Thumbelina | |
---|---|
![]() Japanese theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Yūgo Serikawa |
Written by | Ikuko Ōyabu Kōichi Tsunoda |
Story by | Hans Christian Andersen |
Based on | Thumbelina by Hans Christian Andersen |
Produced by | Takeshi Ariga Yoshio Takami |
Starring | See voice cast |
Edited by | Ryohichi Toba Yutaka Chikura |
Music by | Shunsuke Kikuchi |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Toei Company (Japan) Turner Program Services (North America) |
Release date |
|
Running time | 64 minutes |
Country | Japan |
Language | Japanese |
Box office | ¥647,51 million [1] |
Thumbelina (世界名作童話 おやゆび姫, Sekai Meisaku Dōwa: Oyayubi-hime, lit. 'World Masterpiece Fairy Tales: Thumb Princess') is a 1978 Japanese anime fantasy film produced by Toei Animation and Tezuka Productions based on the fairy tale of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen. The film was first shown in Japan on 18 March 1978 in the Toei Manga Matsuri ('Toei Cartoon Festival'). The film sees "Father of Manga" Ozamu Tezuka as character designer and former Mushi Production's animator Kazuko Nakamura as assistant animation director upon Tezuka's recommendation.
It represents the second entry in Toei's World Masterpiece Fairy Tales film series, preceded by The Wild Swans (1977) and followed by Twelve Months (1980), Swan Lake (1981) and Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp (1982). It is also the fourth Toei film to be based on Andersen's works, after The World of Hans Christian Andersen (1968), Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid (1975) and the already mentioned The Wild Swans. [2]
Thumbelina, a girl no bigger than a thumb, is born from a tulip and raised by a childless lady. One day while she is playing with her best friend Buzzer the beetle, Thumbelina meets the Prince of Tulips who falls in love with her and rename her Maya. That same evening she is kidnapped by two frogs who want to give her in marriage to their son, but the young frog, moved to pity lets Thumbelina go away with Buzzer. With the arrival of winter she finds shelter underground in the lair of the kind mouse Mrs. Chumi. Here Thumbelina catches the attention of Mr Mogul, a rich mole who asks for her hand in marriage. After various hardships, with the help of a swallow Thumbelina will be able to find the prince she was looking so much for.
Character | Original version (Japanese) [original version] | Turner Program Services version (English) |
---|---|---|
Thumbelina (おやゆび姫) | Kazuko Sugiyama (杉山佳寿子) | Corinne Orr |
Bunbu (ブンブー) (Buzzer in English) | Mariko Miyagi (宮城まり子) | Lionel Wilson |
Narrator (ナレーター ) | Kyoko Kishida (岸田今日子) | |
Gekoo (ゲコオ) (The Frog) | ||
Chumi (チュミ) (The Mouse) | Masako Nozawa (野沢雅子) | |
Mole (モグラ) (Mr Mogul in English) | Kosei Tomita (富田耕生) | |
Papa Frog (かえる父さん) | Ichiro Nagai (永井一郎) | |
Mama Frog (かえる母さん) | Kazue Takahashi (高橋和枝) | |
Prince (王子様) | Noriko Ohara (小原乃梨子) |
The songs were composed by Shunsuke Kikuchi and performed by Columbia Orchestra, while lyrics were written by Etsuko Bushika. [3]
Like The Wild Swans , the film was dubbed in English in 1983 by Sound Shop Inc. in New York under the direction of Peter Fernandez, and released by Turner Program Services. It was later released on VHS in 1984 by RCA Columbia Pictures Home Video. [4] The film was also released in Spanish, French, Italian, German, Hungarian, Polish, Russian and Arabic.
Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales.
Hans Christian Andersen is a 1952 Hollywood musical film directed by Charles Vidor and produced by Samuel Goldwyn. The screenplay by Moss Hart and an uncredited Ben Hecht is based on a story by Myles Connolly.
Mushi Production or Mushi Pro for short, is a Japanese animation studio headquartered in Fujimidai, Nerima, Tokyo, Japan. It previously had a headquarters elsewhere in Nerima.
"The Little Match Girl" is a literary fairy tale by Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen. The story, about a dying child's dreams and hope, was first published in 1845. It has been adapted to various media, including animated, live-action, and VR films as well as television musicals and opera.
Thumbelina is a literary fairy tale written by the famous Danish author, Hans Christian Andersen. It was first published by C. A. Reitzel on 16 December 1835 in Copenhagen, Denmark, with "The Naughty Boy" and "The Travelling Companion" in the second installment of Fairy Tales Told for Children. Thumbelina is about a tiny girl and her adventures with marriage-minded toads, moles, and cockchafers. She successfully avoids their intentions before falling in love with a flower-fairy prince just her size.
Thumbelina is a 1994 American independent animated musical fantasy film directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman, based on the story of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen. The film stars the voices of Jodi Benson, Gary Imhoff and John Hurt, with supporting roles from Gino Conforti, Charo, Gilbert Gottfried, Carol Channing and Joe Lynch.
"The Wild Swans" is a literary fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen about a princess who rescues her 11 brothers from a spell cast by an evil queen. The tale was first published on 2 October 1838 in Andersen's Fairy Tales Told for Children. New Collection. First Booklet by C. A. Reitzel in Copenhagen, Denmark. It has been adapted to various media including ballet, television, and film.
Twelve Months is a 1980 animated feature film directed by Kimio Yabuki and produced by Toei Animation from Japan in partnership with Soyuzmultfilm from the Soviet Union. It was based on the 1943 play written by Samuil Marshak which itself was based on the medieval fairy tale of the same name. The music was composed by Vladimir Ivanovich Krivtsov and performed by the National Leningrad Philharmonic under the direction of A. S. Dmitriev.
Hans Christian Andersen, also known as Paramount Pictures Presents Hans Christian Andersen and known in Japan as Andersen Stories, is a Japanese anime anthology series based on the stories of Hans Christian Andersen which aired on Fuji TV from January 3 to December 26, 1971. It consists of 52 episodes and was produced by Mushi Production and Zuiyo Enterprise.
Thumbelina is a Danish fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, first published in 1835.
The Daydreamer is a 1966 stop motion animated–live action musical fantasy film produced by Videocraft International. Directed by Jules Bass, it was written by Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Romeo Muller, based on the stories of Hans Christian Andersen. It features seven original songs by Jules Bass and Maury Laws. The film's opening features the cast in puppet and live form plus caricatures of the cast by Al Hirschfeld. Among the cast were the American actors Paul O'Keefe, Jack Gilford, Ray Bolger and Margaret Hamilton, and the Australian actor Cyril Ritchard as the voice of the Sandman. Three of the voice actors: Burl Ives, and Canadian actors Billie Mae Richards and Larry D. Mann, were the voice suppliers for Videocraft's stop motion Christmas television special, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964). Some of the character voices were recorded at RCA Studios in Toronto, Ontario, under Bernard Cowan's supervision. The "Animagic" puppet sequences were staged by Don Duga at Videocraft in New York, and supervised by Tadahito Mochinaga at MOM Production in Tokyo, Japan.
Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid is a Japanese anime film based on Hans Christian Andersen's 1837 fairy tale, released in 1975 by Toei Animation. Unlike the Disney adaptation released 14 years later, this film is closer to Andersen's story, notably in its preservation of the original and tragic ending. The two main protagonists are the youngest daughter of the royal family, Marina, and her best friend Fritz, an Atlantic dolphin calf. In Japan, this film was shown in the Toei Manga Matsuri in 1975.
Swan Lake is an anime film based on the ballet Swan Lake by Pyotr Tchaikovsky.
Thumbelina: A Magical Story is a Japanese anime series produced by Enoki Films and adapted from the original 1835 Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale "Thumbelina" by Akiyoshi Sakai. It premiered in Japan on TV Tokyo on September 30, 1992, and ran for twenty-six episodes until its conclusion on March 31, 1993.
The World of Hans Christian Andersen is a 1968 Japanese animated fantasy film produced by Toei Doga, based on the works of Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. Theatrically released in Japan on March 19, 1968, the film was licensed in North America by United Artists in 1971.
Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp is a 1982 Japanese anime fantasy film produced by Toei Animation, based on the Middle Eastern folk tale of Aladdin. The film was released in Japan on 13 March 1982 by Toei Company.
World Fairy Tale Series is an Italian-Japanese anime anthology series based on fairy tales and classic stories, produced by Toei Animation, Fuji Eight and Reteitalia in 1995.
World Famous Fairy Tale Series, also known as Classic Tales Retold, Fairy Tale Classics, Children's Classics or The World's Greatest Fairy Tales, is a Japanese anime series of short films based on fairy tales and classic stories, produced by Toei Animation between 1975 and 1983.
The Wild Swans is a 1977 Japanese anime fantasy film produced by Toei Animation, based on the Brothers Grimm's fairy tale The Six Swans and on Hans Christian Andersen's variation The Wild Swans. The film was first shown in Japan on 19 March 1977 in the Toei Manga Matsuri.