Dumbo (1941)

Dang it--I kept telling myself I would let this blog be more free-form. So. Beginning now, I'm going to try not to be formulaic.  Anyway, I've gotten a bit behind on both reviewing and watching, but I'll try to churn out the next couple on my list, starting, of course, with Dumbo (1941).

Dumbo is, in my opinion, the creepiest of the Disney animated films... of those I'm familiar with, anyway.  I don't mean because there's a flying elephant, but because 95% of the characters are malicious for no reason at all.  I mean, those animals are HORRIBLE. And the people are equally bad.  Not only is the setting almost entirely dark and stormy, but then you have these horrifying shadows of the carnies and clowns, not to mention the appearance of clowns themselves, who wear some of the creepiest costumes and makeup (seriously, what is that "mother elephant" headdress?).... well maybe I'm biased because I find clowns frightening to begin with, but I find this film downright disturbing.The circus tent shadow-people may have been the animators' way of being lazy, or maybe an artistic choice, but I've always found it unsettling.

Let's talk about Dumbo the character. Dumbo is a baby. He can't even talk, yet he's subjected to some of the cruelest japes and ostracization imaginable, not only by the buck-toothed circus-goers, but also by his human masters and his fellow elephants. If you didn't remember, his name is actually Jumbo; "Dumbo" is the nickname given by the elephants, but even the humans call him that. As if that's not bad enough, there's the horrific scene when Mrs. Jumbo, the little guy's mother and only friend (at the time) is whipped and locked up in isolation and shackles because she stands up for him! Not kid-friendly, if you ask me. Things do get marginally better with the appearance of Timothy Mouse, the sort of Jiminy Cricket of Dumbo... only to bring on the tearjerker song "Baby Mine," which gets me every time. It's only when Dumbo and Timothy get DRUNK TO THE POINT OF HALLUCINATION that the story progresses and we can finally leave those bitchy elephants and cruel circus performers behind. I guess I can't complain too much about the horrific pink elephant sequence; it scared me onto the wagon before I was even old enough to think about drinking. After that, you meet the enjoyably non-threatening crows who, with Timothy, are the most entertaining. Unfortunately, once their song "When I See an Elephant Fly" is over, the movie is pretty much over as well.

If you get some sick, schadenfreudistic (is that a word?) pleasure from watching babies being bullied, you should love this film. If not, you're probably more like me and this is probably not your favorite Disney movie. Despite all this verbal abuse I've been giving Dumbo, I still think it's entertaining and worth watching.

The cool characters are found below:
Mr. Stork
Mrs. Jumbo
Dumbo
Timothy Mouse
the five crows (the leader is apparently named "Jim Crow," although I didn't know that until I read it somewhere)
oh, and the lazy tiger... just because I like tigers