---
title: "Dumbo"
year: 1941
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/dumbo"
fi1m_score: 87
critics_score: 86
critics_reviews: 11
published: "2026-09-17T05:57:14.919305+00:00"
updated: "2026-09-17T05:57:15.370681+00:00"
region: "US"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Dumbo (1941)

Directed by Ben Sharpsteen, Bill Roberts, Samuel Armstrong, Wilfred Jackson, Jack Kinney, Norm Ferguson · 1h 04m · MPA G · Animation, Family

**Fi1m score: 87** · Critics 86 from 11 reviews

*In a sentence:* A baby elephant, a mouse in a bandsman’s jacket, four gossiping matrons and one lullaby through the bars of a wagon that undoes grown men

> At 64 minutes, this is Disney at its plainest and most direct: a baby elephant, his jailed mother and a mouse, drawn simply and felt deeply. One sequence has aged badly, and we say so, but we would not be without the film.

## Synopsis

A circus is wintering in Florida, and the storks are delivering. Every animal gets a baby except Mrs. Jumbo (Verna Felton), whose bundle arrives late in the arms of Mr. Stork (Sterling Holloway). The baby elephant has ears that trail on the ground. The other cows, led by the Elephant Matriarch (Verna Felton), name him Dumbo and cut him dead. The circus train, Casey Jr. (Margaret Wright), hauls them out on the road; the big top goes up in a night storm; the Ringmaster (Herman Bing) opens the show. When boys torment Dumbo and his mother lashes out, she is chained up as a mad elephant, and the only friend left to him is Timothy Q. Mouse (Edward Brophy).

## Review

Storks deliver babies to a circus wintering in Florida, and everybody gets one except Mrs. Jumbo. Hers arrives late, in the beak of a stork (Sterling Holloway) who sings the whole birthday song first. The baby has ears that reach the floor. The other elephants christen him Dumbo, and the film spends its remaining hour on what a small creature does when everyone around him has decided what he is. At 64 minutes it is smaller and plainer than [*Pinocchio*](https://film.one/film/pinocchio) and *Fantasia*, and we think it the best of that first run of features. One stretch has aged badly, and we will not pretend otherwise.

Joe Grant and Dick Huemer’s screenplay, from a book by Helen Aberson and Harold Pearl, sets the cruelty up quickly and gives it voices. The gossiping cows (Sarah Selby, Noreen Gammill and Dorothy Scott) fan themselves and titter; the Elephant Matriarch, voiced by Verna Felton, decides the child is a disgrace. Felton also voices Mrs. Jumbo, so the mother and her chief tormentor share a throat. Herman Bing’s Ringmaster is a fool with a whip. Into this walks Timothy Q. Mouse (Edward Brophy), a fast-talking city mouse in a red band uniform, who scatters the elephants with a word and sits down beside the outcast.

Six directors are credited, Ben Sharpsteen, Bill Roberts, Wilfred Jackson, Jack Kinney, Samuel Armstrong and Norm Ferguson, with Walt Disney producing, and the film speaks with one voice. The backgrounds are thin washes of colour, the sort a child could manage with a paintbox, and they suit the story better than the polish of *Pinocchio* would have. The camera keeps low, at the height of a small elephant, so the clowns are legs and the crowd is a wall. The night the tent goes up is the best-looking passage: rain slanting across the lamps, elephants pushing poles in the mud, lightning showing the canvas a second at a time. The train, Casey Jr. (Margaret Wright), groans up the hills. Dumbo never says a word, and the animators do everything with his eyes and those ears.

Then there is the wagon. Mrs. Jumbo has been chained in a barred cart with a sign calling her mad, and Timothy walks Dumbo over at night. We never see her face. One trunk comes through the bars, finds the child and rocks him, while Frank Churchill and Oliver Wallace’s score plays its one lullaby and the film cuts to the other circus mothers asleep with their young. We have seen this more times than we would admit and it got us again; the adult beside us on the sofa had to study the ceiling. What does it is how little is used. A trunk, some bars, a song that never pushes, and a small creature who cannot tell anyone what he feels.

The second half takes a turn we will not describe, though two sequences in it are famous enough to name. “Pink Elephants on Parade” is a few minutes of elephants turning into camels, skaters, snakes and dancers against a black screen; it is the boldest drawing in the film, and belongs to *Fantasia* more than to a circus story. The crows are the other. They are drawn and voiced, with Cliff Edwards leading and Hall Johnson, James Baskett and Jim Carmichael behind him, as a minstrel-show idea of Black men: idle and loud, there for laughs before kindness. The labourers who raise the tent are drawn as dark shapes without faces. The crows carry a scene the plot cannot do without. We winced, and a viewer today should.

Set against the other Disney features of the period, it is the least ambitious and the most complete. *Pinocchio* is richer to look at and twice as busy; *Fantasia* is grander and duller. *Dumbo* wants one thing, to make you feel for a creature who cannot speak, and it does it with almost no waste. The clowns’ act is the slow patch, and we found it more tiresome than the film thinks it is.

It carries a U certificate and earns it, though a small child may need a hand held through the wagon scene. Watch it with one if you have one about, and do not blame the sniffing on them.

*Fi1m score 87, published 17 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

The reviews are unanimous in their approval, and the praise gathers in the same few places. Nearly every critic singles out the Pink Elephants on Parade sequence, admiring how far Disney’s animators are allowed to go inside an otherwise gentle story. Dumbo himself, who never speaks, is repeatedly credited as an unusually expressive character, and several critics point to the separation of mother and son as the moment that does the emotional work. The short runtime is mentioned often, and always as a virtue.

The reservations are minor and the spread is narrow. Variety, reviewing on release, finds slow spots and an episodic shape. The New Yorker regards it as light and conventional, succeeding at modest aims rather than large ones. Eye for Film recalls the film upsetting them as a child and notes elements that sit uneasily now, though they still recommend it. Nobody dislikes it.

### Reviews we read (11)

- **Slant Magazine**, Rob Humanick (95/100, inferred): The critic calls Dumbo a masterpiece and the greatest animated movie ever made, praising its emotional precision, expressive character animation, simple yet profound storytelling, and ability to evoke real human feelings through modest means. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/dumbo-2097/)
- **Empire**, Kim Newman (90/100, inferred): The critic calls the film the most underrated of Walt Disney's cartoon features and one of the most timelessly perfect in the backlist. They single out Dumbo's mute but highly expressive character and the psychedelic 'Pink Elephants on Parade' sequence for particular praise. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/dumbo-review/)
- **The AV Club**, Keith Phipps (90/100, inferred): The critic praises Dumbo as one of the best classic-era Disney features and one of the best animated films from any studio, highlighting its emotional depth, sympathy for the outcast protagonist, and technical achievements like the Pink Elephants sequence. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/dumbo-dvd-1798197118)
- **The Guardian** (90/100, inferred): The critic finds Dumbo the most satisfying Disney film since Pinocchio, calling it enchanting and perfectly paced at 65 minutes. They single out the character of Timothy Mouse for particular praise as a complete and rounded figure. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/dec/21/featuresreviews.guardianreview)
- **The New York Times** (90/100, inferred): The critic finds the film a winsome, sentimental delight that touches the heart more successfully than Disney's prior features. The pink elephants sequence and the story of the lovable hero overcoming ridicule stand out as highlights. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1941/10/24/archives/walt-disneys-cartoon-dumbo-a-fanciful-delight-opens-at-the-broadway.html)
- **Time Out**, SG (90/100, inferred): Praises it as one of the best of Disney's animated features. Singles out the unforgettable characters and magisterial artwork, especially the aerial views, big top erection in a storm, and pink elephants sequence. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/dumbo)
- **The New Yorker**, John C. Mosher (80/100, inferred): The review calls the film a charming, light, and colorful thing in Disney's most facile style. It succeeds in all it aims to do as an unobtrusive, conventional long film focused on the baby elephant's gift of flight. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1941/10/25/1941-10-25-084-tny-cards-000009959)
- **Variety**, Variety Staff (70/100, inferred): The review praises the pleasant story, pathos mixed with humor, appealing characters, good music, and Disney technique. It notes defects including some slow spots and an episodic nature. [Read](https://variety.com/1940/film/reviews/dumbo-1200413586/)
- **Collider**, Luc Haasbroek (85/100, inferred): The critic praises Dumbo as one of the most timeless Disney classics and a gentle fable about acceptance and self-belief. They single out its emotional directness, particularly the heartbreaking mother-son sequence, and the daring, surreal 'Pink Elephants on Parade' animation. [Read](https://collider.com/best-1941-movies-classics/)
- **Eye for Film**, Max Blinkhorn (80/100, inferred): The critic recalls being upset by the film as a child but now appreciates its dark themes of bullying and persecution, praising its stylish execution, avant-garde camera angles, and the Pink Elephants sequence, while noting its charm and perfect pace despite some disturbing and politically incorrect elements. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/dumbo-film-review-by-max-blinkhorn)
- **Polygon**, Josh Spiegel (80/100, inferred): The critic notes Dumbo succeeded as a pleasant little story that rescued the studio financially after Fantasia's issues. They highlight its experimental yet palatable style, short runtime, and iconic elements like the psychedelic pink elephants sequence. [Read](https://www.polygon.com/23578363/disney-animated-classics-fantasia-dumbo/)

## Details

- **Director:** Ben Sharpsteen, Bill Roberts, Samuel Armstrong, Wilfred Jackson, Jack Kinney, Norm Ferguson
- **Director:** Ben Sharpsteen, Bill Roberts, Samuel Armstrong, Wilfred Jackson, Jack Kinney, Norm Ferguson
- **Screenplay:** Dick Huemer, Joe Grant
- **Novel:** Helen Aberson, Harold Pearl
- **Music:** Oliver Wallace, Frank Churchill
- **Producer:** Walt Disney
- **Cast:** Edward Brophy as Timothy Q. Mouse (voice) (uncredited); Margaret Wright as Casey Jr. (voice) (uncredited); Verna Felton as Elephant Matriarch / Mrs. Jumbo (voice) (uncredited); Sarah Selby as Prissy the Elephant (voice) (uncredited); Noreen Gammill as Catty the Elephant (voice) (uncredited); Dorothy Scott as Giddy the Elephant (voice) (uncredited); Herman Bing as The Ringmaster (voice) (uncredited); Cliff Edwards as Dandy Crow (voice) (uncredited)
- **Runtime:** 1h 04m
- **Certificate (MPA):** G
- **Release (the US):** 31 October 1941
- **Genres:** Animation, Family
- **Budget:** $812,000
- **Box office:** $2 million

## Where to watch in the US

- Disney+: streaming, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: buy $17.99, hd

*Checked 2026-09-17.*

Also available in: AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, IE, IS, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, TR, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## Awards

- Academy Awards 1942: Best Original Musical Score (won)

## If you liked this

- *Pinocchio* (1940), Fi1m 88: The richer, busier Disney feature from the year before; darker than its reputation. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/pinocchio.md)
- *The Red Balloon* (1956): A wordless Paris boy and his loyal balloon; half an hour, no fat, one heartbreak.
- *My Neighbour Totoro* (1988), Fi1m 89: Miyazaki on childhood, an absent mother and a large soft creature who understands. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/my-neighbor-totoro.md)
- *Babe* (1995), Fi1m 88: An outcast animal in a working world that has decided what he is for. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/babe.md)
- *Ernest & Celestine* (2012), Fi1m 84: A bear and a mouse against the rules of their towns, painted in watercolour. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/ernest-and-celestine.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/dumbo