The film stars Danny Glover and Ray Liotta as Green Berets during the Vietnam War in 1968, who attempt to transport an elephant through jungle terrain to a local South Vietnamese village which in turn helps American forces monitor Viet Cong activity.

Operation Dumbo Drop premiered in theaters nationwide in the United States on July 28, 1995, grossing $24,670,346 in domestic ticket receipts.

During the Vietnam War in 1968, Green Beret Captain Sam Cahill has been working hard to create good relations between the United States and Montagnard Vietnamese in the village of Dak Nhe, which occupies an important observation point near the clandestine Ho Chi Minh trail.

Quang, having been ordered by Nguyen to kill Bo Tat, refuses to do so this time, explaining "I did not join this army to shoot elephants, especially ones that fly."

Operation Dumbo Drop is based on a true story about the cooperation of South Vietnamese villagers and the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War in the late 1960s.

[2] The U.S. Army viewed many villages as having a strategic value due to their proximity to enemy supply routes, such as the Ho Chi Minh trail.

According to actor Glover, one such operation[3] took place specifically on April 4, 1968, but received fairly little coverage due to the death on the same day of a Vietnamese military leader and also the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis.

[2] The film is based on a story depicted by retired United States Army Major Jim Morris, who related his experiences surrounding the elephant air-drops during the war.

The female elephant was chosen for the part because of her calm demeanor and friendly disposition, which allowed her to be placid and relaxed during scenes with simulated gunfire.

[4] According to Denis Leary, "The movie was so painstakingly terrible — because it took a long time to shoot — that all of us actually had pictures of the things that we were gonna buy with our money to keep us going.

The critics' consensus reads, "The Vietnam War would seem an unlikely backdrop for a family-friendly comedy involving an airlifted elephant, and Operation Dumbo Drop lands with a thud.

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.

"[11] Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times offered a mostly negative review commenting, "the story is so sentimentalized, so sanitized into a family comedy, that I do doubt the reality was anything like this."

"[13] Janet Maslin, writing in The New York Times, felt the film was at its most, "pleasantly innocuous when it doesn't strain itself with that kind of moralizing and instead concentrates on the logistical nightmare of elephant-moving.

But in the end, this generally lighthearted Vietnam caper does try to teach a lesson of sorts, since the gift of an elephant becomes a form of war reparations.

"[14] Joe Leydon writing in Variety, felt Operation Dumbo Drop was "a well-crafted and entertaining pic with broad, cross-generational appeal."

He thought the film was "handsomely photographed by Russell Boyd" and that 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.

But it is an odd one," and that "Glover and Liotta, though not exactly great comic actors, play off each other with real spark, the two vying for command of the outlandish mission to deliver the elephant across 200 miles of impossible jungle terrain to the mountain village.

"[19] Gary Kamiya of The San Francisco Examiner bluntly referred to the film as descending "upon the hapless viewer like a vast load of pachyderm dung."

He believed "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.

"[20] Critic Joey O'Bryan of The Austin Chronicle did not waste any time with negativity saying, "Operation Dumbo Drop is a terribly irresponsible picture that seems shamefully patterned after director's Wincer's other box office success, Free Willy".

He thought the film had numerous pitfalls including, "illogical scripting, inconsistent performances, sloppy direction, or the unbelievably offensive oversimplification of the atrocities of the Vietnam war".

He concluded his review by exclaiming "Operation Dumbo Drop is a disastrous miscalculation that leaves the viewer with only one burning thought: 'What the hell were they thinking?'

[27] The Region 1 Code widescreen edition of the film was released on DVD in the United States on May 6, 2003 and includes a Closed Caption feature; Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound; a French language track; Spanish subtitles; and a Full-Screen (1.33:1) option.