A very tightly budgeted, scripted, and produced film, because Walt Disney needed the film to bring in much-needed revenue after the expensive failures of Pinocchio (1940) and Fantasia (1940). Final negative cost of Dumbo was $813,000 (making it the least expensive of all Disney’s animated features), and it grossed over $2.5 million in its original release (more than Pinocchio (1940)’s and Fantasia (1940)’s original grosses combined).
So this was my first time ever seeing Dumbo. I, of course, had heard things from a lot of people about how sad it was, so I think that’s what kept me away for so long. Going into this, I didn’t really think it could possibly be THAT sad. I mean, come on, it’s a kid’s movie, right?
Wrong. Holy crap. Less than 15 minutes into this I was already so heartbroken. Poor little baby Dumbo, and those nasty gossiping elephants. And poor Dumbo’s mom! Oh my god. this movie was riddled with sad parts. D:
All of that aside, however, I really really liked it. Yes, it’s sad. But the end is so good. And how can you NOT love little baby Dumbo with those big ears? So stinking cute. (:
Anyone else have any thoughts?
Dumbo is the only Disney animated feature film that has a title character who doesn’t speak.