1941 saw the theatrical release of what was then Disney’s latest animated feature, Dumbo. The film has become part of the what is now the classic Disney animation library and was even selected for preservation by the Nation Film Registry in 2017. It might not be one of the first movies that a Disney fan is going to mention when discussing the animated features of Disney, but it is certainly bound to come up. As most know these days, Disney seems to be determined to do a live action version of almost every movie in their classic library, and even some of their modern releases.
Dumbo as a live action film takes elements of the animated version and attempts to now work the story around human characters. This takes us to the Medici Brothers’ Circus and its ringmaster Max (Danny DeVito) around 1919 just after the end of the World War. Holt Farrier (Colin Farrell) has returned from the war to his children, Millie (Nico Parker) and Joe (Finley Hobbins.) Many of the performers are gone including Holt’s wife who was a victim of the Spanish Flu and Holt can’t help as he’d like due to having lost an arm during the war. Max has put him in charge of the elephants and the latest acquisition, Ms. Jumbo, is expecting a baby very soon.
As we know, the baby is soon born afterwards and Max is furious when he sees the oversized ears. The attempts to hide them when he is debuted in front the audience goes horribly wrong and the baby, now named Dumbo, is added in with the clowns. Millie and Joe however have taken a liking to him and soon realize that thanks to his ears, Dumbo can actually fly. No one believes this until he does so during a performance where a fire breaks out. Dumbo becomes a huge hit with the audience and the news soon reaches V. A. Vandevere (Michael Keaton) who offers Medici a partnership as long as he relocates along with all the circus troupe. Vandevere has opened a new circus combined with an amusement park which he sees as the future of the industry. Medici soon learns however that Vandevere has a much darker side to him and he’s willing to keep his new star attraction no matter what the cost.
Live action remakes are Disney’s hot new ticket but I would be willing to be the number of people who thought a Dumbo remake was necessary is going to be roughly zero. It isn’t that fans don’t love the original but the princesses are really the big draw. A live action Dumbo is about as necessary as a live action Lady and the Tramp . . . . .oh . . . . . that’s coming when Disney+ launches. Maybe that’s a bad example. It would be like trying to take a Disney Afternoon series like Rescue Rangers and setting it in the real world with computer animated characters . . . that’s also in the works?
Tim Burton’s version of Dumbo takes the classic that run just around 80 minutes and pushes it to nearly two hours. In fact, it’s barely even halfway through the movie that you’ve already covered a majority of the animated version. The movie removes Timothy Q. Mouse from the equation and instead places in the children who act as the calming voices that give Dumbo courage enough to show that even though he’s different, he has a unique ability that no other elephant has. I did feel however that Millie was more or less the rather odd, quirky young girl that Burton puts into a majority of his films. It does seem to be a rather common theme. Burton also seems to rely a lot of having what could be called the skittish outcast as a main character and that’s exactly what Dumbo is. The only thing missing is that somehow, he didn’t manage to work Johnny Depp or Helena Bonham-Carter into the film.
The portion of Dumbo after the story most of us are familiar with revolves around the idea of giant company merging with another to utilize their biggest attraction. That actually sounds like a very familiar, very real concept. However, it was very obvious in my opinion that Keaton’s character would be the villain. He’s actually been doing a great job in recent movies taking on the role of the bad guy, particularly in the very underrated The Founder. While Vandevere states that he wants every member of the Medici Brothers to be a member of his new park, it doesn’t take long before he gives the order to fire them but that’s not even the worst of it.
Early in the film Medici manages to sell back Ms. Jumbo and a highly discounted price because of her recent behavior. Most already know that this is simply showing her motherly love and willingness to protect Dumbo. Later we find that she has been sold to Vandevere and has been made up to appear to be a nightmarish elephant in what is something of a sideshow attraction. When the children find her, this creates a problem for him. Instead of giving Dumbo the reunion that he’s been longing for, he orders his men to take her out of the park a kill her. This sends the members of the Medici circus into action in the closing portion of the movie to get mother and son back together again.
Most of the important aspects of the original are worked into this version. As mentioned, there might not be a Timothy Mouse but we do see that Millie has a cage full of trained mice, one of which is dressed in a ringmaster costume. She’s also the one who first gives Dumbo a feather to fly although his flight is caused by him sneezing, not because of a speculation on how he managed to end up in a tree. The pink elephants also make an appearance but they are now part of Vandevere’s performers routine. The appearance of Dumbo is also very similar to the animated version and overall the computer animation used to create him, although with some motion capture, is done very well.
But I want to revisit this new trend of remaking Disney animated features into live action versions. To an extent it has been fine, and there have been some good movies that have come out of it, but not everything needs get the same treatment. I’ve heard the argument that they want to introduce the characters to new audiences, younger viewers, and that’s fine save for the fact we can already do that. It’s called home video and certainly Disney is no stranger to it. I think most parents who are Disney fans have already introduced their children to these movies. I think a better approach isn’t to remake them into live action versions but if there really is a concern that children may not see them, just rereleased them to theaters.
Here’s a good example. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the release of The Lion King and as we all know; Disney has a live action version of the film. Simply putting the original version back in theaters, even if for a limited time, would have drawn audiences in. Trying to recreate a classic animated film as a live action version to me simply shows that you’re completely out of ideas. All of Disney’s animation has been remastered for high definition and I would think that this would have cost relatively little money to use this approach. It’s not always about trying to remake something and tell the same story. I would guarantee that a rerelease of any of the classic Disney animated films would have parents flocking to theaters with their children just for a chance to share the magic with them on the big screen and probably relive some of their childhood memories of the movies.
The bonus features are found on the blu-ray included with the 4K and these include:
Circus Spectaculars
The Elephant in the Room
Built to Amaze
Deleted Scenes
Easter Eggs on Parade
Clowning Around
Music Video
Dumbo as far as a live action remake isn’t necessarily a horrible idea and Tim Burton does do a decent job at changing the perspective while more or less keeping with the same narrative and expanding on it. However, I still feel that this recent trend that Disney has decided to embark upon is one which is really unnecessary. I’m more interested in seeing what they can create that is new and fresh, not simply rehashing the same story just with a different look a feel. There are plenty of fairy tales and fables that Disney hasn’t managed to somehow work into an animated film and while not all of them may have a princess at the center of the tale, they could still be done either in the traditional setting they are based, modernized, or given a unique twist. Hopefully they will one day find their way back to the path that Walt started the company down and return to what truly made Disney magical.
Mike is the resident reviewer for Couponing to Disney and his own site Underland Online. He has a young daughter and is obsessed with Haunted Mansion and all things Disney. You can read Mike’s complete bio here.