Originally written April 11, 2018

Dumbo is the fourth major Disney animated feature film, following Snow White, Pinocchio, and Fantasia, respectively. Fantasia winded up being a majorly ambitious movie for Disney, costing the studio a lot of money and flopping at the box office. Since Disney lost a lot of money on Fantasia, they decided that their next movie needed to be a lot simpler, using much less of a budget. So, if anyone out there has decided to watch the Disney movies in the order they’re released, it might be a bit jarring to go from the first three to Dumbo, since it’s much simpler of a movie. It’s not that it’s a bad movie or anything, there’s just not a whole lot to it compared to other Disney movies.

The movie has a very simple story. It centers around a group of circus elephants. One of the elephants, Jumbo, has a baby named Jumbo Jr. However, Jumbo Jr. has a birth defect where he has extremely large ears, so the other elephants start calling him Dumbo. So, the story of Dumbo is essentially just him facing adversity for his large ears, until figuring out how it can be his greatest strength. It’s essentially the same story as Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

Dumbo is enjoyable enough, it’s just way too simple. It’s probably a really good movie for kids, but it lacks that usual Disney magic that makes it as enjoyable to adults. It doesn’t have the multi-layered story of Snow White, the complex themes of Pinocchio, or the astounding animation of Fantasia. I understand that they were working with a small budget, but unfortunately it taints the final product a bit to me.

I should also mention the controversies surrounding this movie. For starters, some of the people working for Disney went on strike during it. This is mocked in a scene where some of the circus clowns are trying to demand a raise from the circus. This strike probably contributed to the lower quality of the movie. There were also accusations of racism in the movie (I personally don’t feel this way though), where a group of crows is seen as being stereotypical caricatures of African Americans (with the leader hilariously being named Jim Crow). I think the crows are pretty great characters though. There’s also a scene where Dumbo and his sidekick Timothy Q. Mouse get drunk and start seeing hallucinations of pink elephants. It’s a great scene, but it definitely feels like the kind of thing that wouldn’t fly in a kids movie today.

The movie has been criticized of being too short, with a runtime of just over an hour. I personally think the movie would have started to drag too much if it was any longer, so I’m thankful for it. It’s such a simple concept that I don’t think it needed to be any longer. However, in defense of this criticism, I will say that the movie takes its time in the first half of the movie and then rushes out its final message in the last 15 minutes or so, so I think it is a valid criticism in that regard.

In the end, though, Dumbo has still managed to maintain its legacy over 75 years later. It’s a well-remembered movie, and despite criticisms I’ve given it, it’s actually very well-received and reviewed by most major critics. While I personally don’t see it, some consider it to be one of the best Disney movies ever made. Dumbo has survived in the form of amusement park attractions, inclusions in video games like Kingdom Hearts, and even a live-action remake of it on the horizon. So, while it’s not one of my personal favorites, it’s still very clearly loved and remembered by many. I think it’s an enjoyable movie for sure, but there just isn’t as much to it as other Disney movies.

3/5