire situation could’ve been avoided.

Thumbelina is definitely one of those deep nostalgia films. Let Me Be Your Wings is still one of my favorite animated love songs. I’d be curious to see what you think of The Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina (2002). Thumbelina is modern with much more agency and doesn’t take crap from people.

This is is one of my favorite animated movies of all time! The songs are soooo good and never fails to make me cry too!

I loved this movie as a kid, but as I grew up, I realized that it was more an allegory than a story, and for all its still entertaining, they didn't go a great job of turning the allegory (about why you should marry someone) into a coherent story. Lust (the toad), wealth , (the mole), and social succession/popularity (the beetle) aren't good enough reasons- love (the prince) is. Its a good message, all the same.

I was obsessed with this movie as a kid! Absolutely. BUT looking at it now, everything definitely made more sense as a kid. No questioning it. There was no huge girl boss movement I was thinking of when I was like 4yo

Yeah this is one of the middle-period Bluth works that frustrates most people, and justifiably so. I didn't see the plot holes when I was younger, but there's no unseeing them now. The story goes like this .... Bluth's company in Ireland had egg on its face due to "Rock-a-Doodle". So when they promised "Thumbelina" to MGM in 1991, they hired an Oscar-winning screenwriter to pen the treatment. Said writer (who as far as I know has remained nameless) turned out to be a jackass who wasted months of the studio's time. Due to a crunch, Bluth wrote the entire script himself and has gone on record that he disappointed himself in hindsight. They finished "Troll in Central Park" in 1992 and "Thumbelina" in 1993, but neither of them was released until 1994 because MGM saw the stank and backed out. Warner Bros. stepped in out of desperation: "Batman Mask of the Phantasm" had just bombed (even on its TV-level budget) and their solution was to buy the work of an acclaimed director ready-made. "Thumbelina" made less than 2/3 of its budget back, and "Troll in Central Park" was just dumped into a random weekend with minimal promotion, because by then WB had decided instead to puts its eggs in the Looney Tunes basket. The result in 1996 was "Space Jam", the box office juggernaut they were looking for. Meanwhile, Bluth's company nosedived into bankruptcy and he left completion of "Pebble & the Penguin" in the hands of a random Hungarian studio rather than try to salvage the shipwreck. The reason? 20th Century Fox wanted their own animation department and offered Bluth an executive position. Out of all the projects Fox had in mind, a musicalized remake of their 1956 "Anastasia" is the one Bluth agreed to. Maybe it was on an urge to learn from his mistakes and try another princess story THE RIGHT WAY. Which worked, and the profits from "Anastasia" even motivated Fox to see value in owning the previous Bluth bombs. In a rare move, WB let go of those rights ... right before the release of Bluth's 2nd Fox project "Titan A.E." which flopped so hard it got one of the topmost executives, the otherwise-legendary Bill Mechanic, fired. Wild ride, ain't it?

5:53 I remember seeing a tumblr post that was like “Don Bluth can only draw two types of men: Twinks and Bears”

YOUR HAIR AND MAKE UP IS GORGEOUS IN THIS VIDEO OMG ❤❤❤

this is one of my favorite childhood movies. I sing the songs from here all the time. During the changing seasons there's a song for each season. This is my MOVIE.

Thumbelina was my childhood. And Let Me Be Your Wings is such a good song

I always found the story of Thumbelina depressing as a kid. My first introduction to the story was an anime adaptation (from 1978). I remember how I felt so bad and also scared for her 😩like why do all these different animal species want to marry her? Leave her alone!

A Sophia Phans upload on a Monday makes it feel like fri-yay 👏🏿 she's that incredible 💯

I just realized that the Mole hates flying things. So if she married the mole and got her wings, he would've killed her and hanged her onto his wall-collection. uHM.

I love this movie so much. Almost nobody has reacted to it so I am beyond excited to see yours!!! Thank you!!

You’re so pretty in this look I’m crying lmao I frogging LOOOOOOOOVE FAIRIES WJFNSJIDEHWHEHAIEJDH

You just made my whole year covering this movie! I love your reviews!

I was like...6 years old. My babysitter had VHS cassettes for the kids... I turned on Thumbalina every day I was there. XD before your reaction, I couldn't tell you anything about it... I just remember being obsessed with it.

I had a deep obsession with this movie as a kid, my gma introduced me to it and even got me the soundtrack on CD! My mother hated it because I was so obsessed. ALSO I saw a drinking game for this movie and the only rule is "drink every time Thumbelina stumbles/falls." I can assure that you will be DEAD at the end of that game lol

Thumbelina❤❤❤❤ Don Bluth Animation just makes everything magical for me. I watched this movie on repeat with Anastasia and still love it today. Soon and Let me be your wings are such beautiful songs!! Thankyou for reacting.

Let me be your wings still slays as a romantic duet and gives me goosebumps after watching it again for the first time in 20 years via this video 😊 Also, it’s funny how time works in this movie, I swear they went through 3 seasons in 3 days haha

This reaction brought much needed joy to me. I was guffawing every other minute. Thumbelina is special to me but, yeah, I side eye a lot of the characters now that I’m an adult.

"Twitter twitter twitter you mean xxx" Oh that's not. Also love the video ❤ and the main villain of the story was that swallow extraordinare bird

I was obsessed this movie as a kid but also feared the frog scenes so much, not sure why

i LOVED this movie as a kid

If you want to see a new Spring based animated movie, watch Wish. I feel like it takes place during April or May, the forest setting are very beautifully spring like.

I’ve seen this movie before and it’s so good

I grew up with Don Bluth and Disney movies. All Dogs go to Heaven, The Secret of NIMH, An American Tail, and The Land Before Time were the ones I watched the most. Thumbelina, A Troll in Central Park, The Pebble and the Penguin, Rock-a-doodle, and Anastasia were my younger sister’s movies. I don’t recall if we watched Titan A.E. Maybe I’ll check that out someday.

I dont care if Thumbelina movie has a razzie raseberry award with the worst song marry the mole I just still love this non-disney princess movie along with the swan princess despite lousy prince derek thing. I'm into fairy tales with princesses so inspiring Since i was a kid.

I love your videos girl!!! Thumbelina is one of my old favs. I actually was watching Hercules on Disney plus tonight and thought about watching you watch it but I found you had not yet so I would like to respectfully and humbly ask that Hercules be added to your watch list please. 🙏☺️. I think you’d love the way Hera and Meg look. Heras deep pink glittery dress is a SLAY!!! 💖💖💖 Thank you !!!🙏

I love that movie as a kid and I still love it

I loved this film as a child :) It was such a fever dream and i forgot all about it XD I really wish at the end, Thumbelina didn’t want any man.

Love your hair! The butterflies are ✨chef's kiss✨

As a child I was FASCINATED by the animation, the way they created magic, fabrics, jewelry, flowers, I still have Thumbelina images pinned as aesthetics on some moodboards !

This was one of my FAVOURITES as a kid. ❤ I still have my VHS tape.

I was so excited to see that you knew Charro but so sad that you didn't seem to know Carol Channing who played Mrs. Fieldmouse. If you're interested to check it out, you can catch Carol in 1967's Thoroughly Modern Millie (which also stars Julie Andrews & Mary Tyler Moore). 10/10 would recommend.

That Jason DeRulo falling down the stairs bit killed me. Also, I think a drag queen needs to do Charro AS Mama Toad.

Everything looks so beautiful outside

Thumbelina is ALL the seasons. All the songs are amazing, I especially love "Once There Was the Sun" in the mole's tunnel, the scenery is gorgeous, the characters wonderfully exaggerated, but the sparrow is annoying.

OH MY GOD OH MY GOD I AM SO HAPPY SHE IS REACTING TO THIS- it’s my favorite movie

Unrelated to the movie, im obsessed with your hair. I mean the whole looks is fab but especially the hair 😍

Well…they DO already have a cool movie with a tiny woman going on an adventure to save her home and having all kinds of agency…it’s The Secret World of Arrietty. Cute little Ghibli film from like 12 or 13 years ago. Kind of a bittersweet ending and a bit slow in places, but great energy and one of the main bad guys is ALSO played by a Carol (Burnette), plus the perspective animation and world building is gorgeous. This was a “use the Disney formula to undercut Disney” film. Princess-like character gets taken away from the safety of home and goes on a whirl-wind adventure filled with growth and discovery and she catches the eye of a handsome prince along the way and blah blah blah, you could write this yourself even if half-blind and after 3 days without sleep. They even added Jodi Benson into the equation because she (and her voice) were Disney royalty at that point, and if she is singing, that = good movie, yes? I don’t know if Disney felt threatened by this film (or Swan Princess) at the time, but they did re-release The Lion King that year, either to bolster the “for your consideration” Oscar nominations or because they really wanted to milk the success of that thing, to the point where there was none left for the other animated features. What I DO know is that my sister was absolutely obsessed with this film and so was I, for a while. We rented it like crazy. I liked it for the animation and the “see a smaller world up close” gimmick, but my sister was firmly in her princess phase and was over-the-moon for the music. And look, I get that the premise of the film is based on a very old fable and the circumstances that keep the lead “lost” are really stretched thin, but certain elements of this movie stick like glue to me, even 30 years later. The animation is gorgeous and soft and easy to watch, it’s not all frenetic movement or strangely violent like other Bluth productions (which I still love, but for different reasons). Jodi is a pull, certainly, and the various set pieces are fun and the watercolors are pretty. But personally, I could listen to Barbara Cook sing me the entire encyclopedia. I loved her in all the original recordings of The Music Man, The King and I, Carousel, Candide…her singing reminds me of my mom’s singing, so it’s comfortable and familiar and nostalgic and lovely. Cook had great range, depth, Vibrato, she could fill a room with her voice. Her reprise of “Soon” makes winter feel a little warmer, but also a little darker and remote, since winter, to me, is only really endurable when you have someone to share it with. I like Benson’s version fine and it sets a different tone, but Cook’s took me by surprise and it’s my favorite piece in the film. I wish it was longer and had a little more experimentation, but it is a shining little ruby in an otherwise brass crown of a film. I come back to this film as a thirty-something and I see the Beetle ball and the Marry the Mole piece and think to myself “wow, Manilow was in on this?”, but then Cook breaks my heart as she reminds the audience that her daughter is missing and I think "aaaahhhhh yeah, there’s that twinge…turns out I’m not make of stone after all.” The ending is triumphant and beautiful and the whole “hope springs eternal” idea is reaffirmed with the “nothing is impossible” motif, but if nothing else, the little shiny moments of good music are worth it to re-watch this, if only once every decade. Great vid! I like that Bluth is getting more rewatches over the last few years. Though you should watch “Rock-a-doodle” if you want a genuine example of a Don Bluth musical that went horribly, horribly wrong…wow, what a wreck. See ya! ☺

Sophia Phan Your hair colors are always so pretty😍

Our fairy queen has returned! Glad to see that Thumbelina (WB-owned before 20th Century Fox/Studios gained the rights) made it to your reaction list. I don't know why Thumbelina and A Troll in Central Park are owned by 20th Century Studios/Disney than Warner Bros. since Don Bluth's animated films are all spread out through various studios i.e. All Dogs Go to Heaven 1 & 2 and The Pebble and the Penguin being for MGM. The 1st Land Before Time & the 1st An American Tale being for Universal Studios with Don Bluth as director and not on the sequels. Fox must've bought WB's Don Bluth films because of the artstyles.

I love Mama Toad's character design and the animation, and of course Charo's voice! She's the best thing about this movie.