Disney's Dumbo

Dumbo with his unusually large ears is the focal point of the story. He's one of the few Disney heroes that doesn't talk, but makes little squeak noises to emphasize his cuteness. I think its easy to relate to him because everyone has something they feel self conscious about. Unfortunately for Dumbo, he wasn't able to hide his unusual features, and most of the world saw his ears instead of him. However, with the help of his new friends, he was able to take that negative and turn it into a positive

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Timothy Q Mouse, one of the coolest Disney characters, is the first who looks past Dumbo's ears and wants to be his friend. He reminds me of Charlotte from Charlotte's Web: every bit as kind and selfless, but a little louder and wise-guyish. Best of all he doesn't tolerate wickedness in any form. What I think is that he's an orphan himself, and doesn't want anyone else to experience the same loneliness he experienced as a child.

Mr. Stork is only in the beginning, fulfilling the duty of delivering Dumbo to her mother. Voiced by none other than Sterling Holloway (voice of Winnie the Pooh), he's a little sleepy and laid back. He's also very thorough, requiring a signature upon delivery and stubbornly singing his telegram before getting yanked off the train on a station hook.

These pompous elephants are the squawkers of the circus society. They are stuck-up, gossipy and the first to make fun of Dumbo. In fact they inadvertently give him the name "Dumbo" instead of his real name Jumbo Jr, just to mock him. However, they learn their lesson in the end and recognize that Dumbo is actually really quite special.

Verna Felton provided the voice of the Elephant Matriarch (as well as Dumbo's mother) and immediately brought conflict into Dumbo's early life. She was leader of the other elephants, guiding them in their prejudice against Dumbo's abnormal appearance. She's not necessarily the "villain" in the movie, but represents a lofty belief that one's "status" is more important than anything, and that misfits should be ashamed and should know their place. The fact that Dumbo tries to fit in threatens this belief and makes her lead the other elephants to ostracize him. When Dumbo finally reveals his brilliance at the end of the movie, she finally has to come to terms that anyone can achieve greatness.

I have to admit, the way they depict clowns here is one of the biggest contributing factors of why I'm scared of them.

Even though they don't get much respect themselves, they treat Dumbo like he's worse than nothing. But when they find out that Dumbo can fly, they take the brunt of the punishment.

I know they weren't supposed to be the "bad guys", but I always considered them to be.

They show up only 10 minutes from the end of the movie, but play a crucial role in helping Dumbo find his special talent. Although they laugh at the idea that Dumbo could fly in the beginning, I don't think they were trying to be cruel like the other elephants.

As illustrated in their song "When I see an elephant fly", they're good at finding the humor in ridiculous situations. However, when Timothy Q Mouse explains the situation, they show their hearts and decide to help.

This is certainly a confusing segment, since its not really relevant to the main story. Dumbo kinda conjures these visions up after drinking a bit of booze infested water.
The lesson is clear - "Don't drink or you will be haunted by elephants", or something. I wasn't exactly scared of it as a kid, but I wasn't too happy with it either. There's just something about the somber music, eyeless cartoon elephants marching and morphing that really wasn't my bag of tea. It does show some nice visual effects though.