Ridiculed because of his enormous ears, poor Dumbo is even separated from his mother, who is chained up in a separate cage after trying to defend her child. However, with the help from a mouse, Dumbo can achieve his full potential.
There's 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.
Dumbo was for Disney what The Old Man and the Sea was for Hemingway: a simple but powerful story that's brilliantly rendered and succeeds precisely because it is so simple, archetypal, and true.
