Dumbo (2019 film)

Dumbo is a 2019 live-action film distributed by Walt Disney Pictures and a live-action retelling of the 1941 animated movie of the same name, which in turn was based on the book by Helen Aberson and Harold Pearl. Written by Ehren Kruger and produced by Justin Springer, it was directed by Tim Burton.
==Synopsis==
In 1919, equestrian performer and World War I veteran Holt Farrier returns after the war to the Medici Brothers' Circus, run by Max Medici. However, the circus has run into financial troubles and Medici has been forced to sell their horses, so he reassigns Holt as the caretaker for their pregnant elephant, Jumbo. She gives birth to a calf with abnormally large ears and Medici orders Holt to hide them before he'll allow the public to see the calf. However, the calf accidentally reveals them in his debut performance. The crowd mockingly names him Dumbo and pelts him with peanuts and other objects. Jumbo is distressed by his treatment and rampages into the ring causing extensive damage and accidentally killing an abusive handler. Afterwards, Medici sells her in order to prevent a public relations disaster. Holt's children, Milly and Joe, comfort Dumbo and realize he can fly by flapping his ears. They also discover that feathers are the key to his willingness to fly.
In another performance, Dumbo plays the role of a firefighter to put out a fire with water sprayed from his trunk. However, the performance goes wrong and he is trapped on a high platform surrounded by flames. Milly risks her life to deliver a feather to him, giving him the confidence to fly. The audience is astounded when he begins to fly, and word of him begins to spread.
V.A. Vandevere, the owner of Dreamland Amusement Park, approaches Medici and proposes a collaboration. Medici would become Vandevere's partner and the Medici Brothers' Circus' troupe would be employed to perform at Dreamland. Later, Vandevere demands that Dumbo should fly with trapeze artist Colette Marchant on his back. However, their debut performance at Dreamland goes wrong with him nearly falling off a high platform leading to him trumpeting in alarm. He hears Jumbo's call in response and realizes that she is an exhibit elsewhere in Dreamland. He flies out of the circus ring and reunites with her.
Fearing that Jumbo may become a distraction to Dumbo, Vandevere orders her to be taken away and killed. He also fires all of the Medici troupe. When Holt and the rest of the Medici troupe learn Vandevere intends to kill Jumbo, they resolve to set both her and Dumbo free. The Medici troupe utilize their various talents to break 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 the electricity system which spreads and destroys Dreamland.
Holt, Milly, Joe, Colette, and the Medici troupe bring the elephants to a port where Dumbo and Jumbo board a ship back to their native home. Implying that Vandevere was convicted of arson through misconduct, the Medici Brothers' Circus is reestablished as the Medici Family Circus, which flourishes while Dumbo and Jumbo reunite with a herd of elephants in the jungle.
==Cast==
*Colin Farrell as Holt Farrier
*Danny DeVito as Max Medici
*Michael Keaton as V.A. Vandevere
*Nico Parker as Milly Farrier
*Finley Hobbins as Joe Farrier
*Eva Green as Colette Marchant
*Alan Arkin as J. Griffin Remington
*DeObia Oparei as Rongo
*Lucy DeVito as Coat Check Receptionist
*Joseph Gatt as Neils Skellig
*Sharon Rooney as Miss Atlantis
*Michael Buffer as Baritone Bates
*Frank Bourke as Puck the Organ Grinder
*Douglas Reith as Sotheby
*Roshan Seth as Pramesh Singh
*Miguel Muñoz Segura as Ivan the Wonderful
*Zenaida Alcalde as Catherine the Greater
*Jo Osmond as Circus Cook
*Phil Zimmerman as Rufus Sorghum
*Edd Osmond as Dumbo's artist
*Lars Eidinger as Hans Brugelbecker
*Erick Hayden as Rancher
==Production==
===Development===
The film was announced on July 8, 2014, along with announcements of other live-action remakes of Aladdin, The Jungle Book, Cinderella, The Lion King, and Beauty and the Beast. Ehren Kruger was announced as the screenwriter, while Justin Springer was confirmed as the producer. Tim Burton was announced as the director in March 2015.
In March 2017, it was reported that Eva Green was in talks to play a trapeze artist. Shortly after this report, Danny DeVito was cast as a ringmaster named Medici. A few weeks later, Colin Farrell had entered negotiations to play the role of Holt, a father of two children who befriend Dumbo. Will Smith was originally offered for the role, but turned it down due to "scheduling conflicts" on other projects and would later sign on for the live-action remake of Aladdin, taking the role of Genie instead. Chris Pine and were also considered for it. On April 4, 2017, Michael Keaton entered talks to star as the villain. On June 26, 2017, he officially confirmed his involvement with the film. Before he was cast as V.A. Vandevere, Tom Hanks was originally considered for the role.
Principal filming of Dumbo began in July 2017 in the United Kingdom and ended in November 2017.
==Releases==
===International Premieres===
*March 19, 2019 (Los Angeles)
*March 20, 2019 (Brazil, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Portugal)
*March 21, 2019 (Bulgaria, Spain, United Kingdom, Ireland)
*March 25, 2019 (Denmark, Finland, Indonesia, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Singapore, Sweden)
*March 27, 2019 (Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Ukraine)
*March 28, 2019 (Croatia, Estonia, Lithuania, Romania, South Africa, Turkey)
*March 29, 2019 (Canada, France, Netherlands, United States)
===Home media===
The film was released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on June 25, 2019.
==Reception==
The film received an approval rating of 46% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 364 reviews, with an average rating of 5.50/10. Its consensus reads, "Dumbo is held partly aloft by Tim Burton's visual flair, but a crowded canvas and overstretched story leave this live-action remake more workmanlike than wondrous".
==Differences from the 1941 film==
*There are no talking animals in the remake in contrast to 1941 original.
*In the original film, Casey Junior had eyes and a mouth and is able to speak. In the remake, Casey appears as a non-anthropomorphic train and does not speak, but he does have several lights and handrails on his front that resemble a face.
**Casey Junior is now painted blue instead of black, much like he is in the theme parks and in spinoff media. He has been given the number 41, referencing the original film’s release year. 
**Casey Junior also only appears at the beginning and at the end of the film.
**Because Casey Junior is a non-anthropomorphic train, it is presumed that he had no trouble moving unlike in the original film.
*In the original film, the (unnamed) ringmaster is arguably the main antagonist. In the remake, he is given a name--Max Medici--and is not a villain.
**Max also owns a pet monkey, who usually annoys him throughout the first half of the film.
*In the original film, Dumbo is delivered by a stork to Mrs. Jumbo. In the remake, Mrs. Jumbo is pregnant and actually gives birth to Dumbo.
**Storks can be seen right before Mrs. Jumbo gives birth to Dumbo, which is a reference to the original film. The one that perched near Mrs. Jumbo's car could possibly be Mr. Stork.
**Dumbo is delivered while the circus train is in motion. In the remake, Dumbo is born sometime after the train arrives at its destination.
*The human characters have more significant roles in the remake.
*Scenes involving the circus train differ from the original film:
**The train is slightly shorter than its animated counterpart.
**The train cars has more decorative decals in the remake.
**In the remake, the train reaches its destination in the day while in the original, it arrives there at night.
**Before the train leaves, the ringmaster doesn't signal it to go.
**The remake only shows one elephant boarding the train while the original showed many animals.
**The train doesn't climb over a mountain in the remake; however, it does pass through a crop field, which was not featured in the original.
**Children were running after the train following its arrival at its destination.
**In the original film, the train experiences a rough stop after reaching its destination. This does not happen in the remake.
* In the original film, the circus was set up during a thunderstorm while in the remake, it was set up off-screen.
* The original film begins with a thunderstorm followed by storks delivering baby animals to their parents at the circus while the remake begins with the circus train leaving for the next town, which happens after the baby delivery scene in the original.
** No narration is heard at the start of the remake.
*Most animals from the original (hippopotamuses, zebras, giraffes, camels, ostriches, tigers, lions, hyenas, gorillas, and kangaroos) do not appear in the remake.
**The remake introduces circus animals that didn't appear in the original such as snakes, dogs, pigeons, crocodiles, and wolves.
**A camel does appear as a bubble sculpture in the "Pink Elephants on Parade" segment.
**The rabbit is mentioned in the remake.
**The wolf, the crocodile, and the bear are on Nightmare Island, along with a lion who only appeared in a trailer.
*There were at least 10 other elephants (all female) with larger roles in the original film, but in the remake there were at least 2 (both male because Mrs. Jumbo was their first female) that only had smaller roles.
**Mrs. Jumbo doesn't wear a hat or a blanket on her back in the remake.
*In the original film, Dumbo is helped by a mouse named Timothy Q. Mouse. In the remake, he is instead helped by two children named Milly and Joe Farrier, while a white mouse dressed up as Timothy is seen for a brief appearance.
*The yellow hat that Dumbo wears in the original does not appear in the remake.
*Mrs. Jumbo's handler Rufus replaces the bully as the main victim of her rampage.
*In the original, Mrs. Jumbo seems to have lived in the circus her whole life; in the remake, she was recently bought by the ringmaster.
*Dumbo's name was given by the other elephants in the original. In the remake, his name was given by the public during his first performance dressed as a baby elephant.
**Dumbo's name came from the sign on Dumbo's baby carriage, which was damaged when Dumbo exposes his ears.
*The parade, Mrs. Jumbo's rampage, and the Pyramid of Pachyderms are all combined into one scene in the remake.
**The elephants do not stack them themselves on top of one another during this scene.
**In the original, Dumbo approaches the audience with his ears tied up. In the remake, he is instead dressed up like a baby with his ears hidden by a baby hat while riding a large baby carriage.
**Dumbo does not trip over his ears.
**No performance equipment (tightropes, trampolines, trapeze swings, etc.) are seen in the tent.
*The two clown acts from the original film are combined into one scene in the remake.
**The performances in the clown act are less comedic.
**While flying in the tent, Dumbo doesn't attack the clown actors.
**In the original, Dumbo fires peanuts at the other elephants in the tent; in the remake, he instead sprays water at a group of boys.
*In the original film, the clown act involves Dumbo, dressed as a baby, being pushed out of a burning building into a tub of pie. The remake sees him dressed as a firefighter, lifted to the top of the building on a ladder while putting out a fake fire, and then saving a monkey dressed as a woman before being accidentally trapped on the top platform.
**An accident occurs when a firefighter hat damages the machine that controls the fake fire; this does not happen in the original.
**The tub of pie is replaced with an ordinary tub of water.
***Milly accidentally falls into the tub while trying to help Dumbo, which is similar to how Dumbo was knocked into the tub in the original.
*In the original version, Mrs. Jumbo goes on a rampage after her son is mocked by some mean kids. In the remake, she goes on a rampage after Dumbo is mocked by the circus' public.
**Additionally, Mrs. Jumbo's rampage is more destructive in the remake, destroying the circus' ring and accidentally killing her abusive handler.
***This scene is also similar to the result of the "Pyramid of Pachyderms" act that resulted in the tent collapsing on Dumbo.
**Mrs. Jumbo doesn't throw the ringmaster into a tub of water in the remake; however, she does do this to Rufus in a scene that occurs before this.
**The circus workers don't try to restrain Mrs. Jumbo.
*Although no deaths happened in the original, Rufus is the only character to die in the remake.
*It never rains in the remake.
*A second parade scene occurs in Dreamland.
*The songs "Baby Mine" and "Pink Elephants on Parade" are the only songs from the original film that are featured in the remake.
**"Pink Elephants on Parade" has no lyrics in the remake.
**"Baby Mine" is sung by one of the circus performers while in the original, the singer is heard off-screen.
*In the original film, Mrs. Jumbo is locked up in a cage and remains there until the last scene of the film. In the remake, she is only locked up at Medici's circus for one night and is sold back to her original owner the next day. Dumbo's incentive for becoming a star is changed to be so that he can earn the circus enough money from ticket sales to buy her back.
**Dumbo visits his mother's cage with Timothy in the original. In the remake, he visits her alone.
*In the original film, Timothy and Dumbo realize the latter's ability to fly after ending up in a tree after accidentally getting drunk. In the remake, Dumbo's ability to fly is discovered when Dumbo sneezes after accidentally sucking a feather into his trunk.
**Dumbo's ability to fly is discovered much earlier in the remake.
*The Crows are not featured in the remake; instead Dumbo seems to assume he needs feathers to fly due to the aforementioned incident. It's also possible that the crows were not included due to the backlash of their voice actors (they had accents of black folks but were voiced by white people).
**However, Dumbo does use a black feather when his ability to fly is discovered, which could be a possible nod to the characters.
*The remake introduces Dreamland, a modernized theme park/circus which didn't appear in the original.
**Most of the events that take place in Dreamland do not happen in the original film.
*The original film ends with Dumbo flying at the circus, while the remake showcases the aftermath of it, with Dumbo and the circus being acquired by cruel businessmen V.A. Vandevere, and ends with Dumbo and his mother being released into an Indian jungle. As such, more than half of the remake is comprised of completely original content.
*Dumbo doesn't get drunk in the remake, with the Pink Elephants instead being featured as bubble sculptures during a performance in Dreamland, which Dumbo actually enjoys.
**A possible homage to the drunken scene appeared in the film when a clown offered some champagne to Dumbo during his bath to celebrate his success, but Medici responds "No booze near the baby!"
**The Pink Elephants segment is shorter and has many differences from the original.
*The original film is set in 1941, the same year it was released, making it the first Disney animated film to do that. The remake is set in 1919, exactly one hundred years (a whole century) before its release. Since the original is not set as soon after World War I as it was set in World War 2, Holt Farrier and his story arc of adapting back into life are new to the remake, which was set soon after World War 1.
==Videos==
===Trailers and Clips===
Dumbo Official Teaser Trailer
Dumbo Official Trailer
Dumbo Sneak Peek
Dumbo "Generations" TV Spot
Dumbo Arcade Fire "Baby Mine" Reveal
Dumbo "Prepare For Takeoff" Sneak Peek
Dumbo "What Is That?" Clip
"Welcome to Dreamland" Behind the Scenes of Disney's Dumbo
"Reunion" Special Look Dumbo
Dumbo Sneak Peek In Theaters March 29
Dumbo Now Playing
Dumbo Announce Trailer On Digital, Blu-ray & 4K Ultra HD June 25
===Interviews===
Dumbo Soundbites with Colin Farrell
Dumbo Soundbites Michael Keaton - "V.A. Vandevere"
Dumbo Soundbites Danny DeVito
Dumbo Soundbites Eva Green - "Colette Marchant"
Dumbo Soundbites Nico Parker - "Milly Farrier"
Dumbo Soundbites Roshan Seth - "Pramesh Singh"
Dumbo Soundbites Finley Hobbins - "Joe Farrier"
Dumbo Soundbites Derek Frey - p.g.a. Producer
Dumbo Soundbites Justin Springer - p.g.a. Producer
Dumbo Soundbites with Music Composer Danny Elfman
Dumbo Soundbites Tim Burton
==Gallery==
==Trivia==
*This is the fifth of many live-action adaptations of classic Disney animated films released in the 21st century, following Alice in Wonderland, Maleficent, Cinderella, The Jungle Book, Beauty and the Beast, and Christopher Robin (Pete's Dragon doesn't count as it is considered an adaptation of a live-action movie).
**In addition, Dumbo is first of five live-action adaptations of animated films that Disney has slated for release in 2019, along with Aladdin, The Lion King, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, and Lady and the Tramp.
***Whereas Dumbo, Aladdin, The Lion King, and Lady and the Tramp are all live-action adaptations of its animated originals, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil is a live-action sequel to its 2014's Maleficent (a live-action reimagining of 1959's Sleeping Beauty). In addition, the former three, as well as Maleficent: Mistress of Evil are theatrical releases; while Lady and the Tramp is an exclusive Disney+ release.
***Of all the theatrical remakes, Dumbo is the only one to not to feature the same composer as its original version (Maleficent: Mistress of Evil doesn't count, since its not an actual remake, but a sequel to the live-action spin-off/remake film Maleficent).
**Tim Burton had also directed Alice in Wonderland.
*There are no talking animals in this adaptation as in the 1941 animated film; instead the story is revised to include more human characters, focusing more so on their perspective, thus one of the three white mice that Milly and Joe bring to Dumbo is dressed similar to Timothy Q. Mouse.
*This is officially the first time since 1992's Batman Returns that Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito, and Tim Burton work together on the same film.
*This is also Burton's fourth film with Keaton following Beetlejuice, Batman, and Batman Returns; and with DeVito following Batman Returns, Mars Attacks!, and Big Fish; his third film with Eva Green following Dark Shadows and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children; and his second film with Alan Arkin following Edward Scissorhands.
**This is the second Tim Burton film to star Danny DeVito playing the role of a ringmaster, after 2003's Big Fish.
***Coincidentally, in Big Fish, DeVito's character had the ability to transform into a werewolf on a full moon whereas in Dumbo, a supposed "werewolf" was seen on display at the Nightmare Island attraction in Dreamland.
*This is the fourth time that Michael Keaton does a role for a Disney film, after playing Ray Peyton, Sr. in Herbie: Fully Loaded, Chick Hicks in Cars, and Ken in Toy Story 3.
*This is Danny DeVito's first role for a Disney film since he voiced Phil in Hercules.
*This is the second time that Colin Farrell does a role for a Disney film, after playing Travers Robert Goff in Saving Mr. Banks.
*Dumbo is the third live-action adaptation to be released in March, after 2015's Cinderella and 2017's Beauty and the Beast, followed by 2020's Mulan.
**Thus, this is also the second film directed by Burton to have a release in March after 2010's Alice in Wonderland.
*The film acts as a follow up expansion to the original one, picking up following the climax of it while in addition of also serving as a live-action adaptation of the original one.http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/news/a855551/disney-tim-burton-dumbo-remake-first-footage/
==References==
==External links==
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