So there I was, walking through my bedroom door after a long and busy night at the ol’ Jamacain Jam and to my surprise my sister is asleep in my bed while the movie Dumbo plays at an alarmingly loud volume on my TV set. I was already in a pickle; I had to write a movie review with two and a half hours to spare so I figure, why not watch Dumbo for the first time in probably 10 years.
Hopefully everyone remembers the plot of Dumbo; there is a little elephant that is born with abnormally large ears and is automatically labeled an “F-R-E-A-K.” He befriends a circus mouse that feels that Dumbo has more potential to be belittled to the title of “Clown.” Each attempt towards helping Dumbo become a star ends in failure. That is until the mouse convinces Dumbo that he can fly, but can Dumbo do it in time for the big circus performance? Well, I wouldn’t want to ruin the ending.
I really enjoyed this movie while I was a little kid and still do now, but upon further investigation this movie touches on many not-so-childish issues. When Dumbo is born, as well as his whole life up until the end of the movie, he becomes victim of torment from little kids and even other pachyderms. This seems to resemble a situation in which racism can be brought into the picture. Someone is born differently and they are automatically not accepted. Another adult issue is the part where Dumbo and the mouse get drunk off the clowns’ old wine/champagne. This leads to the ever so intriguing “Pink Elephants on Parade” song and images. Reading the lyrics with the help of my beloved Closed Captioning made it seem very scary but when I was a kid I couldn’t understand half of what they were saying and it just looked like fun to have bubble elephants everywhere. I don’t think this is the kind of message movies should be sending to little kids.
Other than those two issues I still really enjoy this movie, ten years later. As for the adultish references, kids never seem to pick that up anyways and they are very few in the movie as well, so I would still very much recommend this for little kids as well as anyone who wants to take a trip down memory lane.