Okay more reviewing and we return to the Cartoon Vault for Dumbo.

An American Circus gets a visit from the stork, back in the days where the concept of babies in media was that storks bring them which hasn't been a concept since the 90s but then again this film is 75 years old.
Any who, one elephant in particular receives a baby that has overly large ears which attracts shock and awe from the other elephants who dub him Dumbo but the mother isn't that interested in their comments, meanwhile the Circus is traveling up through the state of Florida accompanied by musical sequences such as Casey Jr the Train (yep that's the name of the train) and the workman's chorus.
Unfortunately opening day in a new town doesn't go according to plan as an incident with a stupid child gets Dumbo's mother imprisoned leaving Dumbo to fend for himself which leads to him being rejected by the other elephants; luckily a mouse named Timothy (Yep that's his name) sees some potential in Dumbo and tries to improve his image by helping him get involved in some spectacular Circus acts only for that to go wrong as well demoting him to clown. After a tender moment with his mother and a drunken hallucination, Dumbo finds himself in a tree where a murder of crows (not an actual murder but the right term for them) encourages Dumbo to fly thinking that's what he actually did to get up in the tree. After a spectacular display during a Circus act, Dumbo becomes the famous Flying Elephant making the Circus and Timothy Mouse very rich.
So after 75 years what have we discovered now about Dumbo that wasn't apparent during it's first release? Well for one thing Dumbo doesn't talk and that makes his curiosity and emotions show a lot more, you instantly sympathize with him when he gets separated from his mother and can't help but cry during the more emotional scenes. Equally other characters aren't as clear cut in the black and white, good and evil books. The Ringmaster is often portrayed as a villain but he's only really doing his job, he's just a product of the time and old evils of circuses, equally Timothy Mouse acts more like a manager than a friend to Dumbo and you get the feeling that he would walk away with tons of money the first moment he gets, but in his defense, he did encourage a change of heart from the crows who were only making fun of the situation, so the characters aren't always as clear cut as you might think. On the other hand the other elephants are incredibly hypocritical about their pride when you consider that THEY ARE IN A CIRCUS! I hardly call what they do respectable or proud, it must be very degrading being forced to balance on a ball and get trod on by other elephants for entertainment.
And finally props have to go to the fact that Dumbo only flew thanks to a drunken hallucination episode which would be very dangerous in real life so don't try it at home but the sequence is by far one of Disney's finest works of animation and is a great representation of why not to drink too much and what might happen if you did, remember this film is from 1941 and social responsibility didn't start until the very late 50s early 60s.
So yeah the film is ultimately very charming and worth the watch and has a timeless feel, but knowing that a live action remake is being directed by Tim Burton makes me both excited and disturbed, so watch this space.