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Thumbelina
- Voiced By: Jodi Benson; Olga Golovanova (Russian dub), Choi Duk-Hui (Korean dub), Laura Vlasbom (Dutch dub), Outi Järvelä (Finnish dub), Pápai Erika (Hungarian dub), Kaori Asoh (Japanese dub), Julie Turin (European French dub), Susanne Elmark (Danish dub), Gunilla Backman (Swedish dub), Luljeta Bitri (Albanian dub), Jannike Kruse (Norwegian dub)
A sweet if increasingly pessimistic young girl who was literally born yesterday out of a flower and lived happily with her mother. Mostly. She grew sad upon realizing she had never seen anyone else her size. She is one night swept off her feet upon meeting Prince Cornelius, a fairy man her own size, who promises to marry her. But a cast of strange animals each hoping to marry her or keep her for their own gain in some way have other ideas.
- And Now You Must Marry Me: Almost everyone she runs into tries to force this on her in one form or another.
- Blessed with Suck: Everyone seems to adore her for her looks and her voice. Unfortunately, this earns her lots of unwanted attention.
- Damsel in Distress: She gets kidnapped, and almost dies several times.
- Innocent Blue Eyes: Has sky-blue eyes and a sweet, kind nature in spite of her pessimism.
- Fiery Redhead: Averted. Thumbelina is demure and even when she's annoyed, never really loses her temper.
- Grew a Spine: After being an Extreme Doormat for most of the film, she finally puts her foot down during the climax in order to get her wannabe suitors off her back.
- Heroic BSoD: She succumbs to this after being all but abandoned by Jacqimo and made to think that Cornelius died trying to search for her. She nearly submits to marrying the mole, but her memories of Cornelius's love for her snap her out of it.
- Hypocritical Humor: She gets a giggle out of what a "funny name" Cornelius has, despite being named...y'know, Thumbelina.
- Marry for Love: She's a firm believer in this.
- Opposites Attract: Thumbelina is practical, prone to pessimism, and more introverted, but falls in love with the hot-blooded, optimistic prince Cornelius, who falls for her in turn.
- Pimped-Out Dress: Has a few- the butterfly costume, her fairy wedding dress, even the ugly one when she's about to marry the mole.
- So Beautiful, It's a Curse: It's the beauty of her looks and voice that drive a lot of the other characters to try and take advantage of her.
- True Blue Femininity: She wears predominantly blue clothes.
Prince Cornelius
- Voiced By: Gary Imhoff
The prince of the fairy court, who meets Thumbelina during a flyby of her house one night. The two end up falling in love, and Cornelius spends most of the movie searching for her after she's kidnapped.
- Expy: Not only does he bear more than a passing resemblance to Disney's Peter Pan, he also has a life amongst the fairies and first visits Thumbelina by coming in through the window of her bedroom at night. Cornelius is much more traditionally heroic, however.
- I Will Find You: Much of his screen time is devoted to his search for Thumbelina after she's kidnapped.
- Love at First Note: The first thing he noticed about Thumbelina was her lovely singing voice.
- Opposites Attract: He's a rebellious, upbeat prince who falls in love with shy, pessimistic Thumbelina.
- Prince Charming: While he does have a rebellious streak, Cornelius ultimately proves himself to be quite brave, noble, and heroic when the need arises.
- Rebel Prince: He prefers flying around leisurely on his bumblebee instead of joining his parents for the painting of the autumn leaves. It's treated as an act of typical teenage insurgence by his father, much to his mother's dismay.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: When he learns of Thumbelina's kidnapping, he spends the rest of the movie trying to find her, risking life and limb in order to do so.
- You Shall Not Pass!: After belatedly crashing Thumbelina's wedding, Cornelius confronts Grundel in an attempt to keep him and the others from pursuing her. He doesn't keep them all back for long, but it's enough for Thumbelina to elude them successfully and escape back aboveground.
Jacquimo
- Voiced By: Gino Conforti
A friendly swallow who comes to the aid of Thumbelina and vows to find the Vale of the Fairies so that she may be reunited with Cornelius.
- Character Catchphrase: "Nothing's impossible!" Also, "Follow your heart!"
- Determinator: He will stop at nothing to see Thumbelina to the Vale of the Fairies to be reunited with her beloved. Indeed, not even a thorn in his wing is enough to deter him.
- Disney Death: Is found unresponsive in Mr. Mole's cave with a thorn wedged in his wing, and is presumed to have died until Thumbelina realizes he's merely comatose.
- The Ditz: Much too easily distracted for his own good.
- Forgot I Could Fly: Seriously, Thumbelina's entire dilemma could've been over in an hour if he had simply thought to fly her straight home.
- Gratuitous French: He is from France, so expect lots of this.
- Large Ham
- Motor Mouth
- Skewed Priorities: Focused exclusively on finding the Vale of the Fairies, a feat that takes several seasons to accomplish when he could've taken Thumbelina back home to her mother right away.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist
Mr. Mole
- Voiced By: John Hurt
A wealthy single man who wishes to marry Thumbelina and hates anything warm and bright.
- Dirty Old Man: He's quite older than Thumbelina, a two day old teenager, but wants her for his wife.
- The Dreaded: He has countless bugs and other manner of creatures stuffed and nailed to his walls. Understandably, Berkeley Beetle refuses to go anywhere near his domain.
- Interspecies Romance: Tries to have this with Thumbelina, to mixed results. He does have this with Ms. Fieldmouse, after the events of the movie.
- Oblivious to Love: He doesn't seem to notice Ms. Fieldmouse's attraction to him, though this is justified by his poor eyesight keeping him from noticing her visible excitement when he starts talking about marriage. Though the ending credits imply he eventually got the hint, as he can be seen standing next to Ms. Fieldmouse, whose wearing a wedding dress.
Grundel Toad
- Voiced By: Joe Lynch
Mrs. Toad's eldest son who is madly in love with Thumbelina, and goes to great lengths to have his way with her.
- Abhorrent Admirer: He is this to Thumbelina, who couldn't be less interested in him.
- Ax-Crazy: Becomes this when Cornelius attempts to thwart his final attempt to snatch away Thumbelina.
- Combat Pragmatist: When confronted by a sword-brandishing Cornelius, he hits back with a lit torch and briefly overpowers the Prince with it.
- Determinator: Leaves home on his own to take back the woman he loves, and nothing will stop him from having his way.
- Disney Death: Is seen falling into a huge chasm along with Cornelius when trying to retrieve Thumbelina from Mr. Mole. However, he is seen in the ending credits with a female toad by his side, implying he emerged alive and well from that ordeal.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: He is determined to find love with Thumbelina, and doesn't seem to be well-liked among his own family. In the end he not only loses in his pursuit of her heart, but was implied to have fallen to his death in his battle with Cornelius. In the end credits though he is seen smiling with a brown female toad, suggesting that he eventually moved on and found true love with another.
- Hair-Trigger Temper
- Jerkass: Loud, abrasive, childish, and unwilling to take no for an answer.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: He may not be the brightest or most cunning, but he most definitely is no pushover and can hold his own in a fight. He also successfully blackmails Berkeley Beetle into helping him by literally ripping his wings off.
- Perpetual Frowner: He's not the happiest amphibian in the lily pond, that much is for certain.
- Psychopathic Manchild: A demented toad who acts cruel and childish to everyone around him.
- The Unfavorite: Is heavily implied to be this as his two brothers have no qualms about mocking him over his looks and his obsession with Thumbelina. Even his own mother's treatment of him is questionable as she took no precautions to ensure Thumbelina would remain in place to actually marry him.
- Yandere: Towards Thumbelina.
Berkeley Beetle
"I'm sorry, toots; I guess you're just too... too UGLY!"
- Voiced By: Gilbert Gottfried (speaking), Randy Crenshaw (singing)
A slimy nightclub owner who wheedles a lost Thumbelina into singing for him.
- Alliterative Name: Berkeley Beetle.
- Butt-Monkey: He gets smacked around a lot.
- Jerkass: As usual.
- Lean and Mean: Tall, spindly, and a big Jerkass to our heroine.
- Straw Misogynist: Judges women by their looks, not above making them perform on his behalf, and tends to flirt with Thumbelina with unflattering pet names like "Toots".
Ms. Fieldmouse
- Voiced By: Carol Channing
A mouse lady who takes in Thumbelina just to pressure her into marrying Mr. Mole (who she seems to have a thing for herself) for his money.
- Affably Evil / Jerk with a Heart of Gold: A possible interpretation to her character. She cares for Thumbelina, but is basically pushing her marriage to Mr. Mole on an almost forceful level.
- Ambiguously Evil: Downplayed example. Ms. Fieldmouse is clearly exploiting Thumbelina and completely disregards the latter's feelings, but whether this is entirely motivated by selfishness or if part of her really believes she's helping is harder to say.
- Cloudcuckoolander: She wears a pin cushion as a dress while singing about how much love sucks for seemingly no reason, and even outside that, she seems somewhat... off.
- Gold Digger: She pushes Thumbelina to marry a guy she doesn't love just so she'll have money (and thus Ms. Fieldmouse, Thumbelina’s guardian, would have too).
- Hypocrite: She puts down the concept of marrying for love while trying to convince Thumbelina to marry Mr. Mole, but it's all but stated she has feelings for him herself.
- Jerkass Has a Point: "But love won't pay the mortgage or put porridge in your bowl," sings Ms. Fieldmouse as she convinces Thumbelina to "marry the Mole". Ironically, Ms. Fieldmouse, an improverished housekeeper herself, ends up marrying the guy as seen in an illustration in the end credits.
- Interspecies Romance: She tries to start one between Mr. Mole and Thumbelina, though it's implied she has feelings for Mr. Mole herself. Ms. Fieldmouse and Mr. Mole can be seen getting married in the end credits.
- Nice Mice: Subverted. She saves Thumbelina from freezing to death, but she then tries to arrange a loveless marriage between Thumbelina and Mr. Mole.
Baby Bug, Gnatty, & Li'l Bee
- Voiced By: Kendall Cunningham (Baby Bug), Tawny Sunshine Glover (Gnatty), and Michael Nunes (Li'l Bee)
Three Jitterbug children who befriend Thumbelina and later aid Cornelius.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: A trio of young, cute bugs.
- Shipper on Deck: The moment she sees Thumbelina and Cornelius together, Baby Bug asks her mother will Thumbelina marry the fairy prince. She later asks Thumbelina herself the same question.
- Tagalong Kids: They accompany Thumbelina on her way home, but unfortnately get separated from her when Berkeley Beetle shows up. Later on, they defrost a frozen Cornelius and travel with him underground to save Thumbelina from Mr. Mole and Grundel.
- Two Guys and a Girl: Li'l Bee and Gnatty (the two boys) and Baby Bug (girl).
