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.