by Hal Erickson
synopsis
The shortest of Disney's major animated features Dumbo involves a baby elephant with unusually large ears. Ostracized from the rest of the circus animals, poor Dumbo is even separated from his mother, who is chained up in a separate cage after trying to defend her child. Only brash-but-lovable Timothy Mouse offers the hand of friendship to Dumbo, encouraging the pouty pachyderm to exploit his "different" qualities for fame and fortune. After trepidatiously indulging in a vat of booze, Dumbo awakens in a tall tree. Goaded by a group of jive-talking crows, Dumbo discovers that his outsized ears have given him the ability to fly. The musical score by Frank Churchill and Oliver Wallace won Oscars for them both.
characteristics
- Elephant
- Baby-animals
- Mother
- Outcast
- Ostracism
- Flight
- Circus
- Talking-animal
- Underdogs
- Ugly-duckling
- Friend
- Clown
- Buffoon
- Teasing
- Crow [bird]


