Monday, April 8, 2019

RECENTLY VIEWED: DUMBO

We are four months into 2019, and I just saw my first movie in a theater this past weekend! I am much more of a movie viewer in the comfort of my own home now than going to an overpriced theater. However, I went to see the live action version of the beloved classic Dumbo, and I really enjoyed the film. Dumbo is a 2019 American fantasy adventure film directed by Tim Burton, with a screenplay written by Ehren Kruger. The film is inspired by Walt Disney's 1941 animated film of the same name, based on the novel by Helen Aberson and Harold Pearl. The film stars Colin Farrell, Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito, Eva Green, and Alan Arkin, and follows a family that works at a failing traveling circus as they encounter a baby elephant with extremely large ears who is capable of flying.

Plans for a live-action film adaption of Dumbo were announced in 2014 and Burton was confirmed as director in March 2015. Much of the cast signed on in March 2017 and principal photography began in July of that year in England, lasting until November. It is the first of four live-action re-imaginings that Disney is planning to release in 2019 along with Aladdin, The Lion King, and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil.

In 1919, equestrian performer and World War I amputee Holt Farrier returns after the war to the Medici Brothers' Circus, run by Max Medici. The circus has run into financial troubles and Medici has been forced to sell the circus's horses after Holt's wife and co-performer, Annie, passed away, so Medici reassigns Holt as the caretaker for the circus's pregnant elephant, Mrs. Jumbo. Mrs. Jumbo gives birth to a calf with unusually large ears and Medici orders Holt to hide the ears before allowing the public to see the calf. However, the calf accidentally reveals his ears in his debut performance and the crowd mockingly names the calf Dumbo while pelting him with peanuts and other objects. Mrs. Jumbo is distressed by her son's mistreatment and rampages into the ring, causing extensive damage and accidentally killing an abusive handler.


Afterwards, to prevent a public relations problem, Medici results to selling Mrs. Jumbo. Holt's son and daughter, Joe and Milly Farrier, comfort Dumbo and realize he can fly by flapping his ears. The children also discover that feathers are the key to Dumbo's willingness to fly. In another performance, Dumbo plays the role of a firefighter clown to put out a fire with water sprayed from his trunk, but the performance goes wrong and Dumbo is trapped on a high platform surrounded by flames. Milly risks her life to deliver a feather to Dumbo, giving him the confidence to fly. The audience is astounded when Dumbo flying and word of his talent begins to spread. V. A. Vandevere, the owner of Dreamland, a bohemian amusement park, approaches Medici and proposes a collaboration; Medici would become Vandevere's partner and the Medici Brothers' Circus's troupe would be employed to perform at Dreamland. Later, Vandevere demands that Dumbo should fly with French trapeze artist, Colette Marchant. Colette and Dumbo's debut performance at Dreamland goes wrong with Dumbo nearly falling off a high platform leading to him trumpeting in alarm since no net has been added to avoid possible injuries and fatalities. Dumbo hears his mother's call in response and realizes that his mother is an exhibit elsewhere in Dreamland.


Dumbo flies out of the circus ring, reuniting with his mother. Fearing that Dumbo's mother may become a distraction to him, Vandevere orders Mrs. Jumbo to be taken away and killed. Vandevere also fires all of the Medici performers from Dreamland. When Holt and the rest of the Medici troupe learn Vandevere intends to kill Dumbo's mother, they resolve to set both her and Dumbo free. The circus performers utilize their various talents to break Mrs. Jumbo out of her enclosure while Holt and Colette guide Dumbo to fly out of the circus. Vandevere attempts to stop them, but accidentally starts a fire triggered by mismanagement of Dreamland's electricity system which spreads and destroys the park. After Dumbo saves Holt and his family from the fire, Holt, Colette, the children, and the troupe bring Dumbo and his mother to the harbor, where they board a ship back to their native home. Afterwards, the renamed Medici circus is re-established (while it is implied that Vandevere is tried for arson through misconduct) and flourishes with Colette as the newest troupe member. Meanwhile, Dumbo and his mother reunite with a herd of wild elephants in the jungle.


This Disney movie is not making as much money as 2017's live action Beauty And The Beast, but it is an enjoyable film. Michael Keaton and Danny DeVito both worked with director Tim Burton in 1993's Batman Returns, and in the movie Dumbo, Keaton's character comments to DeVito's character, "It feels like I know you". The movie is darker than some Disney productions, and at first my daughter was upset at Colin Farrell missing an arm, but once Dumbo hit the screen she loved it. It is a cute movie. Was it the best Disney movie? No. Was it the best Tim Burton movie? No. What you get in the movie is a fun story about an elephant that could fly, and a lesson that everyone is different and that it is okay to be different...

MY RATING: 8 OUT OF 10


2 comments:

  1. I have great affection for the original and was initially dismissive of an attempt at a re-imagining. However, I was impressed with how they opened the story to humans when I saw the trailer and may give it a chance.

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