In celebration of Dumbo’s 70th anniversary, Disney re-released the high-flying tale September 20, 2011, and it still resonates with audiences young and old. My daughter (3 years old) has already watched it all the way through twice, which is impressive considering that she watches it in 30-minute increments and typically changes movies mid-way through and comes back to finish them later. I know it is an old favorite, but to my daughter it is just another new Disney movie to enjoy and love.
It is easy to fall in love with the sweet and innocent Dumbo as he learns that what makes him different also makes him special – a great message for us all to remember.
The new release includes a number of bonus features including:
- Deleted Scene: The Mouse’s Tale
- Deleted Song: Are You a Man or a Mouse?
- Taking Flight: The Making of Dumbo
- What Do You See? Game
- What Do You Know? Game
- Celebrating Dumbo Featurette
- Animated Short: The Flying Mouse
- Animated Short: Elmer Elephant (my daughter loves this one)
- And more
Another cool feature is one that I almost didn’t even notice until my husband pointed it out. You can actually watch the movie in two formats – original release and “Disney view.” On a widescreen TV, like ours, the original release format of Dumbo leaves two large black areas on the sides. So the “Disney view” option includes painted panels on the sides of the screen. Like I said, I didn’t even notice the stationary panels until my husband pointed them out, but then I went back and watched a bit of the original release, and I much prefer the “Disney view.” If you have a widescreen TV, I highly recommend watching with “Disney view.”
Since I read so much “controversy” over the “bar scene” in CARS 2 when it was released, I found it ironic to watch the much more blatent drinking scenes in Dumbo — including when Dumbo and Timothy Q. Mouse accidentally get drunk. Of course, for the period (1941) no one thought anything of these scenes, and the movie has become such a classic that this scene is often overlooked (or glossed over). But people gave CARS 2 such a hard time for a scene that hinted at drinking that I wonder how those same critics feel about Dumbo’s blatant scenes. Of course, I was not among those critics feeling that it was tastefully done and barely worth mentioning in CARS 2, but watching Dumbo again and being asked about the “Pink Elephants on Parade” by my daughter I wonder about those critics. Personally, I think we have gone too PC sometimes, and I won’t hesitate to watch Dumbo with all of its innuendos a third, fourth, fifth… time with my daughter. She thinks the pink elephants are a funny dream, and they are — a funny dream in a great movie.
So cheers to Dumbo and all of its slightly un-PC scenes that help make it a classic, period film about a little elephant who finds himself with the help of a friend.
For a little extra fun, here are some coloring sheets to download for your kiddos.
Dumbo is now available on Amazon in Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack.
Disclosure – I was provided with a copy of this movie to facilitate this review, however, all thoughts and opinions are my own.