Barbie Presents: Thumbelina (2009),
On October 24, 2023 by CrescentBarbie Presents: Thumbelina is the Barbie series’ first attempt at fusing the modern world with fantasy. I wish it had gotten a better start though. Instead, the concept was introduced with perhaps the most boring idea it could have possibly used.
Story
The movie follows its titular character, the Twillerbee Thumbelina, as she tries to save her home from being bulldozed and replaced with a factory. She works with her friends, Chrysella and Janessa, to reach out to a human girl named Makena. Through Makena, the Twillerbees fight to save their home from being taken over, eventually convincing her and her parents to make a difference for the better.
Thumbelina has a good premise if nothing else. The environmental message is much appreciated, and it’s an important lesson to teach in this day and age. It comes off as contrived though, especially with how quickly and easily characters change their minds about their past actions. It’s hard to swallow because of how forced it can feel, and the bad pacing doesn’t help. This movie is desperate to reach the 75 minute mark, and it doesn’t do so with grace. It takes a long time for Thumbelina to pick up in speed, and the momentum never really goes anywhere.
The plot of Thumbelina doesn’t even really feel like the characters are pushing it forward. Everything happens as the story says it must, not because the characters are making conscious choices to change things. The changes of heart from Makena and her parents don’t feel earned; the shifts are rushed and desperate. Everything happens because it has to; there’s no more depth than that.
While its story sounds promising in practice, Thumbelina is held back by confusing character choices and contrived plot lines.
Story: 2/10
Characters
This is the second movie in the Barbie film series to not follow Barbie as a protagonist. Instead, she’s telling the story. Thumbelina is halfway to being a Barbie with her blonde hair and blue eyes, but she’s very clearly not Barbie since the actual Barbie is in this movie too. Thumbelina is a fine enough character, but she’s on the dull side as far as protagonists are concerned, and she never gets the chance to shine because of what surrounds her. Thumbelina is dragging the story along with her headstrong nature, but it never matches her pace as it needs to.
Chrysella and Janessa are very one-note. The two have opposite personalities that get old very quickly, and Thumbelina is dragging them along in terms of interest from the start. Janessa seems to have been added later on in development with how little she does in the story. She feels like an afterthought meant to make the script longer, and it makes it hard to love her or Chrysella fully. They’re both very static throughout the entire movie.
But the humans are much worse. Makena takes a while to come around before becoming sympathetic, and her arc about pulling away from her mean friend, Violet, is nice… But it feels very forced. In fact, every change of heart in this movie feels forced. Makena decides to help Thumbelina for very flimsy reasons after treating her poorly for ages leading up to that point. Makena’s dog, Poofles, is obnoxious as can be when he’s on screen too. When Makena’s parents finally change their minds, it feels unearned. These character problems spiral outwards into the story, and they drag the narrative down hard.
The worst part of all this is Myron. He’s meant to be seen as the real antagonist after Makena’s parents pull out of the factory venture, but his motivations are so flimsy that it’s hard to care about him. You want to see him stopped because he’s an annoyance, not because he’s an actual threat. Myron wants to destroy everything because he hates flowers. How boring is that? I don’t know if we can even call him a villain when he’s so one-note.
All of the characters in Thumbelina are boring and change as the plot forces them to in unearned, forced ways.
Characters: 1/10
World Building
The Twillerbees’ home is an interesting setting. They’re a civilization of small people living in a field, and their magic keeps the field alive. This is a tightly-knit community… Or so we’re told. We never see much of that at all. It’s all exposition with no backing.
Because the majority of the movie takes place in the city. There’s really no history or information to pull from here. The world doesn’t feel fleshed out at all. It’s just… A city. We can’t care much about stopping Makena’s parents from carrying out their horrible deeds when the Twillerbees’ home isn’t fleshed out, and we don’t know enough about the city to make it interesting as a location either. This world doesn’t fill lived-in; it feels generic and corporate. Perhaps that’s the point of the movie, but it doesn’t make for something fun to watch at all.
The world building is bland and doesn’t even begin to go anywhere.
World Building: 1/10
Themes
The theme of Thumbelina is that even the smallest person can make a difference. This lesson makes sense given the size of the Twillerbees and how Makena feels outmatched by the adults around her… But at the same time, it’s the message of Twelve Dancing Princesses repackaged and done much worse. This theme was presented perfectly fine with Lacey, but here, it feels heavy-handed and undermined by the fact that the story is so contrived. Does Makena really make a difference, or do things change because the story told it to? The weakness of the characters and story both spiral out here and make the theme feel forced.
Themes: 2/10
Production
Thumbelina tries something slightly different with its animation. I could forgive the stylization if it looked good, but… It really doesn’t. The people look clunky, and the Twillerbees look… Very samey. In fact, that’s the biggest problem with the animation: it loves to reuse models. A lot of Barbie movies do this, but here, it’s egregious. Janessa’s model is used for background characters so frequently that four different recolors of her are on the cover of the movie. That doesn’t even count Janessa herself. With her, the number goes up to five. There are only about five Twillerbees and a lot of recolors therein. Not only is it very obvious, but it’s hard to unsee once you notice it. In fact, it makes it hard to keep track of the real Janessa. She really feels tacked on late in development given her role in the script, and this makes it worse.
The voice acting is fine, I suppose, but it’s far from being the best Barbie has ever seen. The music is much the same. There’s not much to remember here, and it feels very generic and boring. In other words, it has the same problem as most other things in the movie. Everything just feels basic, and it’s hard for Thumbelina to stand out with that problem.
The animation of Thumbelina reuses models to the point of it being distracting, and the rest of its production is a letdown too.
Production: 3/10
Overall
Barbie Presents: Thumbelina is a boring movie in a boring world with characters that grow in unearned ways. Everything happens because the story dictates that it must rather than happening naturally. This movie is bland and obnoxious, and I advise steering well clear of it.
Overall: 1.8/10
Silly Superlative: Barbie movie with the most repeated models
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NO. THIS IS THE BEST MOVIE OF ALL TIME!!!!!