I didn’t realize that if you ask most animators to pick a film that is the pinnacle of your art, the most frequent response would be Dumbo.

I haven’t seen this film in twenty or more years and I couldn’t even fathom why it could be their favorite animated film of all time, especially with movies like Alice in Wonderland, Lady and the Tramp, and Sleeping Beauty to pick from.

The Blu-ray of Dumbo arrived and I was dying of curiosity to watch it and see what the film could offer and I was shocked.

Dumbo is a fine film and the animation is fantastic, sure, but I was shocked by the economy and efficiency of storytelling. Dumbo came out in 1941 when animated features (and even color and sound movies) were in their infancy. Learning to tell a story with these new tools wasn’t easy for some, but for Disney it seemed to come naturally.

But this film clocks in at 65 minutes and is so straightforward, touching, funny, and surreal that it’s amazing so much was packed into to so little time. Though, on its surface, Dumbo might seem as a mish-mash of musical numbers and comedy bits to string the narrative together, it’s a brilliant bit of storytelling. You all generally know the story, right? Dumbo is born, he’s different, he has no talents, but he learns that, with the aid of a magic feather, he can fly because of his big ears. He has to learn to believe in himself and fly on his own when he loses the feather. To communicate that story in a manner as efficient as they did is really a marvel.

But all of the things I remembered about the film that haunted me from my childhood, particularly the Dali-esque ‘Pink Elephants on Parade’ sequence, all fit so neatly into the movie in a way I didn’t quite understand as a child but as a writer today it blew my mind. There are so many visual flourishes that help tie the story and the longing and the motion together that it’s just…staggering… As you’re watching it, think about all that goes into something as simple as Dumbo holding Timothy’s tail with his trunk… It’s… it means sooooo much in the context of the film and… wow. This film really blew me away all over again.

And the fact that the film, like all of my favorite films, can blend humour, drama, tears, joy, laughter, and surrealism in a way that isn’t distracting or lopsided is impressive.

It’s a lesson storytellers would do well to learn.

As far as the Blu-ray itself, like all Disney Blu-rays, it looks absolutely gorgeous and has special features that document the making of the film and the appreciation that’s grown out of it.

I would have never guessed that Dumbo was a must-own Disney film, but now, with my adult eyes, I can see it for the brilliance that it is. Get it. It’s worth revisiting.