Dumbo (1998, VHS)

It's a big event when an elephant is born, and Mrs. Jumbo, the proud pachyderm parent on Casey Jr.'s circus train, is tickled to death with her youngster. The tiny elephant is as cute as can be, but there is one feature about him that makes the other elephants stop and stare. Dumbo, as he is called, has huge ears. Left unattended, they cause him to trip over his own feet. Though Mrs. Jumbo tries to keep her son's ears from causing him any trouble, word gets around that there's a baby elephant with big ears. When a group of unruly teenagers come to torment Dumbo, the furious Mrs. Jumbo gives them a thorough spanking. For this, she is placed in solitary confinement, and Dumbo is left to fend for himself.

With only a mouse named Timothy for a friend and a job making a fool of himself with the clowns under the big top, Dumbo is fairly miserable. But his diminutive friend, much like Jiminy Cricket in "Pinocchio," is eager to do all he can to help his outcast friend. After paying a visit to Mrs. Jumbo in one of the biggest tearjerker scenes to be found in a movie, Tim and Dumbo strike out on their own. After meeting up with a flock of friendly but rather abrasive crows, Dumbo discovers that he has a gift most elephants could never dream of: he can fly. Now Timothy just needs to convince the ringmaster to but Dumbo in his act, and the little elephant will prove to one and all that he is good for something, after all.

This simple story of how differences can sometimes be great is one of Disney's shortest, clocking in at just over an hour. The opening scene with all of the animal births is adorable and, at times, hilarious; scenes of these families later during "Baby Mine" are simply precious. The crows, clowns, and gossipy female elephants are all quite entertaining, and the slightly psychadelic "Pink Elephants on Parade" provides an interesting effect similar to that of Winnie-the-Pooh's heffalump dream. Mostly, though, it is the old story of the underdog becoming the hero mixed with a little Disney magic that causes this movie to soar.