Starring John McLeish, Edward Brophy, Herman Bing, Cliff Edwards, Sterling Holloway
Written By: Helen Aberson, Otto Englander
Directed By: Ben Sharpsteen
Studio: Disney/ Buena Vista
Buy on Amazon.com link

It’s been awhile since I’ve seen Dumbo. You see, it’s kind of a traumatic experience for me because that was a nickname I had growing up. Yes, my name is Bryan and I have…big ears. Thankfully my stupid head grew into them and I don’t look that bad anymore. But anyway, This is a brand new Dumbo DVD (I think there might be 2 or 3 versions out there already) but not sure how much of this extra stuff is new.

Dumbo starts out with all these circus animals getting babies from the storks. Man those animals must be REALLY busy or something, especially getting them all at the same time. Can we say Circus orgy? Well one elephant doesn’t get a baby at first, so she gets all depressed. Then one night, the Stork shows up and gives her the baby she wanted. It’s this adorable baby elephant (which is Dumbo duh), and everyone starts to see how cute the baby is…until they see his giant ears. While everyone is picking on Dumbo, including all these redneck jerks; Mama Dumbo gets all pissed off and attacks everyone. She gets locked up and Dumbo gets all sad. Then, Dumbo befriends a circus mouse who helps him conquer his fears, and teaches him how to fly. Yes Yes I know, elephants can’t fly but this is Disney and anything can happen!

I haven’t seen Dumbo from start to finish since I was a little kid. I can’t believe how short the movie was. If they cut out random things, the movie would be even shorter. I’m talking about that trippy dancing pink elephants scene. My god, what drugs were they on when they made that scene! But I guess they made the animated movies shorter than usual back then. It was a pain in the ass process and still is, just easier with computers now. But the animation was fantastic when it was painstakingly hand drawn, instead of having a computer do the work. That’s why I love watching the old Disney cartoons so much, well also for the nostalgic reasons. The story of Dumbo is sad because Dumbo misses his mom, and that one scene where Dumbo is swinging on her trunk…waterworks. The scene in Spielberg’s 1941 when Robert Stack’s character is watching the movie by himself crying sums up that scene very well. I never realized how stereotypical and racist this movie is as well. The “Jim Crow” crew calling each other brother, talking in stereotypical fashion; it’s just very un-PC. But obviously the times were different back then and it would be stupid to deleted those guys out of a timeless classic. The scene I remember most is the end when Dumbo goes back to the circus, and almost doesn’t fly but then he does. That scene always aired on the Disney Channel a lot. Good thing he beat those stupid drunken clowns!

The extras for Dumbo are the same as the 60th Anniversary Edition, but there is a few new things I guess. There’s a music video with Jim Brickman and Kassie DePalva, and it’s the song for that sappy Dumbo/Mom scene. I like the original song better. There are a few bonus things for kids to enjoy like some games but I obviously paid no attention to that. I watched one or two featurettes with Leonard Maltin, Roy Disney and others but that was on the previous Dumbo DVD. I never purchased other Dumbo DVDs so it was all new to me.

Dumbo is a timeless classic for kids and adults to enjoy. If you don’t get weepy for the “Baby Mine” scene, than I don’t think you have a soul haha. If you already own this film on DVD, this isn’t a necessary upgrade. The movie looks great on DVD, or at least I think so anyway.

Features:
DisneyPedia: My First Circus Game
DVD Storybook: Dumbo’s Big Discovery
Bonus Shorts: Elmer Elephant And the Flying Mouse
Sing Along Songs
“Baby Mine” Music Video Performed by Jim Brickman and Kassie DePaiva
Celebrating Dumbo Featurette
And More!

Audio:
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 5.1 CC
SPANISH: Dolby Digital Stereo
FRENCH: Dolby Digital Stereo

Video:
Standard 1.33:1 Color

Subtitles:

Favorite Scenes: I like when the Mom goes crazy and attacked everyone, the “Baby Mine” scene and the ending.
Rating: G
Running Time: 0 minutes
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating: