"Dumbo" - Disney animated film review

The Disney animated movie that I watched for the first time last week was "Dumbo". I knew a little bit about the film in that Dumbo was a baby elephant in a circus who was separated from his mother. There’s apparently much more to the story.

Having now watched 6 Disney animated films in as many weeks, I’ve come to the conclusion that all of these “kids’ movies” contain some very mature themes that aren’t necessarily easy to explain to kids. I’m finding that I’m having a lot of trouble watching when people (with “people” intending to mean humans, animals, creatures, any sentient being) are mean to others, most especially children (again, with “children” intending to mean humans, animals, creatures, whatever offspring or tiny being). There is generally an awful lot of peril involved. Are kids traumatized when they see these movies? Or is everything ok for them by the time it’s over because of the happy endings, and they’ve forgotten about all the scary things that have happened? Or are kids so young at the time they first see these that they don’t really understand what’s going on in the story and are only drawn to the cute creatures and pretty colors?

OK, so, to the movie. I liked the storks song as they were all dropping off the little babies. I was thinking wow, they have really good aim to know when to release the little bundle at what trajectory to land precisely where they need to. As I was watching that sequence, I thought of the Pixar short “Partly Cloudy”, where all babies are created in the clouds and storks deliver them to their parents. As it turns out, the creator of the short film, Peter Sohn, apparently was inspired to make the film because he watched “Dumbo” as a kid and wondered where the storks got the babies!

Awww, baby hippo! So cute. (Shout out to my friend who likes hippos.)

I really liked the Casey, Jr. segment. Terrific song, really pretty visuals. And I was marveling the whole time that they were able to create that attraction at Disneyland. Absolutely inspired and amazing. I think I had a vague idea that the attraction was linked to “Dumbo”, but I’m not sure.
We saw the other babies being delivered, and Mrs. Jumbo (Is there a Mr. Jumbo?) was eagerly awaiting her delivery, only to be disappointed when none arrives. Turns out, the stork who was delivering Dumbo was late, or at least had a later call time. The stork is able to locate Casey, Jr. (I told the husband that I didn’t know the names of the states are visible when you’re that high up. He rightly ignored my comment.) and delivers the precious package to a delighted Mrs. Jumbo.

Oh my goodness. Baby Dumbo is the cutest thing. He has an ultra version of the expressive baby eyes, and they’re a brilliant blue to boot. So pretty. I was realizing that unlike some of the other animated movies (like “Bambi” and “The Lion King”), the timeframe of this story is so short that Dumbo remains his ever-cute self since he doesn’t have time to grow up. That makes him even more endearing, always remaining a baby.

So there’s little cute Dumbo, and then, there are his EARS. Yep, he has giant ears, each of which is bigger than his head. Yeah, it looks a bit odd, but it’s not like they’re deformed or anything, like a pig’s ear that a dog has chewed up. The reaction to Dumbo’s ears made me think of Rudolph and his bright shining nose. “Dumbo” was released in 1941, and the original Rudolph story was published in a booklet in 1939, so it’s possible there was some influence.

As the entourage arrive at a new town, I was kind of watching in amazement as all the animals are so happy, happy enough to even help with putting up the tent that will be their workspace. The elephants seemed to be doing the majority of the work, with a bit of help from other animals. I noted that the tigers were not being made to help with the work, and the husband responded that they would eat everyone. Hmmm, point taken but still.

Little Dumbo is a hit with the circus guests, but then of course, some obnoxious boys have to make fun of him and even go past the ropes and taunt and harass and abuse poor little Dumbo. Stupid boys. Well, of course, mama Jumbo is going to get mad - don’t mess with her baby! But no one ever pays attention to the whole story, and the dangerous “mad elephant” is put in chains and solitary confinement, away from her little boy. Poor little baby is all alone, so maybe the other elephants will take care of him, especially since they’re female? Nope. One calls him a freak and they make fun of him, this little baby who now has no one to look after him. The female elephants behave like completely bitchy mean girls, shutting him out of their circle.

And then, one of my new favorite characters showed up - Timothy Mouse! I liked him from the very beginning, with his smart-ass voice and wisecracks, and FINALLY, someone other than Dumbo’s mother shows some compassion for the poor kid. Right away, Timothy understands how mean the female elephants are being to Dumbo, and he sets out for a little revenge by scaring them since they’re afraid of mice! And Timothy is the one with the idea of giving Dumbo a bigger and more prominent position in the circus. I do have one unanswered question about Timothy, though. What does he do? Is he employed by the circus as another animal act? He’s wearing a ringmaster costume. Or is he just hanging about, stealing peanuts, and he likes to dress fancy for no apparent reason?

I loved the term “pyramid of pachyderms”. That needs to be a band name. Or a restaurant name. Or something. But as the elephants were assembling their “pyramid” (it didn’t really look like a pyramid to me) by piling on each other like cheerleaders in a competition, I kept remarking that I didn’t think elephants could really do that, and they wouldn’t be able to hold the weight of another elephant on them, much less multiple elephants. Again, the husband ignored my comments.

When the elephants fell, I did worry about them, that they’d get hurt and die. I mean, one elephant height to fall from is bad enough, but multiple elephant heights? Yeesh. But they only came away with bumps and bruises and scrapes. I did laugh when I noticed one elephant had a steak tied over one eye. But then I stopped feeling sorry for them because they were again mean to Dumbo and kicked him out of the elephant union, so then Dumbo was used as part of the clowns act. I am not a fan of clowns. After that entire sequence, I am still not a fan of clowns.

Ahhh, Baby Mine. That devastating song that I didn’t even know how heartbreaking it is. It’s a beautiful sequence, with poor little sad Dumbo, but Timothy knows what to do to make him feel better. See, I like Timothy even more! Even though Mrs. Jumbo is caged and chained, she does her best to comfort her little boy, and Dumbo gets some much needed love from mama. Awwwww.

The clowns decide that they’re fantastic contributions to society and don’t have a problem dropping Dumbo from the top of the Empire State Building (ok, that might be an exaggeration) because after all, elephants don’t have feelings (that is most definitely NOT an exaggeration). People suck. And in this case, I do mean humans - these clowns, the boys who taunted and abused Dumbo before, and the ringmaster too.

So the clowns were celebrating and ended up dumping some of the champagne into a giant bucket of water, which eventually both Dumbo and Timothy drink out of. And they get DRUNK. Is that possible? I mean, it’s only champagne, and it’s not a lot, and it’s diluted. Do elephants and mice get drunk from champagne? I don’t know how old Timothy is, but Dumbo is just a baby. Giving champagne to the baby, even by accident, is not a good thing. I did like the sequence where Dumbo and Timothy are blowing bubbles. That was very cute and well done.

And then, my head exploded a little bit. Ummm, wait, I’ve seen this segment before, at least parts of it. You mean the entire weirdo colored elephants section of the prior incarnation of Fantasmic at Disneyland is from “Dumbo”? I had no idea. Flabbergasted.

On a different note, that segment reminded me of heffalumps and woozles from Winnie the Pooh. It appears that the existence of heffalumps and woozles pre-dates “Dumbo”, but the visual incarnation of them that we’re familiar with comes later, so I wonder if they were influenced by this segment in “Dumbo”. They’re both sort of “fever dreams” influenced by ingestion of an outside substance, kind of like an absinthe-induced hallucination. My favorite part of this segment were the pink and purple silhouettes of elephants dancing. I think that would be a really beautiful cel.

Magpies? Crows? I think one of them called themselves crows. I really liked them. They’re hip and musical and fun and a bit mischievous. I’d like to hang out with them. Without the cigar smoking, though. And they’re sarcastic and rascally at first, but then they help Dumbo learn to fly!

And then we get to the part of the story that everyone knows, where Dumbo flies, and he’s a hit, and his mom is released from jail, and they get a fancy car, and everyone is happy and loves them, now that his formerly shunned abnormal feature is now suddenly beloved because it’s serving a useful purpose. Kind of like in Rudolph’s case too. Hmmm. I kind of expected more after that, so I was surprised the “happily ever after” was rolled out so quickly, and then it was over.

I did enjoy the film for the most part, other than the whole “be mean to the poor little orphan-ish elephant just because he’s a little different” part. So at the end, when everyone’s happy and cheering for Dumbo and Mrs. Jumbo, including the female elephants, I immediately said, no, you don’t get off that easy. Oh sure, now you’re all happy and nice. You weren’t when it counted. Yeah, I hold grudges. I probably wouldn’t object to seeing the film again and just enjoy cute little Dumbo and the parts that I really liked.

And no, I will not watch the recent “live action” remake of this film.