Operation Dumbo Drop

Buena Vista Pictures | Release Date: July 28, 1995

CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION

48	METASCORE Mixed or average reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews

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Mixed:

Negative:

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Critic Reviews

Critic score Publication By date

Joey O'Bryan

Operation Dumbo Drop is a disastrous miscalculation that leaves the viewer with only one burning thought: “What the hell were they thinking?” Read full review

Roger Ebert

As a family movie, Operation Dumbo Drop is sort of entertaining. As history, it's shameless. Read full review

Lisa Schwarzbaum

The whole concept, supposedly based on a true story, is weird — this is what Vietnam movies have come to? But at least the Disney quadruped has the grace to say nothing, and Leary, still an interesting motormouth, knows enough not to smoke or swear when there are elephants around. Read full review

Peter Stack

Fortunately, the people save Operation Dumbo Drop, and it's their determinedly good-natured performances that keep the film moving through several well-paced misadventures. Read full review

Gary Kamiya

Even the most vigorous tear-duct manipulation, and a few funny scenes, cannot save Dumbo from its dominant tone of stilted corniness and prefab sentimentality. Read full review

Hal Hinson

On the one hand, it's a diverting entertainment for children and young adults; on the other, it's a ludicrous fantasy about a war whose complexities cannot be contained by facile metaphors. Read full review

EmpireAdam Smith

As bad as cinema gets. Read full review

Janet Maslin

Operation Dumbo Drop is painlessly good-humored by any lights, but the viewers most likely to enjoy all this are those most easily driven to giggles by the idea of elephant poop. Read full review

Joe Leydon

A well-crafted and entertaining pic with broad, cross-generational appeal. Read full review

TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)

An exceptionally sturdy cast -- especially Danny Glover as a stern but sensitive captain and Denis Leary as a wisecracking supply sergeant -- manages to keep the one-joke scenario airborne most of the time. Read full review

Chris Kridler

At one point, Liotta's character complains that he has ended up "in an episode of 'McHale's Navy.' " That's not too far off. If a sitcom is all you really want out of Operation Dumbo Drop, by all means, put on a parachute and jump. [28 Jul 1995]

John Hartl

Presented as a Vietnam War comedy, Operation Dumbo Drop steadfastly refuses to be funny. [28 Jul 1995, p.D3]

Patricia Bibby

Director Simon Wincer, who made the first Free Willy, knows a thing or two about gigantic mammals that fly through the air, and he does a nice job here. If only his editing team had been more ruthless in trimming from the film's second half. [27 Jul 1995]

Val Ross

Operation Dumbo Drop is at times lost on four-year-olds, but it serves up what Disney summer flicks should - adrenalin and sugar. [28 Jul 1995]

Steve Persall

Operation Dumbo Drop has the lumbering pace of a pachyderm. [28 Jul 1995, p.8]

Gary Dretzka

The movie makes a worthwhile attempt to break down some thick emotional walls and, at the same time, tell a good story. That it is mostly successful in providing more than a few solid laughs and smiles--in what, after all, is a war picture--says a great deal. [28 Jul 1995, p.H]

David Hunter

Most of the performances range from adequate to uninspired. Leary's talents are largely misused, while Doug E. Doug (Cool Runnings) as a superstitious short-timer rises above the pack. [28 Jul 1995]

Kevin Thomas

Under Simon Wincer's brisk, efficient direction, Glover, Liotta, Leary, et al., give the kind of full-bodied portrayals essential to making basically formulaic material come alive. [28 Jul 1995, p.F14]

Jackie Potts

Disney is trumpeting that Operation Dumbo Drop is "inspired" by a true event. In fact, it is loosely based on a short story by a former Green Beret. But it still doesn't fly. [28 Jul 1995, p.7G]

Desmond Ryan

It's an awkward mix, and Simon Wincer, a director with considerable experience in animal movies, can't make the ingredients work consistently. [28 Jul 1995, p.14]

Mike Clark

The movie just gets by on heart and a conversation-stopping finale. [28 Jul 1995, p.5D]

Deborah Peterson

Under Wincer's intelligent direction it is a feel-good family adventure pitting man's bravery and humanity against the vicissitudes of nature and the inhumanity of war. [28 Jul 1995, p.3E]