Disney Movie Countdown Day 9 - Dumbo

Dumbo is 65min. long, and that's just about right. I mean that in a good way. The pacing is well done, there are no slow spots, the story is complete and it ends on a high note when Dumbo becomes the hero. It's short and sweet. I like it. A friend pointed out that the scene where Dumbo sneezes his ears big could be the cutest moment in all of Disney. We'll see what Bambi has to say about that, but she makes a very good point; Dumbo is adorable, even when he's waving his little broken flag. There are some great moments that keep the movie from being too cute. The scene where Dumbo's mom tries to protect her son is intense and infuriating; I'm willing to bet it's responsible for more than one PETA membership. The scene everyone remembers is of course the Pink Elephants on parade song. It's the charming sequence where Dumbo, the BABY elephant, gets shit-faced (you don't see that much anymore). If you ever want to terrify a toddler or your annoying stoner friend, put them in a dark room with that sequence on loop. In a couple hours, they'll lose their grip on sanity. It's bizarre and trippy and explains the mutual adoration between Walt Disney and Salvador Dali. I'm always impressed with the artistic brilliance of the animators in the classic disney movies. I'm fully convinced that it's this artistic genius that made Disney the empire it is today and Dumbo is no exception.

On a downer note, there is some depressing racism in this movie. The circus hands are all faceless black men who sing a song about never learning to read or write and wasting their pay. The song ends with someone shouting "move you hairy ape!" *sigh* The other part is the singing crows. There just as racist as you remember, but their good-natured attitude seems to make it less uncomfortable than the previous example. As a kid, I didn't know enough to recognize the racism, they were just funny birds. It's the subtext children miss that is problematic. If nothing else though, it is a relic of the attitudes of the time, and I think that makes it historically important. If you censor this movie, you'd be trying to pretend that these ideas never existed, and I think we should always be wary of polishing up the turds of our past. Time to jump off the soapbox and squeeze in some extra credit. Tomorrow: LION KING! Let's see if I still remember it word for word. :)

7/10