Fixing Fairy Tales: Don Bluth's Thumbelina Part 2
Still trying to fix this mess.
When we last left our tiny heroine, she had just escaped a lecherous toad with the help of the swallow Jacquimo. Jacquimo has decided to make himself and his choreography skills useful and organizes search parties to comb the forest to find the fairy prince.
The story then diverges in three directions- The birds and Jitterbugs hunting for Cornelius or any sign of the fairy court, Cornelius and Buzzby searching for Thumbelina, and Thumbelina making her way home.
Cornelius convinces his parents to hold off the Frost for as long as possible, while they urge him to stay. However, he won’t be dissuaded- He knows Thumbelina was kidnapped from her home and is now lost and scared, he won’t sit by and do nothing.
Thumbelina meanwhile has an escort of three little Jitterbugs (The only ones who were too young to join the search parties) and is making her way through the tall grass, singing as she goes. From nowhere a beetle jumps down on them with a shout of “Hiya, Toots!”
The Beetle, Berkley, starts putting the moves on Thumbelina, who doesn’t appreciate his slimy behavior, but she recognizes he can help her. She tries to reason with him offering to sing for him in return for being flown high enough for her to see the way home (Why she didn’t ask Jacquimo to do the same thing, I don’t know, but we wouldn’t have much of a movie if she had), instead of helping, however, Berkley grabs Thumbelina and sweeps her off to his Cabaret. The three young Jitterbugs decide to go for help, and set off to find adults.
The birds and other Jitterbugs are concerned with how short a time they have to get to shelter before winter sets in and are no closer to finding Cornelius. The birds, however have acquired directions to the Vale of the Fairies, and pass these on to Jacquimo, who volunteers to stay as long as he can to help Thumbelina. The birds are worried, but Jacquimo becomes serious for once and puts on a brave face, he’ll be fine, he assures them.
The Jitterbug kids arrive with news, Thumbelina was kidnapped by the Beetle and Grundel is on the trail to find her after one of their number spilled the beans. Jacquimo sets out immediately to the rescue. After the swallow is gone, Cornelius buzzes up, seeking information. The kids recognize the forget-me-not necklace and tell him all they know. The Prince flies off after Jacquimo, intent on helping.
Meanwhile, Thumbelina has been recruited into the cabaret show, where Berkley sings “Yer Beautiful, Baby” to the plaudits of the general bug population. Thumbelina seems grateful for the distraction from her fears until her ill made costume flies off and she’s ridiculed for being ugly by bug standards. Berkley turns her out, so now the poor girl is even MORE lost. Jacquimo is lucky to find her, and comforts her after this latest debacle.
While Jacquimo comforts Thumbelina, Cornelius busts into the cabaret and grabs Berkley by the collar demanding the whereabouts of Thumbelina. All the beetle can stammer out is that she’s alive and he left her somewhere safe. It’s too dark to do any more searching, so Cornelius finds some shelter for the night and waits for the sun to come up. Maybe at this point there would be another musical number, a reprise of “Let Me Be Your Wings” perhaps.
Here we break to Thumbelina’s heartbroken human mother and the farm animals. The poor woman sings about how she misses her child and wishes her to come home.
When morning arrives, it’s colder than ever. The toad has found Berkley and forces him to help find Thumbelina. Jacquimo sets out to find Cornelius after leaving Thumbelina in a safe place (An old shoe… really, dude?) but is injured when a gust of wind throws him into a thornbush and a thorn gets lodged in his wing leaving him incapable of flight. This same gust of wind throws Cornelius off Buzzby and knocks him out, where he’s frozen into a state of suspended animation. The boys are mere feet from each other. Jacquimo tries to walk his way back to Thumbelina, thinking he could at least keep her warm in his feathers until he heals up, but falls into a hole and is rendered unconscious.
After this, we find Berkley and his beetle band searching for the Prince. (Previous to this, Grundel yanked Berkley’s wings off, but that’s awful so we’re cutting that entirely) They find him, and he sure does look dead, but since flower fairies like himself hibernate in the winter, they cart him off to Grundel the toad, who plans to use Cornelius as bait to catch Thumbelina.
The next time we see Thumbelina, she’s in the home of a field mouse, played by Carol Channing. The Field Mouse tells her that she found her in an old shoe and fills her in on the latest gossip. Everyone (probably because of the search made by the birds and Jitterbugs) knows about her and the search for Cornelius. The latest she knew, the Fairy Prince had been found “stone cold frozen DEAD in the snow”, assuming she knew. Thumbelina is of course distraught, her sobs overheard by Berkley, who has tracked Thumbelina this far. While the scheming beetle goes off to tell Grundel, Mrs. Field Mouse convinces (guilt-trips, really) Thumbelina into going to visit her neighbor Mr. Mole.
Mr. Mole, played by legendary fantasy actor John Hurt, is rich and a bit selfish. He’s almost blind and hates the sun, but likes Thumbelina because she’s kind to him. She doesn’t like him much, but because she’s a well bred girl, she hides it well and tells him a story of the world above and sings to him, which he really likes. After Thumbelina’s song, he takes Mrs. Field Mouse and Thumbelina on a tour of his home, including a room of preserved insects. And seeing as how the only bugs we’ve seen are sentient creatures… this makes the Mole a mass murderer!
That is REALLY troubling, so we’ll make it that they pass through a room full of human rubbish like random coins and bits of glass that the Mole believes is treasure; making him look more like a fool than a sicko. They continue on, finding poor Jacquimo unconscious in a side tunnel. Thumbelina, now having lost her only friend and her true love in the same day, breaks down crying beside him. Witnessing Thumbelina’s generosity of spirit, the Mole asks Mrs. Field Mouse to help him win over the poor girl to be his wife. Now. Mrs. Field Mouse has been hoping Mole would propose to HER, but sees this as an opportunity to at least become rich, so undertakes the task.
Meanwhile, Thumbelina realizes that her friend is only unconscious and promises to come back for him as soon as she can.
In another part of the forest, Berkley delivers Cornelius to Grundel who is alarmed by the prince’s comatose state and accuses Berkley of murder. (MAN, there’s a lot of murder for a G-rated movie!) Anyway, Berkley tells Grundel the latest news- Thumbelina is alive and safe with the Mole. Incensed, Gundel drags the reluctant beetle after him to rescue her, leaving Cornelius alone. The three young Jitterbugs come across the scene and start building a fire to warm the Prince back up.
Back with Thumbelina. Mrs. Field Mouse manipulates Thumbelina into agreeing to Mr. Mole’s suit, reasoning that she’d be well taken care of. She agrees because she’s at the “Despair Event Horizon” after losing everything she cares about. That night, she sneaks out to Jacquimo, warms him back up, and fixes his wing. The bird excitedly babbles that he knows where the Vale of the Fairies is and can take her to it. Thumbelina is too broken down to really listen, but Jacquimo still believes and sets out to get help.
On his way to the Vale, Jacquimo finds the Jitterbugs thawing out the Prince. Cornelius is awake and eager for news, so the bird points the way, warning him to hurry, Thumbelina is in danger and needs their help! The bird then takes off for the Vale hoping to gather reinforcements, while Cornelius, still not 100% recovered sets out with the Jitterbugs to save Thumbelina.
Meanwhile, the Mole has thrown together a wedding for himself and Thumbelina. It’s a very fancy affair. Thumbelina, dressed in a hot mess of a dress and her hair in strange pigtails, appears at the door. She still has her ring from Cornelius on her finger and looks at it on her way down the aisle, remembering her true love. As she gets closer and closer to the altar, she slowly gains courage from her memories. Her prince wouldn’t just want her to be taken care of, he would want her to be happy! In fact, that’s what Mother and Jacquimo would want too! When the priest asks her if she’ll take the Mole as her husband, Thumbelina stands up and says-
“Never! I cannot marry Mr. Mole, I don’t love him!”
Thumbelina has finally had enough of being pushed around because she’s so nice! She turns around and starts walking out, even as the Mole and Field Mouse shout and scold her.
"You marry him, then! I’m going home to my mother!” she yells, yanking the ribbons out of her hair and throwing the mushroom she carried as a bouquet.
Just then Grundel crashes through the roof and tries to grab her. She has had about enough of his nonsense and yells at him too, kicking him to make him let go. The Mole, embarrassed, leads a chase after Thumbelina. Berkley appears and calls her toots again, she shoves him out of the way and continues to flee, heading for the tunnel where she found Jacquimo, knowing that at least the Mole won’t follow her above ground.
Meanwhile, the Jitterbugs and Cornelius have found a way underground. Fully revived by the warmth in the tunnels, Cornelius sees the stampede and decides to take care of one foe at a time, starting with Grundel. Berkley, seeing an angry fairy with a sword flying toward them, runs for his life, leaving Grundel to face Cornelius.
“We meet at last, Mr. Toad!” The Prince turns to the kids before engaging Grundel. “Find Thumbelina! Tell her I’m coming!”
This stokes the toad to fury and he lunges at Cornelius, knocking him down. The kids fly after Thumbelina who has made it as far as the Mole’s treasure room.
Thumbelina bets that the Mole will care more about his treasure than her, and starts knocking over as much as she can to impede travel through the room. The kids find her trying to lever over a pile of pennies with a key. The kids gladly jump on the end of the key, starting a cascade that sends the Mole and company fleeing from the room and gives them the cover to escape.
Outside in the spring (don’t think too hard) sunshine, Thumbelina hugs and kisses the kids, who excitedly tell her of all their adventures, and that Cornelius is alive! She can’t quite believe them, but also knows they wouldn’t lie. Just then, she hears Jacquimo calling her name and sees him leading a small army of flower fairies *and* her mother toward them! Mother scoops her and the kids up and holds her close.
Now reunited with her mother and Jacquimo, Thumbelina is more than happy and begins to sing. As she sings, wings appear on her back to the astonishment of the watching crowd. She sings louder, her voice melting the remaining snow, revealing a tunnel, out of which comes Cornelius, who has defeated, but spared Grundel. (Dragging him up after him, hogtied in spiderweb.) He flies to her, singing in answer to her song, landing in her mother’s palm beside her.
“Mother, this is Cornelius!”
Then Mab and Finvarra ride up in their chariot, scolding, but also interested in meeting the girl their son risked his life for.
“Mother, Father, this is Thumbelina.”
It is here that Jacquimo’s storybook ends, but then we hear little bells peeling out.
“But that is not *quite* the end my friends! Follow me!”
We then follow Jacquimo out of his room and down into the Vale of the Fairies where we find Thumbelina and Cornelius appearing from a rainbow in wedding clothes. The three Jitterbugs, looking very proud, carry the bride’s veil and train. Jacquimo joins in the celebration, throwing flower petals on the bride. When Thumbelina throws her bouquet, a pink swallow in the audience catches it. She and Jacquimo lock eyes and smile.
Our last sight is Thumbelina and Cornelius, flying off into the forest, sharing a kiss.
So that’s how I would have written Don Bluth’s Thumbelina. Did I tie up every loose end? Not even remotely, (for instance, what even is time in this movie??) but there’s a lot to tie up in this movie. Like I said, it’s a mess! My next fixed fairy tale might be easier, however… stay tuned.