4. Dumbo (1941)

After a very strong start with Snow White, Pinocchio, and Fantasia, Disney takes its first (but not last) dip in quality with Dumbo. Apparently Fantasia was an extremely expensive film to make and it did not recoup its budget in box office returns. So what we have here is an attempt by the studio to make back some of the money it lost in the previous year and it shows in many areas. First off is its running time. This is one of the shortest films in the Disney library, clocking in at a measly 1 hour and 4 minutes, barely feature length. Second, the quality of the animation is noticeably reduced. The colors are muted and flat and the backgrounds are practically nonexistent, much less detailed than the marvelous toy shop of Geppetto or the lush environments of Fantasia. 

This is especially a shame considering the setting of Dumbo is a circus, which easily could have provided so many colorful and lively backdrops but just doesn’t deliver. The characters themselves suffer as well. The motions and facial expressions just seem lazier somehow, perhaps rushed. The best way I can put it is that the whole thing comes across as something the studio would have made 10 years prior, as an animated short that played before a feature rather than as a feature itself.

In terms of plot, Dumbo is not terrible, it does have a very positive message about self-worth and the strength of a mother’s love. Dumbo starts off tugging at the heartstrings almost immediately with a flock of storks delivering little bundles of joy to all the animals of circus. Except poor Mrs. Jumbo the elephant. She gazes skyward watching the tigers and giraffes and hippos becoming proud parents but she is left empty handed in the end. This is actually a pretty good way to set the audience up for the relationship between Dumbo and his mother. We feel sad for her right away and that makes it so much more exciting when her stork does shows up late the next day.

This scene is pretty important in establishing the themes of the film. Here we see the first example of how judgmental the other elephants are and we see the unconditional love of Mrs. Jumbo. When the stork arrives to deliver Dumbo, he asks which of them is “expecting”, which is met by a chorus of giggles and spiteful comments. “Not me!” “The very idea!” “Over there, of course!” Throughout the film, we see this over and over: the in crowd and the outcasts. Pay attention to how often Dumbo gets laughed at. Just about every character in the film laughs at him except his mother and his friend, Timothy Mouse. The other elephants can be interpreted as conventional society and it is not a pretty sight. They are spiteful, conceited, and insensitive. Mrs. Jumbo however, is unconcerned by their cruelty, she is clearly overjoyed by the arrival the stork whose voice you might recognize. It is worth noting that this is the first of a great many vocal performances from Sterling Holloway who provided the unmistakable voices for Winnie the Pooh and the Cheshire Cat. I will remind you that this film was made in 1941, almost 40 YEARS before Winnie the Pooh! Pretty impressive!

When Dumbo greets the world, the other elephants seem almost decent until he sneezes and his ears flop open for all to see. Right away they start making fun of him and start calling him Dumbo (his mother names him Jumbo Jr., her only line in the film). Dumbo is seen by the world as a freak because his ears are abnormally large. It is from this point on that Dumbo is ostracized for being different and this will remain the most prevalent conflict throughout the                                                                                                          film. 


One of the few instances where the film does make good use of the circus setting is in illustrating the complex social dynamics that exist within its community of animals and workers. When the train pulls up to a town, everyone piles out and gets right to work. A circus lives and dies by its routines. Everyone in the circus has a job to do and it is tough work requiring precision, efficiency, and dependence on the others to do their jobs too. 
This is demonstrated perfectly by setting up the big top. Dumbo’s first time out in the world is not very welcoming. He tries to help but he doesn’t know any of the jobs so he mostly just gets in the way. This is an effective way of portraying the world as a cruel place, especially for someone who doesn’t fit in. Dumbo’s world gets a whole lot tougher when his only advocate, his mother, is taken away from him. 
The cruelty of society is demonstrated again in a heart wrenching scene where Mrs. Jumbo tries to protect her baby from a group of heckling teenagers who come to see the sideshow. Of course, Dumbo’s ears quickly draw their attention and ridicule. They begin physically harassing him and Mrs. Jumbo dishes out a much deserved ass-whooping on the crowd. Sadly, this lands her in chains, locked away in solitary confinement, branded as a “mad elephant”.

This strips Dumbo of his only shield. Enter Timothy Q. Mouse. Sidekicks are a staple of the Disney formula. We already had a pretty great one with Jiminy Cricket so it seems like an obvious move to try to replicate this with Dumbo’s pint sized protector. It’s easy to draw comparisons between Timothy and Jiminy: both very small, they are the voices of reason, experience, and confidence for our main characters who lack these traits. 

Timothy is a very loyal companion and fights for Dumbo’s sake on multiple counts and for these instances I commend him. However, I just think he’s kind of an annoying character. Mainly it’s his voice. I don’t know, I can’t get past that exaggerated Brooklyn accent. “Mudder” instead of mother, “foist” instead of first. I’m also not entirely sure how his logic works. He offers to get Dumbo’s mom freed by making Dumbo the star of the circus, thereby making his mom important by association? Or something? I guess I’m over thinking this one but it is kind of an important plot point, this is Dumbo’s entire motivation after all and I don’t see the connection.

And this is how the rest of the movie goes. Through a series of trials and tribulations, Timothy manages to make Dumbo the premiere attraction after the startling discovery that Dumbo’s ears are in fact “perfect wings”. A flying elephant! Once Timothy and Dumbo realize that the ears are not something to be hidden but rather embraced, they succeed and Dumbo is reunited with his mother. As I said previously, I think this is a very positive message and it serves the film well, which is a good thing considering the film’s other short comings.

MUSIC: Not a lot going on in this department. The only thing worthy of attention is the cry-fest Baby of Mine. Probably the saddest Disney scene in which a character doesn’t die. Dumbo goes to see his mother in solitary confinement and she cradles him with her trunk through bars. :( The song is very sweet but I think it’s more the scenario than the song that makes this one so powerful.

Soooooooooo when it comes to talking about Dumbo, usually people fall into two camps: either they’ve never seen it or they have seen it but mainly remember the acid trip scene. Pink Elephants on Parade is bizarre, surreal, psychedelic, and pointless. Personally, I really detest this sequence for a number of reasons. First and most importantly, it’s a waste of time. It doesn’t progress the plot in any way and we learn nothing about the characters. The only thing that happens as a result of this sequence is that Dumbo finds himself up in a tree which leads to the realization that he can fly. I think this is a bit of a stretch and could have been achieved some other way. 

Another thing that pisses me off is that for once in the film, the animation looks great which means the majority of the budget went to this sequence, a sequence consisting of nothing but empty spectacle.Now if you haven’t seen the film, you’re probably wondering how the hell this sequence even happens. 
That’s the final reason I hate this number: it feels completely contrived. A bottle of booze tips over into a water bucket that Dumbo just happens to drink from, under the guidance of Timothy Mouse. Maybe if the movie was strong enough to support a goofy interlude, I wouldn’t mind so much but the movie is so damn short already it cannot afford to waste precious screen time on psychedelic dream elephants. All of this aside, the song itself is kind of fun. Go figure.

I guess I should probably mention the crows at this point too. There is a song in the final portion of Dumbo called “When I See an Elephant Fly”. It’s sung by a group of crows who are very obviously meant to be caricatures of how African Americans were perceived at the time by white animators and writers. It’s definitely in poor taste and is certainly offensive by today’s standards. We have come long a way since 1941 (and we still have a long way to go but that’s a different conversation) and as long we understand and recognize that fact, we can look at these sequences as having historical relevance if nothing else.

VILLAIN: At a glance, Dumbo really doesn’t have a villain in the traditional sense of the word. There is no “bad guy” to point to as the cause of Dumbo’s grief. If anything, I would say the antagonist of the film is more abstract. Dumbo faces the cruelty of the world. His ears make him an outsider, separate from the rest of the elephants. But aside from being insensitive jerks, I can’t really call the other elephants villains.

STANDOUT MOMENTS: I would say there are a couple of pretty memorable moments here. Of course the moment when Mrs. Jumbo meets her baby for the first time is so special. She’s just so happy that you can’t help but feel happy for her as well. This in turn makes Baby of Mine equally moving. Probably the most iconic moment in the movie is one we haven’t touched on yet: when Dumbo first flies. It happens a little abruptly and the movie is practically over by the time he makes this discovery but when it does happen, it is a huge triumph. Timothy says, “The very thing that held you down is gonna carry you up,” and that’s probably the most profound moment in the film.

CLOSING THOUGHTS/SCORES: Remember when your Mom or Dad ever said to you, “I’m not mad, I’m disappointed”? That’s kind of how I feel about Dumbo. What makes this movie so frustrating is that we’ve seen great work from the studio already so we know what they are capable of. Yeah, I get it, Fantasia broke the bank so they had to cut corners this time around and I know it’s not the last time this is going to happen but still it is disappointing. It’s a nice little story with a lovable protagonist and an interesting setting but the animators just didn’t pull it out of the bag this time and there are just too many missteps for this film to take flight in the same way as its adorable main character.

OVERALL: 4.5/10

VILLAIN: N/A

MUSIC: 3/10

Today’s Shorts:

We’ve met the big three (Mickey, Donald, Goofy) in our previous shorts, now let’s see what they can do when they join forces! I think some of the best material that came out of the Disney shorts was when these characters shared the screen and played off of each other’s personalities in crazy situations. The first of this kind was Mickey’s Service Station, an absolutely hilarious cartoon in which Pete brings his car in to get fixed and Mickey, Donald, and Goofy completely tear the thing apart trying to figure out what the problem is. Comedy gold. Also in this block of shorts, Clock Cleaners, and Mickey’s Trailer.