Disney's Dumbo - Horsing Around In LA

Disney’s Dumbo in Theaters Now!

By Jonelle

Growing up I loved Disney. As an adult, I love Disney. Driving into the Disney Studios in Burbank, never gets boring. This was a placed I dreamed of working. As I walk to the theater where the special preview of Dumbo is screening, I wonder if Mr. Disney walked the same streets or turned the same corners.

I was asked to screen the upcoming Disney release Dumbo and here’s the thing, I never saw the original in its entirety, which I just found out is only about 60 minutes or so. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Dumbo was originally slated as a 30-minute short film. It ultimately expanded to just under 64 minutes (Dumbo is Disney’s second shortest animated feature film behind 1942’s “Saludos Amigos,” which was just 42 minutes).

I’ve seen the trailer for the live action version many times, and each time I had tears and chills. I kept thinking 1. Wow, Colin Farrell gets better looking with age and 2. That is the cutest elephant I’ve ever seen, where can I get one. Yes, that is how real the CGI looks.

Holt Farrier (Colin Farrell) and his children Milly (Nico Parker) and Joe (Finley Hobbins) are charged with caring for a newborn elephant whose oversized ears make him a laughingstock in an already struggling circus. ©2018 Disney Enterprises, Inc.

Let’s be honest, I know a little bit about the original. It’s about a baby elephant who is taken away from its mother, has ginormous ears and is forced to fly in a circus. Beyond that, I had nothing. We all know about the famous music that came out of the original. Danny Elfman keeps those same elements in his reimagined score. You’ll find a few other elements from the original, like the pink elephants, a reimagined Timothy Mouse and of course the famous Casey Jr. Circus Train.

The film centers around a traveling circus in the height of the traveling circus craze. Colin Farrell’s, Holt Farrier, has just come back from WWI having sustained an injury that left him with one arm. His wife has died and his and his children were left, being raised by the “Circus Freaks” they’ve come to know as family. Holt and his wife were the main attraction of the Medici Family Circus, and once that duo ceased to exist, so did the attraction of this traveling band of misfits. With times hard continuing in the foreseeable future, Max Medici, sells Holt’s prized horses to purchase a pregnant African Elephant, call it a two-for-the-price-of-one deal. However, once baby Jumbo, Dumbo’s original name, is born, Max sees him as just another freak, saying, “a face only a mother could love.”

With his Jumbo ears, Dumbo, is made to dress up like a clown, perform horrific stunts and is teased mercilessly by the circus crowd. Mama Jumbo gets very angry at the people laughing at her baby and take matters into her own hooves. Because of her actions, one of the roadies get killed and many spectators get injured. This is going to wreck the Medici Family Circus, so he gets rid of Mama Jumbo and keeps his new attraction: Dumbo the Flying Elephant.

Dumbo, even with the love of Holt’s children Milly and Joe, is depressed because he misses his mother, something Milly and Joe can relate to. There are so many parallels between Milly, Joe and Dumbo. They’re not taken seriously, they have lost their mother, they’re trying to just find their place in the world.

Once the circus begins to thrive again with Dumbo’s help –he’s forced to fly–, villain V.A. Vandevere, played by Michael Keaton, makes Max Medici an offer he cannot refuse, he becomes the Vice President (in name only) of Vandevere’s state of the art amusement park, Dreamland. Not everyone in Dreamland agrees with Vandevere’s treatment of his animals, especially his most prized item, Dumbo. This leads to the climax of the story. Dumbo is anxious to be with his mama once more.

FLYING HIGH

The movie itself is absolutely visually stunning. We are taken back to 1920’s America and then taken to a “Fantasyland” of entrainment called Dreamland. You forget you’re looking at CGI elephants. They look so real and Dumbo’s eyes are the most endearing eyes, you can’t help but want to save all the elephants. The costumes in Dreamland are brightly colored and magical, especially the costumes worn by Eva Green’s, Colette Merchant, the famous trapeze artist who is tasked to soar with Dumbo. She wears this this beautiful feathered outfit that truly makes her look like a soaring bird.

One thing that Max Medici says towards the end of the film is that animals “don’t belong in cages”. The messages in this film speak volumes. At its heart, this simple story is one of family and acceptance, acceptance of what makes us all different. We could learn a lot from Dumbo. And yes, animals don’t belong in cages.

Dumbo is directed by Tim Burton and stars Colin Farrell as Holt Farrier, Michael Keaton as V.A. Vandevere, Danny DeVito as Max Medici, Eva Green as Colette Marchant, Nico Parker as Milly Farrier, Finley Hobbins as Joe Farrier, Alan Arkin as J. Griffin Remington, Roshan Seth as Pramesh Singh, DeObia Oparei as Rongo the Strongo, Joseph Gatt as Neils Skellig, and Sharon Rooney as Miss Atlantis.