What A Cartoon Movie! - Dumbo
Added 2023-01-30 05:00:07 +0000 UTCJourney with us back to the feelgood days of 1941 as we explore the classic film all about the child who discovers his magical talent through the awesome power of drinking. That's right, this month we're covering Dumbo, the animated outing that saved the Disney studio after two mega-flops the previous year. This tale of a young elephant's rise within the confines of a circus may not resonate much with modern viewers, but it still features some great segments that look amazing despite the relatively low budget. So grab your nearest bottle of clown champagne and get ready for a podcast that'll cause your heart to soar like a 300-pound pachyderm!
Comments
White people trying to write black dialect is called minstrel show dialect
Mr. Animation Enthusiast
2023-10-06 00:25:44 +0000 UTCAs a person with what might be labeled as “elf ears,” I got called Dumbo a lot by kids growing up or adult making comments about them that would make me feel self-conscious. I can even remember times when my mom would push my ears back on my head and picture what I would look like if they were “normal.” She would even say one day I would get surgery to “fix it.” Luckily, I never let those things get to me too much - even as a kid I would think “if people don’t like me because of my ears, well then f*** them!” These days i rock a shaved head and wear my protruding ears with pride. I feel that I did ultimately grow into them and am glad I have cultivated a personality that doesn’t care about what others think.
Carlos Hernandez
2023-02-08 20:36:50 +0000 UTCfor being such a slight feature, ‘dumbo’ is very well represented on one of my favorite albums: 1988’s ‘stay awake: various interpretations of music from vintage disney films.’ bonnie raitt does a heartfelt rendition of “baby mine,” sun ra and his arkestra’s reading of “pink elephants” is delightfully unhinged, and jazz guitarist bill frisell completely shreds through the “dumbo and timothy” theme from the score.
Eric Schuman
2023-02-04 14:04:58 +0000 UTCAfter watching both 'Pinocchio' and 'Dumbo' I think this was a much sweeter and healthier portrayal of parent/child relationships. Mrs Jumbo and Timothy both leap to defend an actual baby when he's being bullied or manhandled. There's an unconditional quality to their care and support of Dumbo throughout. By contrast Gepetto is an inept absentee and Jiminy's constant huffiness with his two-day old charge not immediately understanding and following his instructions, seemed immature for a guardian. Jiminy treats Pinocchio like it's his fault that he's being expertly manipulated by adult con-men. I'm not a parent myself but having cared for kids, you need to exercise a lot of patience as kids learn and test boundaries. "Never make a mistake" is a terrible way to teach anyone anything.
Joshua Marchant
2023-02-03 21:05:00 +0000 UTCDickies?! Mastadons?! Grand climaxes?! Is this the raciest WaC since Cool World?
Adam Elmahdi
2023-02-02 19:08:36 +0000 UTCMinor comment, but regarding what Henry said about kangaroos, the joeys are NOT born in the pouch. Like placental mammals, they are born out the vagina/birth canal located between the kangaroos legs , and it then climbs its way up momma's fur to get into the pouch, where it basically "finishes" developing. A just-birthed joey looks more like a fetus than a baby kangaroo, and inside the pouch is a teat where the joey will latch onto and finish growing for months until it can finally survive outside the pouch.
Andrew Bouvier
2023-02-01 20:44:57 +0000 UTCSomething I've always wondered about the crows in Dumbo is if they were the inspiration for the crows in Fritz the Cat, or if that was just a coincidence Both movies position them as an analouge for african Americans, though fritz the cat has a lot more deliberate commentary about racial tension at the time than Dumbo does. I wouldn't be surprised if someone like Ralph bakshi saw Dumbo, and was inspired take the idea of the crows, but do a darker, more political take on the concept for his first adult cartoon. Also, Since EO keeps coming up, If anyone would like another similar movie to EO, (a live-action movie about the way that we treat animals, with an animal as the protagonist) a very good one is the film White God It's basically Joker starring a dog
Covey M.
2023-02-01 11:41:55 +0000 UTCThis was one of those Disney movies that my family owned the VHS of and, as such, was in constant rotation in the household for most of my life. That being said, it didn't the same way like my other favorites like Robin Hood, Aladdin or Rescuers Down Under. Probably because of its length because when I first watched it as a 5-year old, I remember feeling baffled that the movie ended so soon and so quickly. It was my first experience with learning that movies can be too short and I guess that colored subsequent rewatches as I felt that the movie was "incomplete" in way I couldn't articulate.
KaiserBeamz
2023-02-01 05:01:56 +0000 UTCThis is awesome! Thanks for all the effort, guys! 😁
To Boldy Joe... Moore
2023-02-01 01:03:30 +0000 UTCOn the point of children who are cruel to animals, my older sister told me once that you can tell everything you need to know about a person by the way they treat their pet. What makes you think they will treat you any better? I now believes this applies to all animals generally.
Saya Clarke
2023-01-31 02:29:43 +0000 UTCA bit tangential, but the speculation about Walt Disney revealing anti-working class sentiment in Dumbo reminded me of similar comments by a critic about Pinocchio's themes of derision toward working class pastimes on Pleasure Island, and ideals of assimilation into the American middle class. Class conflict was definitely on people's minds (and Walt's!) in the 1930s in the US, so it all probably tracks. From the "themes" section of the Wikipedia article on Pinocchio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinocchio_%281940_film%29?wprov=sfla1
Bradford A Barker
2023-01-30 19:08:34 +0000 UTCAs someone who just got back from a Disney World trip a couple of weeks ago, I can confirm that Yes, kids love the Dumbo ride. It's so popular that Disney built a second Dumbo ride, not another copycat (which there are several of) but a literal second bunch of flying elephants, about 10 years ago and attached it to an indoor play area. The ride is setup like a chain restaurant: you enter the play area and check in with a cast member who records the size of your party and hands you a little PDA thing that vibrates and lights up when the ride is ready for you. While you wait, the kids get to play and the adults enjoy some air conditioning. We've taken our kids to Disney World on three separate occasions and Dumbo is always a hit even with them being 6 and 7 years old now. As for the movie and character, they could not possibly care less about him and haven't seen the movie in years. Dumbo was a movie that was a favorite of mine as a kid and I don't really know why. I didn't own it, so I probably only saw it a handful of times via video rentals, but I always liked Dumbo and just remember thinking of it fondly even if I could barely recall the movie. I think I just liked the character and the idea of an elephant that could fly. I've rewatched it as an adult and it's fine. The Baby Mine segment is probably the best part just in terms of emotional response and Pink Elephants on Parade is the most visually interesting part. The crow scene features the best song so I'm glad they didn't cut it. I got the impression that when Disney+ was launched there was some leaked "doom and gloom" surrounding that segment and Song of the South and the crow sequence was always going to be left to lessen the "sting" of not including the horribly boring and terribly racist Song of the South. Also, as an addendum to that recent Disney trip, yes we took the family on Splash Mountain and had a great time. It would be closed a week later and I'm sure whenever it reopens it will be better than ever. That ride is old as shit and all of the puppets and animatronics are dated and in need of refurbishing. And anyone that says they give a shit about Br'er Rabbit is either lying or racist. That character blows and the ride is popular because it's a well constructed log flume ride that builds up to the big drop and that part of the experience isn't going anywhere.
Joe Hodgson
2023-01-30 15:25:30 +0000 UTCHenry, if I can go to bat for Storks, I saw it on a whim when it came out to throw a bone to WB Animation (they kind of lost me at Smallfoot) and came away really enjoying it. Not doing anything revolutionary but it was REALLY funny in ways I wasn't expecting and had a good heart behind it. Key and Peele voice some wolves who are way funnier than their teamup in Toy Story 4. Even some actual LGBT parent representation in a montage that was doing way more than Disney was patting themselves on the back for at the time. Well worth renting on Amazon for a few dollars!
Blake R.
2023-01-30 15:22:22 +0000 UTC“Shorter movie… We’re playing catch up this month”… Still almost five hours long 🤣. Salute to you guys
Chris Kusiolek
2023-01-30 05:26:34 +0000 UTC
