Hands down, Dumbo will always be a Disney animation classic. The plot is rather simple, it's your basic Rudolph the Reindeer type of a story of a child who is a different to the point that makes them outcast amongst society. They get laugh at, discrimination, or mistreated. In this case, it's Dumbo's ears. It's a simple story of overcoming a difference that life threw at you and finding out how you can adapt to it. This may be a simple story but for me, it works for me and really, it's the characters that help to sell the story. Based upon the storyline written by Helen Aberson, the story is about Jumbo JR who is cruelly mock to the point, that he was 'nickname' Dumbo. I love all his expressions are expressed through body language seeing as he doesn't talk but that comes from the fact that he's just a baby but even still, it works in the film and even without the dialogue, it is easy to pick up on Dumbo's emotions. His only true friend, aside from his mother, is the mouse, Timothy (Edward Brophy). While the elephants don't like the mouse, Dumbo finds a paternal figure in him while his mother is locked up trying to protect him. While the movie loves to point out that this is a flying Elephant movie, in truth, Dumbo only flies in the last 10 minutes of the film. This is where the plot device comes into play. On his journey of self-discovery, Dumbo meets a group of Crows that teach Dumbo how to fly using a Magic Feather. It wasn't magic, as it was meant to give him a boost in courage. Now there has been a bunch of controversial about the black crows. In my opinion, I don't find it racist. The racism accusations around the crows usually centers somewhat around the fact that the leader crow is named, "Jim." It's making a joke out of the Jim Crow laws. The crow leader is the only white actor playing a crow. It's Cliff Edwards (the voice of Jiminy Cricket from Pinocchio). I do like James Baskett as one of the crows. He will play Uncle Remus in Song of the South later on his career adding more to the controversial. Now as far as the crow debate goes, I never had any problems with them at all since in turn, they were integral to Dumbo's growth in the end. They were cool then and still are cool now. I guess I can see how they could be considered a bit racially insensitive, but even then it was portraying non-negative stereotypes, not negative ones. It wasn't like they were picking at watermelon slices, eating fried chicken or anything. Yes, the crows were portrayed akin to a very popular racial stereotype, "the Sambo." The Sambo is portrayed as a lazy, ignorant and enthusiastic bum. Like other racial stereotypes, such as The Mammy, the Tom and so on, they were popularized portrayals used in racist minstrel shows. The decision to name the lead crow Jim, in tandem with portraying the crows as Sambo stereotypes, makes the Crows more of an insult aimed at the civil rights movement and their efforts than innocent, plucky birds. The fact that Disney managed to disguise this racism in the form of innocent, plucky birds and marketed it makes it kind of insidious. Still, this band of crows that are cool, funny, clever and snarky. True, they start out a little cold hearted, but ultimately show to be very upright people underneath once they learn of Dumbo's plight and help him accomplish the impossible. In fact, taken in context, they're the only morally decent characters besides Mrs. Jumbo and Timothy. All the other "white" characters are portrayed as haughty, selfish, big headed, mean, ignorant, and hurtful. The gossipy elephants, the cruel circus children, the pompous ring leader, and the horrible clowns all in some way hurt or endanger Dumbo and Mrs. Jumbo for self-gain. Plus, "When I See a Elephant Fly" is one of the cleverest, funniest, and catchiest songs in a Disney movie. The other good song was "Baby Mine", I have no regrets in admitting that every time the song comes on, I always cry. Despite what I may feel or whatever goes on with the family, it brings back to joy and comfort that I cry in a good way for loving my family. The only reason Dumbo's mother is in there in the first place is because she was trying to protect him, he can't really see her and they can't touch much. Add that to the song itself, then the fact that they show all the other baby animals in the circus asleep with their mother's. So yeah, Disney really know how to make a tearjerker when they want to. The other songs are pointless. The Pink Elephants on Parade scene scared the living crap out of me when I was a kid, and wasn't needed. Look Out for Mr. Stork is a catchy barber song. Still, dated and was a bit odd. If you're on birth control he won't find you. It's time for lemonade and cracker jacks Casey junior's back was bad. The animation was simplicity due to an animators strike. It was a deliberate pursuit due to that, as Pinoccohio and Fantasia were both flops at the time due to the work detail need for those films. If Dumbo wasn't a success, Disney would have closed down its studios since they lost a lot of money on those films. At 64 minutes, it is one of Disney's shortest animated features. The animators wouldn't have return until the following year with Bambi. A number of strikers are caricatured in the feature as clowns. Overall: Dumbo is emotional, atmosphere works fast paced, energetic and fun.
Review of Dumbo
