Dumbo (2019 film)


Dumbo is a 2019 American fantasy period adventure film directed by Tim Burton from a screenplay by Ehren Kruger. It is a live-action adaptation of Walt Disney’s 1941 animated film, and stars Colin Farrell, Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito, Eva Green, and Alan Arkin.
Plans for a film adaptation of Dumbo were announced in 2014, and Burton was confirmed as director in March 2015. Most of the cast signed on for the feature in March 2017 and principal photography lasted from July to November 2017 in England. It was the first of five live-action adaptations of prior animated Disney films released in 2019, along with Aladdin, The Lion King, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, and Lady and the Tramp.
Dumbo premiered in Los Angeles on March 11, 2019, and was theatrically released in the United States on March 29. The film grossed $353 million worldwide against a $170 million budget and received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the performances of DeVito and Keaton but criticized the script. Burton later confirmed that he would no longer work with Disney, referring to the studio as a "horrible big circus".

Plot

In 1919 Sarasota, Florida, equestrian performer Holt Farrier returns after World War I to his previous employer, the Medici Brothers' Circus. The circus has run into financial troubles; Ringmaster Medici reveals he was forced to sell his horses after Holt's wife, Annie, died from the Spanish flu outbreak. After Holt reveals that he lost his arm in the Battle of the Argonne, Medici instead hires him as the caretaker for Mother Ella Jumbo, the circus' pregnant Indian elephant. She gives birth to a calf with unusually large ears, and Medici orders Holt to hide them, fearing how the public might react to such a deformity.
However, the calf accidentally reveals his ears in his debut performance in Joplin, Missouri, and the crowd laughs and mockingly calls the calf "Dumbo" while pelting him with objects. Mrs. Jumbo, angered by her son's abuse, rampages into the ring, causing extensive damage, collapsing the big top, and accidentally killing Rufus, a sadistic handler. Anticipating public outrage over the incident, Medici sells Mrs. Jumbo. Holt's son and daughter, Joe and Milly Farrier, comfort Dumbo and discover that he can fly by flapping his ears and that feathers benefit his willingness to fly.
Dumbo is then forced to play the role of a firefighter clown tasked to put out a fire with water sprayed from his trunk, but the performance goes awry, and Dumbo is trapped on a high platform surrounded by flames. Milly delivers a feather to Dumbo, giving him the confidence to fly to safety. The audience is astounded, and word of his talent begins to spread. V. A. Vandevere, the wealthy owner of the Bohemian amusement park Dreamland, approaches Medici and proposes a collaboration: If Medici becomes Vandevere's business partner, the Medici Brothers' Circus' troupe will permanently be employed to perform at Dreamland.
Dumbo's debut performance at Dreamland with Vandevere's star performer, French trapeze artist Colette Marchant, quickly goes wrong when he nearly falls off a high platform and starts trumpeting in panic after realizing that there is no safety net available to prevent possible injuries and fatalities. Hearing his mother's response to his call and realizing that she was placed in an exhibit at Dreamland called Nightmare Island after being sold, he flies out of the circus ring and reunites with her, greatly disappointing the audience. Annoyed by Dumbo's disobedience and fearing the possibility of his mother becoming a distraction to him, Vandevere fires the Medici troupe and orders Mrs. Jumbo's exhibit to be shuttered to secure his sterling reputation.
When Holt and the Medici troupe learn that Vandevere intends to have Dumbo's mother killed and that it is no longer safe for the two elephants to live with them, they make plans to free both of them. 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 starts a fire by mishandling Dreamland's electrical system, which spreads and destroys the park. After Dumbo saves Holt and his family from the fire, they are joined by Colette and the rest of the troupe to bring Dumbo and his mother to the harbor, where they board a ship back to their native home in India.
Sometime later, the renamed Medici Family Circus is reestablished and flourishes with Colette as the newest troupe member, Milly as host of a science lecture exhibition, and performers dressed as animals, in line with the circus's new policy of not using wild animals in captivity for entertainment. It is implied that Vandevere was convicted of burning down his own park for the insurance money. Meanwhile, Dumbo and his mother reunite with a herd of wild elephants, who applaud Dumbo as he flies with joy.

Cast

  • Colin Farrell as Holt Farrier, an amputated World War I veteran and former circus equestrian performer from Kentucky who is reassigned by Max Medici as handler of the circus's elephants.
  • Michael Keaton as V.A. Vandevere, a greedy and ruthless enigmatic entrepreneur and amusement park owner who buys Medici's circus to exploit Dumbo for his bohemian amusement park, Dreamland.
  • Danny DeVito as Maximilian "Max" Medici, a boisterous but goodhearted ringmaster and owner of the Medici Brothers' Circus who is loosely based on the ringmaster from the original film.
  • *Devito's daughter Lucy cameos in the film as a Coat Check Girl.
  • Eva Green as Colette Marchant, a virtuous French trapeze artist and Vandevere's faux girlfriend who performs at Dreamland.
  • Alan Arkin as J. Griffin Remington, an investor.
  • Nico Parker as Milly Farrier, Holt's feisty and benevolent daughter who, unlike her parents and brother, wants to make scientific discoveries.
  • Finley Hobbins as Joe Farrier, Holt's son who wants to help out with the circus. He shares a special bond with his sister.
  • Roshan Seth as Pramesh Singh, a snake charmer.
  • DeObia Oparei as Rongo, a strongman who also works as the circus accountant.
  • Joseph Gatt as Neils Skellig, a South African hunter and Vandevere's right-hand man.
  • Douglas Reith as Sotheby, Vandevere's former butler.
  • Sharon Rooney as Miss Atlantis, a mermaid performer.
  • Michael Buffer as Baritone Bates, a Dreamland ringmaster.
  • Zenaida Alcalde as Catherine the Greater, an illusionist and Ivan's wife.
  • Miguel Muñoz Segura as Ivan the Wonderful, an illusionist and Catherine's husband.
  • Frank Bourke as Puck, an organ grinder.
  • Ragevan Vasan as Pritam Singh, a snake handler and Pramesh's nephew.
  • Phil Zimmerman as Rufus, a sadistic animal trainer.
  • Edd Osmond as the movement artist for Dumbo, a baby elephant with extremely large ears who is capable of flying.

    Production

Development and writing

Early development for a live-action adaptation of Dumbo began in 2014, when Ehren Kruger gave producer Derek Frey a script for the film, which Frey gave the green light to. On July 8, 2014, it was announced that the film was in development for Walt Disney Pictures. Kruger was confirmed as the screenwriter, and Justin Springer as a producer along with Kruger. On March 10, 2015, Tim Burton was announced as the director. On July 15, 2017, Disney announced Dumbo would be released on March 29, 2019. The film features a different storyline from the original film's, though as star Colin Farrell described, "he one central thing that holds true in both the original animation, the original cartoon" and the 2019 film, is the message of "believing in yourself and finding something inside you that allows you to become the best version of what you thought you could even be, and that we're all, regardless of the things that sometimes society says, should arrive us at being outcasts; they're the things that make us all individual, special, and beautiful regardless of how crippling a certain thing may be or how polarizing a certain physical attribute even may be."
The film does not feature talking animals, focusing instead on the human characters. Kruger wrote the script so that it "offered a way to tell that story in a framework that expanded it, but without redoing the original ", and a story that "was simple, with an emotional simplicity, and didn't interfere with what the basic through line of the original is about." As in the original film, Dumbo depicts the protagonist as a symbolic figure who does not fit in and uses their disabilities as an advantage. Kruger wrote the script in order to "explore how the people of the circus world would relate to Dumbo's journey", while Springer said that " really wanted to explore the human side of story and give it historical context. In the animated feature, Dumbo flies for the world at the end of the film. wanted to find out how the world reacts when people learn that this elephant can fly". The group of crows from the 1941 film that had been criticized as being racist were excluded from the film, and their dialogue was instead said by a ringleader character.

Casting

In January 2017, it was announced that Will Smith was in talks to play the father of the children who develop a friendship with the elephant after seeing him at the circus. However, Smith later passed on the role due to scheduling conflicts with Bad Boys for Life, among other reasons. He went on to be cast as the Genie in Disney's 2019 live-action film adaptation of Aladdin. Bill Hader, Chris Pine and Casey Affleck were also offered the role, but passed on it before Colin Farrell was cast. Farrell, a fan of Burton, chose to work on the film because "he idea of something as sweet and fantastical and otherworldly, while being grounded in some recognizable world that we can relate to, under the direction of , was a dream ... I've always been looking for something of that ilk." Jenna Ortega auditioned for one of the film's roles when she was just fourteen years old, feeling extremely "gutted" at not securing the part due to her doubts on if she would ever have the chance to work with Burton again; Ortega ultimately went on to collaborate with Burton in the Netflix series Wednesday and the 2024 film Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
In March 2017, Burton's frequent collaborators, Eva Green and Danny DeVito, joined the cast as Colette, a trapeze artist, and Max Medici, the circus' ringmaster, respectively. Due to her fear of heights, Green trained with aerialist Katherine Arnold and choreographer Fran Jaynes in order to prepare for the role. In April 2017, another veteran of Burton's films, Michael Keaton, joined Dumbo, to complete the casting of prominent "adult" roles. Tom Hanks was reportedly in discussions for the role before Keaton's casting. Hanks would instead sign on for the role of Geppetto in Disney's 2022 live-action film adaptation of Pinocchio. In the summer of 2017, DeObia Oparei, Joseph Gatt, and Alan Arkin joined the cast. DeVito said that " Tim and would do anything to be in a movie with him." He also said that Burton is "lways spirited, always an artist, always thinking about the craft, always painting with his mind," and that he felt like "part of some kind of palette, a color scheme" while filming the movie.