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Film · Disney · 1941

Pass it on

Dumbo

53Watch it awake.

The mother's lockup hurts, and the crows are a caricature a child will see.

The review

A shorter Disney feature, and a real hit, still behind Sergeant York. A circus elephant is mocked for his ears. His mother is locked away for defending him. That punishment is the sadness, and it hit harder than I remembered. A mouse helps. The ears are the gift. The pink elephants are a sequence a small child may not want. I was ready to skip them, and I'm not ashamed of that.

The crows are a caricature, and a child will see them. Say so before the ears get their cheer. You can care about the mother and still refuse to treat those birds as harmless fun. The circus is mean in a way the gift doesn't cancel. If someone small scares easily, the pink elephants are the other reason to sit close. The lockup is the part worth keeping.

Journal

Keep Dumbo in the record.

No house has filed a sentence for this yet.

Live Historic number 53. Yours can differ.

The glance

Piety and Republic and Temperance and Stewardship are the thin ones.

Can conscience actually stop someone, or is reverence only in the shot so it can be mocked?

This phone is set for a grown person, just me. Change the ages.

Consider this

Toy Story

65 instead of 53

Toy Story is still a animation film, and it scores 65 instead of 53. What you gain is stewardship: It hands a child the end of jealousy as a happy ending.

The eight

6
Industry
The circus is the work, and he is mocked while he is in it.
8
Household
His mother is locked away for defending him, and that is the sadness.
4
Piety
Defending her child gets her locked up, so the care is punished.
8
Courage
She defends him and is locked away from the child she stood up for.
3
Republic
The circus mocks his ears, and the crows are drawn as a caricature.
4
Temperance
The pink elephants are a runaway sequence a small child may not want.
5
Truth
The mocked ears are the gift, and the crows stay a caricature.
4
Stewardship
A child can leave with the gift and with the crows' caricature.

Where to watch

Finding the page.

Live Historic · Dumbo · 53IMDb

Live HistoricSee what matters.

Film · Prime Video · 1983

Pass it on

A Christmas Story

53Watch it awake.

Keep it. Desire, a tangent-prone father, and a feast that survives the disaster.

The review

Ralphie's want is excessive and completely recognizable. The Old Man's pride in a hideous lamp is the adult version of the same excess, which is why the film is fair. The mother's management of both is the uncredited heroism. There is a meanness in a few of the jokes that a house can talk over. The Chinese Christmas dinner, when the turkey dies, is the scene that knows what a feast is: the people, relocated, still fed.

Watch it every year if you want. Skip any bit that is only a wince. Keep the pink bunny and the humility it requires.