The main character is Jumbo Jr., an elephant who is ridiculed for his oversized ears and mockingly nicknamed "Dumbo", but in fact he is capable offlying by using his ears aswings. Throughout most of the film, his only true friend, aside from his mother, is a mouse named Timothy – a relationship parodying thestereotypical animosity between mice and elephants.
Produced to recoup the financial losses of bothPinocchio andFantasia,Dumbo was a deliberate pursuit of simplicity and economy. At 64 minutes, it is one of the studio's shortest animated features. Sound was recorded conventionally using theRCA System. One voice was synthesized using theSonovox system, but it too was recorded using the RCA System[citation needed].
InFlorida, while a largecircus spends the off-season in its winter grounds, aflock of white storks delivers many babies to the animals. Oneelephant, Mrs. Jumbo, does not receive her baby, and keeps scanning the sky in hope. The next spring, the circus sets out on a new tour. A belated stork catches up with a movingtrain named Casey Jr. and drops off the expected baby elephant, Jumbo Jr. The other elephants are initially delighted, until they see the baby has revealed far-oversized ears, and mockingly nickname him "Dumbo". Mrs. Jumbo shows her baby great care and love, defending him from the others' abuse.
Being clumsy due to his ears, Dumbo is made into asideshow attraction. When some rowdy boys start to bully Dumbo and his ears, even breaking into hispen, the furious Mrs. Jumbospanks their leader. The circus staff is drawn in by the commotion and sees Mrs. Jumbo throwing hay bales at spectator, the shocked staff remove Dumbo from the pen, causing Mrs. Jumbo to be further enraged, eventually dousing the circus’sringmaster in a water tub. She is subsequently deemed mad and locked up in a cage, while Dumbo is blamed for the incident by the elephants, and is still bullied by the others.
After scaring off the other elephants, Timothy, a mouse that travels with the circus, befriends Dumbo and decides to make him a star. He whispers in the ringmaster's ear while the latter sleeps, convincing him to try a new stunt with Dumbo as the top of a pyramid of elephants. Dumbo trips on his ears during the show and knocks over the pyramid, injuring the others and causing thebig top to collapse. After, all elephants exile Dumbo permanently as he is put in with the clowns' firemen act, regularly jumping from a "burning building" prop into a vat of pie filling. Despite his newfound popularity, he hates the new performance and is upset.
Timothy decides to take Dumbo to see Mrs. Jumbo, but they cannot see each other's faces and can only intertwine trunks. Meanwhile, the clowns decide to increase the popularity of their fireman act by dangerously raising the platform Dumbo jumps from. In celebration of the plan, they drinkchampagne, and a bottle of it falls into a water vat. Crying after visiting his mother, Dumbo has an unsettling case of thehiccups, so Timothy takes him to the vat for some water, only to discover that the water contains champagne. Both of them get drunk, andhallucinate pink elephants.
While recovering the next morning, Dumbo and Timothy are later discovered asleep high up in a tree byJim Crow and his gang ofcrows. Initially making fun of Timothy's assertion that Dumbo flew with his ears while being drunk, the crows are soon moved by Dumbo's sad story. They decide to help Timothy, giving him a "magicfeather" to help Dumbo fly. Holding the feather, Dumbo does indeed take off a second time. He and Timothy return to the circus with plans to surprise the audience.
During the clowns' fire act, Dumbo jumps off the platform and prepares to fly. He drops the feather, but Timothy assures him it was only a psychological aid. As Dumbo successfully flies about the big top, much to the audience’s delight, he throws a trunkful of peanuts to the other elephants as payback. Dumbo gains fame and fortune, Timothy becomes his new manager and signs him to aHollywood contract, and Mrs. Jumbo is freed. She and Dumbo are given a private coach on Casey Jr., and the crows wave goodbye to the duo as they travel away.
Voice cast
The voice actors are uncredited for their roles in the film.
TheTitle character is Dumbo, whose real name is Jumbo Jr. He is a newborn elephant who has huge ears and is able to use them to fly, carrying what he thinks of as a magic feather. Dumbo is speechless in this film.
Edward Brophy as Timothy Q. Mouse,[8] ananthropomorphic mouse who becomes the only friend of Dumbo after his mother is locked up and does his best to make Dumbo happy again. He is never referred to by name save for a mention in a newspaper article near the end of the film.
Elephant Matriarch, the well-meaning but pompous leader of the elephants who is cold toward Dumbo.
Mrs. Jumbo, Dumbo's mother, who not only speaks just once in the film to give Dumbo's name, but also sings her lullaby “Baby Mine” to him.
Cliff Edwards as Dandy Crow[8] (previously namedJim Crow on the original model sheets), the leader of a group of crows. Though he initially jokes and ridicules Timothy's idea that Dumbo can fly, he hears Dumbo's tragic history and becomes determined to help Dumbo fly for real. He is never mentioned by name in the film.
Herman Bing as The Ringmaster, who is the strict, and foolish owner of the circus. Due to being misinformed about Mrs. Jumbo's attack on the rowdy boys, he assumes she simply snapped and locks her up.
Sterling Holloway as Mr. Stork,[8] Dumbo's carrier stork seen at the beginning of the film.
Margaret Wright as Casey Junior, the sentient2-4-0tender locomotive hauling the circus train.
Malcolm Hutton as Skinny, the boy who taunts Dumbo
John McLeish as the narrator
Production
Development
Dumbo is based upon a children's story written byHelen Aberson-Mayer and Harold Pearl,[4] with illustrations by Helen Durney.[9] The children's book was first brought to the attention ofWalt Disney in late 1939 byKay Kamen, the studio's head of merchandise licensing, who showed a prototype of the Roll-A-Book that includedDumbo. Disney immediately grasped its possibilities and heartwarming story and purchased the rights to it.[10]
Originally intended as a short film, Disney soon realized a decent book adaption needed a feature-length film.[11] At the time, the foreign markets in Europe had been curtailed due toWorld War II, which causedPinocchio andFantasia to fail at the box office. With the film's modest budget,Dumbo was intended to be a low-budget feature designed to bring revenue to the studio.[6] Story artistsDick Huemer andJoe Grant were assigned to develop the plot into a feature-length film. From January 22 to March 21, 1940, they wrote a 102-page script outline in chapters, much like a book, an unusual way of writing a film script. They conceived the stork-delivery and the pink elephants sequences and had Dumbo's mother renamed from "Mother Ella" to "Mrs. Jumbo". They riffed on elephants' fear of mice by replacing a wiserobin named "Red" found in the original story with the wisecracking mouse character, Timothy. They also added a "rusty black crow", which was later expanded into five.[12] Regardless of this, very little was changed from the original draft.[13] In March 1940, a story team headed by Otto Englander translated the outline into story sketches.[14]
Animation
From Disney's perspective,Dumbo required none of the special effects that had slowed down production and grew the budgets ofPinocchio,Fantasia, andBambi.[15] When the film went into production in early 1941, supervising directorBen Sharpsteen was given orders to keep the film simple and inexpensive.[16] As a result, the character designs are simpler, background paintings are less detailed, and a number of held cels (or frames) were used in thecharacter animation. Although the film is more "cartoony" than previous Disney films, the animators brought elephants and other animals into the studio to study their movement.[11]
For the part in the “Pink Elephants” sequence where the background is black and the elephants are composed of changing color gradations, it is actually the animation cels that are painted black, while the elephant characters are fully transparent, except for the line drawings. The real backgrounds consist of the various color gradations, which are visible through the transparent elephants.[18]
During a story meeting forBambi on February 27, 1940, Disney observed thatDumbo was "an obvious straight cartoon" and that the animators that were assigned onBambi were not appropriate for the look ofDumbo. Animators such asArt Babbitt andWard Kimball were considered for the film.[15] For that reason, less experienced animators were brought on to animate the characters. Kimball recalled that Disney approached him in a parking lot aboutDumbo and summarized the entire story in five minutes. "And listening to him tell that story," Kimball noted, "I could tell that the picture was going to work. Because everything sounded right. It had a great plot." In spite of this,Bill Tytla, who was one of the studio's top animators, animated the title character, but admitted that "it was in the nature of the film to go very fast and get it out in a hurry." To speed up production, Disney used photostats of story sketches instead of full layout artwork for the film, and had experienced animators to supervise the younger, less experienced animators assigned on the film.[19]
Production on the film was interrupted on May 29, 1941, when much of the Disney animation staff went on strike. Kimball didn't go on strike.[20]
Some have interpreted the clowns' requests to get a raise from their boss being a reference to the Disney animators that went on strike in 1941 (during the creation of the film), demanding higher pay from Walt himself.[21] Animator and strike organizer Art Babbitt denied this, saying he had been assigned to animate the sequence before the strike. "People attached political significance to what happened there. You know, 'Let's go on strike' and so on. We weren't thinking strike at the time. In fact, there never would have been a strike if it hadn't been forced on us."[22][23]
Dumbo was completed and delivered to Disney's distributor,RKO Radio Pictures, on September 11, 1941.[24] RKO initially balked at the film's 64-minute length and asked Disney to add another ten minutes. Disney refused, "No, that's as far as I can stretch it. You can stretch a thing so far and then it won't hold. The picture is right as it is. And another ten minutes is liable to cost five hundred thousand dollars. I can't afford it."[25] The film was re-released in theaters in 1949, 1959, 1972, and 1976.[8]
Television broadcast
Dumbo had its television premiere on September 14, 1955,[26][better source needed] albeit severely edited, as an installment of theDisneyland television show. The film was shown unaltered on September 17, 1978, as part of a two-night salute to the program's 25th anniversary[citation needed].
Home media
Along withAlice in Wonderland,Dumbo was the first of Disney's canon of animated films to be released onhome video. The film was originally released on June 26, 1981, on VHS,Laserdisc and Betamax as a rental only before becoming available for sale in early 1982.[27] Sales were also extended toCED in October 1982.[27] It was again re-released on VHS and Betamax as part of theWalt Disney Classics series on November 6, 1985.[28] The film was re-released on VHS and Laserdisc on July 12, 1991.[29] It was followed by another re-issue on VHS and Laserdisc on October 28, 1994, as a part of the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection.[30] On October 23, 2001, a 60th Anniversary Edition was released in VHS and DVD formats.[31][32][33]
In 2006, a "Big Top Edition" of the film was released on DVD.[34][35][36] A 70th Anniversary Edition of the film was released in the United States on September 20, 2011.[37][38][39] The 70th Anniversary Edition was produced in two packages: a two-disc Blu-ray/DVD combo and a one-disc DVD.[39][40] The film was also released as a movie download.[39] All versions of the 70th Anniversary Edition contain deleted scenes and several bonus features, including "Taking Flight: The Making of Dumbo" and "The Magic of Dumbo: A Ride of Passage", while the two-disc Blu-ray version includes games, animated shorts, and several exclusive features.[39][41][42] The film was re-released on Blu-ray and DVD on April 26, 2016, to celebrate its 75th anniversary.
Despite the advent ofWorld War II,Dumbo was still the most financially successful Disney film of the 1940s. After its October 23 release,Dumbo proved to be a financial miracle compared to other Disney films. The simple film only cost $950,000 (equivalent to $20,310,000 in 2024) to produce,[2] half the cost ofSnow White, less than a third of the cost ofPinocchio, and certainly less than the expensiveFantasia.Dumbo eventually grossed roughly more than $1.3 million (equivalent to $34,200,000 in 2024) during its original release.[3] The film returned a profit of $850,000.[25]
Critical reception
Upon its initial release,Dumbo received widespread acclaim for its animation and story.[43]Variety wrote thatDumbo was "a pleasant little story, plenty of pathos mixed with the large doses of humor, a number of appealing new animal characters, lots of good music, and the usual Disney skillfulness in technique in drawing and use of color."[44]Cecelia Ager, writing inPM, calledDumbo "the nicest, kindest Disney yet. It has the most taste, beauty, compassion, skill, restraint. It marks a return to Disney first principles, the animal kingdom—that happy land where Disney workers turn into artists; where their imagination, playfulness, ingenuity, daring flourish freest; where, in short, they're home."[45]
Bosley Crowther, reviewing forThe New York Times, wrote that the film was "the most genial, the most endearing, the most completely precious cartoon feature film ever to emerge from the magical brushes of Walt Disney's wonder-working artists".[46]Time wrote: "Like story and characters,Dumbo's coloring is soft and subdued, free from picture-postcard colors and confusing detail—a significant technical advance. But the charm ofDumbo is that it again brings to life that almost human animal kingdom where Walter Elias Disney is king of them all."[47]Harrison's Reports praised the film as "one of Walt Disney's most delightful offerings. Technically, it is excellent; the color is exceptionally good. The story itself is pleasing; it combines comedy with human appeal. The only fault is that occasionally the action slows down."[48]
Time had originally scheduled to run a story with an appearance cover for "Mammal of the Year" (a play on its annual"Man/Person of the Year" honor) on December 8, 1941. Theattack on Pearl Harbor on December 7 of that year had postponed it, and the story was later published on December 29.[49][50]
Among retrospective reviews,film criticLeonard Maltin stated thatDumbo is his favorite of Disney's films and he described it as "one of Walt Disney's most charming animated films".[51] In 2011,Richard Corliss ofTime named the film as one of the 25 all-time best animated films.[52] On the review aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 95% based on 44 reviews, with an average score of 8.3/10. The website's consensus reads "Dumbo packs plenty of story into its brief runtime, along with all the warm animation and wonderful music you'd expect from a Disney classic."[53]Metacritic has assigned a weighted score of 96 out of 100 forDumbo based on 11 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[54]
Depiction of black people
The film has been criticized for itsstereotypical depiction of black people.The Encyclopedia of Racism in American Films (2018) notes that "All of the circus laborers are African American, the only time that blacks are seen in any great number in the entire movie."[55] Film scholarRichard Schickel, in his 1968 bookThe Disney Version, argued that the group of crows in the film wereAfrican American stereotypes.[56] The lead crow, voiced by white actorCliff Edwards in an imitation of Southern African American dialect,[57] was named "Jim Crow", after thepre-Civil-War minstrel character. The term had become a pejorative term for African Americans, and commonly referred toracial segregation laws, and the character's name was changed in the 1950s to "Dandy Crow" in attempt to avoid controversy.[1][58][59] The other crows were voiced by African American actors and singers of the popular all-black "Hall Johnson Choir", including actorsJames Baskett (Song of the South) andNick Stewart (The Amos 'n' Andy Show).Ward Kimball, the chief animator of the crows, used famous African-American dancers Freddie and Eugene Jackson as live-action reference for the characters. The personalities and mannerisms of the crows—specifically their fast-paced, back and forth dialogue—were inspired by the backchat found on the band records ofCab Calloway andLouis Armstrong.[13]Karina Longworth, exploring the history ofSong of the South in her podcastYou Must Remember This, discussed the basis of the crows inminstrel show culture, as part of a wider use of minstrel culture byWalt Disney.[60]
The crow characters have been praised by a number of critical sources. The animation historianJohn Canemaker felt that the crows were amongst the very few characters in the film that sympathize and are empathetic with Dumbo's plight. Being a marginalized ethnic group themselves, they can relate to Dumbo as a fellowoutcast. Canemaker further added that the crows "are the most intelligent, the happiest, the freest spirited characters in the whole film."[13] In 1980, film critic Michael Wilmington referred to the crows as "father figures", self-assured individuals who are "obvious parodies of proletarian blacks", but comments, "The crows are the snappiest, liveliest, most together characters in the film. They are tough and generous. They bow down to no one. And, of course, it is they who teach Dumbo to fly."[61]
In 2017,Whoopi Goldberg expressed the desire for the crow characters to be more merchandised by Disney, "because those crows sing the song inDumbo that everybody remembers."[62] In 2019,Floyd Norman, the first African-American animator hired atWalt Disney Productions during the 1950s, defended the crows in an article entitledBlack Crows and Other PC Nonsense.[63][64]
The crows and Timothy Q. Mouse were not included in the 2019 live-action/CGIremake ofDumbo.[65] In 2019, it was reported that an edited version of the animated film without the crows would be featured on the forthcomingDisney+ service.[66] The movie streams on Disney+ uncensored, with an advisory in the synopsis warning "it may contain outdated cultural depictions."[67][68] In 2021, the film was one of several that Disney limited to viewers 7 years and older on their service Disney+, citing similarity of the crows' depictions to "racist minstrel shows".[69]
Dumbo's Circus is a live-action/puppet television series for preschool audiences that aired onThe Disney Channel in the 1980s. Unlike in the film, Dumbo spoke on the show. Each character would perform a special act, which ranged from dancing and singing to tellingknock knock jokes.
Books
Walt Disney's Dumbo: Happy to Help: (ISBN0-7364-1129-1) A picture book published by Random House Disney, written by Liane Onish and illustrated by Peter Emslie. It was published January 23, 2001. This paperback is for children aged 4–8. Twenty-four pages long, its 0.08 of an inch thick, and with cover dimensions of 7.88 x 7.88 inches.
Walt Disney's Dumbo Book of Opposites: (ISBN0-307-06149-3) A book published in August 1997 byGolden Books under theGolden Board Book brand. It was written by Alan Benjamin, illustrated by Peter Emslie, and edited by Heather Lowenberg. Twelve pages long and a quarter of an inch thick, this board edition book had dimensions of 7.25 x 6.00 inches.
Walt Disney's Dumbo the Circus Baby: (ISBN0-307-12397-9) A book published in September 1993 byGolden Press under the A Golden Sturdy Shape Book brand. Illustrated by Peter Emslie and written by Diane Muldrow, this book is meant for babies and preschoolers. Twelve pages long and half an inch thick, this book's cover size is 9.75 x 6.25 inches.
In June 2009, Disneyland introduced a flying Dumbo to their nighttime fireworks show, in which the elephant flies aroundSleeping Beauty Castle while fireworks synched to music go off.[80]
Casey Junior is the second float in the Main Street Electrical Parade and its versions. Casey, driven by Goofy, pulls a drum with the parade logo andMickey Mouse andMinnie Mouse.
Video games
The Ringmaster appears as one of four villains in the 1999 PC gameDisney's Villains' Revenge. In the game, theDisney Villains alter the happy endings fromJiminy Cricket's book; in particular, the Ringmaster forces Dumbo to endlessly perform humiliating stunts in his circus. In the end, the Ringmaster is defeated when he is knocked unconscious by a well-aimed custard pie.
Dumbo appears in the popularPlayStation 2 gameKingdom Hearts released in 2002 in the form of a summon that the player can call upon in battle for aid.Sora, the protagonist, flies on Dumbo while he splashes enemies with water from his trunk.[81] Dumbo reprises his role as a summon in the follow-up gameKingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories released in 2004 for theGame Boy Advance.
Dumbo, Timothy Q. Mouse, the Ringmaster, Mrs. Jumbo, and Mr. Stork appear as playable characters in theworld builder video gameDisney Magic Kingdoms, as part of the main storyline of the game.[82][83]
Cancelled sequel
In 2001, the "60th Anniversary Edition" DVD ofDumbo featured a sneak peek of the proposed sequelDumbo II, including new character designs and storyboards. Robert C. Ramirez (Joseph: King of Dreams) was to direct the sequel, in which Dumbo and his circus friends navigated a large city after being left behind by their traveling circus.Dumbo II also sought to explain what happened to Dumbo's father, Mr. Jumbo. Dumbo's circus friends included the chaotic twin bears Claude and Lolly, the curious zebra Dot, the older, independent hippo Godfry, and the adventurous ostrich Penny. The animals were metaphors for the different stages of childhood.[84]Dumbo II was supposed to be set on the day immediately following the end of the firstDumbo movie.[85]John Lasseter cancelledDumbo II,[84] soon after being named Chief Creative Officer ofWalt Disney Animation Studios in 2006.[86]
On July 8, 2014,Walt Disney Pictures announced that alive-action adaptation ofDumbo was in development. In the same announcement,Ehren Kruger was confirmed as the screenwriter, as well as co-producer with Justin Springer.[87] On March 10, 2015,Tim Burton was announced as the director.[88][89] On January 11, 2017, it was reported thatWill Smith was in talks to star in the remake as the father of some children who befriend Dumbo.[90] That same day, it was revealed thatTom Hanks had reportedly been offered to play the film's villain.[91] The following month, it was announced that Smith would not be starring in the film.[92] Smith passed on the project due to a disagreement over salary and scheduling as well as to star inBad Boys for Life.[93] He played the role ofGenie in the2019 live-action remake ofAladdin. In March 2017, it was reported thatEva Green was in talks to play a trapeze artist.[94] Following this announcement,Danny DeVito was cast as a ringleader named Medici.[95] Two weeks later, it was reported thatColin Farrell had entered negotiations to play the role of Holt, which was originally offered to Will Smith.[96] On April 4, 2017,Michael Keaton, Burton's former frequent collaborator, entered talks to star as the villain.[97] Keaton confirmed his involvement with the film on June 26, 2017.[98] Filming took place at Cardington Studios inBedfordshire, England.[99] On July 15, 2017, Disney announced the casting for all of the principal roles and that the film would be released on March 29, 2019.[100]DeObia Oparei,Joseph Gatt andAlan Arkin also play new characters created for the film.[101][102][103]
^abDumbo: Big Top Edition DVD (Audio commentary).John Canemaker. Walt Disney Home Entertainment. 2006.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^Canemaker, John (2010).Two Guys Named Joe. Disney Editions. p. 149.ISBN978-1-423-11067-5.
^Friedman, Jake S. (October 26, 2016)."Dumbo! During Labor Unrest!".BabbittBlog.com.Archived from the original on January 24, 2023. RetrievedJanuary 24, 2023.
^abThomas, Bob (1994) [1976]. "Toward A New Art".Walt Disney: An American Original (2nd ed.). Disney Editions. p. 163.ISBN978-0-786-86027-2.
^Disney, Walt (host) (September 14, 1955)."Dumbo".Disneyland. Season 2. Episode 1. ABC.Archived from the original on February 20, 2020. RetrievedNovember 25, 2019.
^Levine, Martin (September 7, 1985)."Disney on Parade".Daily News.Archived from the original on April 8, 2023. RetrievedSeptember 25, 2019 – via Google Books.
^Ward, Lucy (October 23, 2025)."Dumbo: 'Wrong then, wrong now'?".The Bristorian. RetrievedNovember 21, 2025.On October 23rd, 1941, Disney released Dumbo, a film which received wide critical acclaim at the time for its simplistic yet striking animation and heartwarming story
^Crowther, Bosley (October 24, 1941)."The Screen in Review".The New York Times. p. 27.Archived from the original on April 7, 2019. RetrievedSeptember 25, 2019.
^"Cinema: The New Pictures".Time. October 27, 1941. pp. 97–98, 100.Archived from the original on September 26, 2019. RetrievedSeptember 25, 2019.
^"Dumbo".Harrison's Reports. October 11, 1941. p. 162. RetrievedNovember 19, 2020 – via Internet Archive.
^Wilmington, Michael (1980). "Dumbo". In Peary, Danny; Peary, Gerald (eds.).The American Animated Cartoon: A Critical Anthology. New York:E.P. Dutton. pp. 80–81.ISBN978-0-525-47639-9.
^Evry, Max (June 16, 2017)."Do Justice League Reshoot Pics Show the Hall of Justice?".Comingsoon.net.Archived from the original on June 21, 2017. RetrievedJune 22, 2017.Tim Burton's Dumbo is also building sets at Cardington, so some of these props and set pieces could be for that film as well. What do you think the structure could be? Hall of Justice? Watchtower? Steppenwolf's lair? Dumbo's circus?
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