On Monday I took Payton out of school early so we could screen Tim Burton’s live-action remake of the 1941 animated classic, Dumbo. I had several mixed emotions heading into this film but as the movie opened it was like I was a kid again humming along to “Casey Junior”. The circus’ next stop was Joplin, MO. We are introduced to all the usual circus characters, and then two children race to the train station when they hear a new train coming. They find their dad, Holt Farrier (Colin Farrell), at the end of the walkway missing one arm as he returned from World War I. My emotions were overwhelming and pulled me out of my theatre chair into the film as we learn that their mother had just passed from influenza. Holt who is excited to get back to work, learns that Max Medici (Danny DeVito) has sold his horses and no longer has his #1 act in the circus. Holt’s PTSD is painful to watch because you just want him to snap out of it and let the focus get back to the film’s leading star. Max offers Holt a job with his new prize elephant, Mrs. Jumbo, who is expecting a baby any day. The storks fly through the night sky, leaving no baby animals behind like the original. The next morning while Mrs. Jumbo is being abused by the creepy animal handler, Milly & Joe Farrier see a pile of hay moving. Holt moves the hay and we are immediately emersed into Dumbo’s blue eyes; the fear, diffidence, love and ultimately the leap of faith that makes him the worlds only flying elephant. All of this quickly changes with Mrs. Jumbo being ripped away from her new baby once again pulled my emotional strings as I now had uncontrollable tears sliding down my cheek, (to be real it seemed like my tears were present for the first thirty minutes of the film). When the ukulele began the hum to “Baby Mine” I grabbed Payton’s hand. The mermaid began to softly sing the tune and it was like my first days of being a mom all over again. Max orders Holt to figure out a way to disguise the ears because the people of Joplin are awaiting a baby elephant. Milly and Joe sneak into Dumbo’s stall and discover that Dumbo can fly and encourage him to fly for his mama. The upcoming circus scenes are silly and typical. When Dumbo’s ears are revealed, hearing phrases like “freak” and “ugly” made me angry. This is where the mom in me wanted Dumbo to shine and prove to them how amazing and unique he is.
In addition to the heavy emotional impact, I was in awe of every scene in thanks to Tim Burton’s visually stunning affects, the art direction, the costumes, really every little detail is remarkable. The cinematic beauty was colorful and the CGI was seamless. To me there were many similarities between this and The Greatest Showman in terms of characters that I kept wanting it to stand up to the 2017 musical. Burton’s classic formula finally makes it’s way into the film as V.A. Vandevere (Michael Keaton) is introduced and a reunion of role reversals from Batman Returns. The splendor that Vandevere offers Max to bring his circus to Coney Island is when the film takes a turn. It’s jaw dropping gorgeous, and what you would expect New York to be in the early 20’s but with modern day wealth and the endless imagination of Burton. Their first show in Dreamland was anything but perfect. I loved how they worked in the Dumbo plush display and I may be wrong but I thought I caught a glimpse of a stuffed Winnie the Pooh as they scanned through the audience. The performance of Dumbo and Collette (Eva Green) was beautiful. The anxiety of the danger that their act was about to encounter had me sitting on the edge of my seat.
The darkness that ensues the last half of the movie; the remarkable pink dancing bubble elephants were intensely dark and the ever-so scary Nightmare Island might be too much for the younger audience. This part of the film strays away from Dumbo and focuses more on the money hungry Vandevere and Holt overcoming his grievances from the first part of the film. The movie ends with happiness and the ultimate message of circus’ removing their live animal acts from their shows. I wanted more from the ending. I wanted more of Dumbo. All in all, it was a charming film and a wonderful experience with my daughter and I know we both fell in love the story as much as we loved Dumbo’s beautiful eyes. Dumbo hits theaters this Friday! I’d love to hear your thoughts on the film too!
Click on the coloring pages below to print at home! The kiddos will be so excited. Make sure to follow me on IG @treatsofdisneyland
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