Review of Dumbo (1941) by Jeremy J — 08 Dec 2017

Simple, short, and just dang sweet! Probably my favorite Disney film when I was a child. And it still tears me up to to this day! But what is that makes this one of the best animated films of all time? Is it the simple and short length? The sweet and emotional story? The lovable and cute characters? Or the polished and colorful animation? Well, believe it or not, it's all of those combined! It has almost everything perfect! I say "almost" because of just one little nit pick.

And NO! It's not the crows! I think they're just fine the way they are and I don't think they're racial stereotypes. They are just simply the comedic/supportive cast that are there to support the idea of Dumbo being able to fly.

Now that I got that out of the way, what is it that I find a little "disappointing" about the film? Well that happens to be the fact that the Stork character is not in the film for very long.

Now I know that he would most likely be useless in rest of the film given that his main (and only) purpose is to send baby Dumbo (or Jumbo Jr. if you want to get specific) to Mrs. Jumbo. But he just has so much warmth and likability to him that I wish he was a more prominent character in the story.

Heck, if he was a main supportive character, then I could totally imagine on what he could do to further develop the story. But that's just a little nit pick of mine. It doesn't necessarily hinder the overall film.

Now it's time for me to talk about the most iconic sequence in the film, and one of the most iconic sequences in Disney history. You all probably know what it is, so I will just go on without stating it.

Now I will be honest, I was probably one of the few children to not get creeped out by the Pink Elephants. In fact, I found it incredibly interesting and it was always the part that I anticipated for when watching the film.

The imagery and color pallet in that sequence is just spectacular! And I like how they made Dumbo and Timothy Q. Mouse drunk in order to add it in. That was one very creative indeed. Lastly, I have to talk about the ending.

Now I know a lot of you are probably going to say "What? Why talk about the ending of Dumbo? It was just a simple Disney ending". Well. Too me, it's one of the most endearing and happy endings in Disney history.

Why? Well since I grew up with a lot of the classic Disney films ranging from Snow White all the way to the Disney Renaissance, I'm pretty much a sucker for these types of endings. They're not to complicated.

And that famous 'The End' part still makes me smile to this day! Overall, is it my personal favorite Disney film? Not quite. I will make a review on that soon. But it' definitely in my top 3.

And I will continue to praise it to this day. If any of you haven't seen this yet, please do! You might just love it as much as I do.