Nicholas Brooks
2026-01-25 15:00:00
Disney movies are often synonymous with happiness and heartwarming endings. However, before the magical parts are given the spotlight, the rain clouds have to come, and Disney is a studio that does this better than most. This includes one of the earliest in its filmography, Dumbo.
Ironically, Disney is also notorious for having major deaths in their children’s movies like Bambi and The Lion King. But in the case of Dumbo, one of its shortest films, the audience’s heartstrings will be pulled in ways they never understood on their way to the happy ending. The weirdest part, though, is how this incredibly sad Disney movie doesn’t even have a death in its hour-long runtime.
Dumbo Isn’t For the Faint of Heart
The classic Disney movie, Dumbo, tells the story of a circus elephant named Mrs. Jumbo who wanted nothing more than to have a baby. One day, a late stork finally delivers Jumbo Jr. to her happiness. At first, everyone is happy until they realize that the baby’s ears are so big he starts tripping over himself. Given the nickname “Dumbo,” the movie spends most of its time giving the poor child a hard time.
Adult elephants tease him, human children tug at his ears, and even the other circus performers make him look like a clown and put him through scary situations. Aside from Timothy the Mouse, Dumbo’s only friend, the elephant is on his own. Though Timothy helps him find his strength (helping him realize his ears help him fly) and he reunites with his mom, it doesn’t make the movie any less sad.
At one point, Mrs. Jumbo gets overprotective of Dumbo, who is being teased and is punished by being separated from her son. The only way they can connect is by interlocking trunks through a hole in the wall. Coupled with the fact that even adults target Dumbo, it’s a tough look at bullying dressed as a circus movie about a flying elephant that Walt Disney didn’t even want to make.
Disney Breaks a Grim Trend With Dumbo
It’s impossible not to feel something for Dumbo by the end of the movie, and while there are no tragic Disney deaths, the film pushes the limits of negative themes before finally giving viewers the happy ending they’re hoping for. Ultimately, Dumbo proves to test the mettle of audiences for an hour and show just how cruel people can be, and the importance of knowing one’s self-worth.
Yet, with this in mind, it’s interesting that Disney never explored the idea of negative themes without death in more of their earlier films. As a result, Dumbo marks a dark trend being broken by the company early on because it doesn’t have to rely on characters being killed. But in breaking this trend, it shows how the protagonist has to overcome adversity under different circumstances.
On the flip side, the sad Disney movie also presents darker ideas that people will more commonly face in life that are much more difficult to explore. In Dumbo’s case, it’s bullying and the fact that everyone wants to be accepted. Ultimately, it’s sometimes the one loyal friend who matters more than being accepted by a large group, but the fact that Dumbo doesn’t even speak makes this fact of life even harder to endure as a viewer.
To better understand just how dark this Disney movie is, as well, is the understanding that if everything in the film stayed exactly the same and then Dumbo’s mom passed away, and he had to figure things out on his own, the movie would be even sadder. To that effect, Dumbo is more like being stabbed slowly, while movies like Bambi or The Lion King are much faster. Neither is good, but to have both happen is even worse.
Dumbo isn’t a happy watch for most of the film, but the fact that the Disney character is so cute and that the enduring love of a mother and her child is so strong, it’s easy to shoulder the sad parts. The ending is happy and doesn’t feel forced, but it has to be earned by the viewer. Unfortunately, the only way to do that is to sit through the short but heartbreaking story of Dumbo.
