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Thumbelina (1978 film)

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Wikipedia article




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 arti director, 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' movie 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'.However, since in 'Andersen Monogatari' some of Andersen's fairy tales are inserted into the story, this is the third single adaptation of one of his works after 'The Little Mermaid' and 'The Wild Swans'.

Plot



Thumbelina, a girl no bigger than a thumb, is born from a tulip and raised by a childless lady. One day while she's 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.

Voice Cast



Additional Voices



* Sanji Hase (), Rihoko Yoshida (), Michiko Nomura (), Keiko Yamamoto (), Masako Saito ()

International releases



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. The movie was later released on VHS in 1984 by RCA Columbia Pictures Home Video. The movie was also released in Spanish, French, Italian, German, Hungarian, Polish, Russian and Arabic

Music



The songs were composed by Shunsuke Kikuchi and performed by Columbia Orchestra, while lyrics were written by Etsuko Bushika.

# "Always in a Dream" (, 'Yume de itsu demo') (Singers: Kumiko sugi and The Will Beads)

# "Gekogeko Song" (, 'Gekogeko songu') (Singers: Kyoko Kishida and The Aoni Trio)

References




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