The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb (1993)

Having nothing at all to do with the famed circus performer, The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb is instead a dark, nightmarish fable, equal parts Grimm Brothers fairy tale and post-apocalyptic science fiction. The title character is the freakish result of a mishap in an artificial insemination laboratory, a young boy only six inches tall. Despite his deformity, Tom is accepted and loved by his normal, if poor, parents. However, the family's uneasy joy is disrupted when Tom is kidnapped and trapped in a secret scientific compound, along with numerous other tiny medical oddities. However, with the help of one of his fellow captives, Tom engineers an escape in an attempt to return to his heartbroken family. Once free from the lab, Tom and his new cohort face threats from the malicious scientists, the dangers of the harsh city, and a secret society of escaped little people. Written and directed by Dave Borthwick, The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb relies upon a stop-motion animation technique (combined with live action) reminiscent of the Brothers Quay and Jan Svankmajer, but with a less experimental, fable-like tone and narrative comparable to Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro's The City of Lost Children. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi