Ashtyn Britt
abrit@lc.edu

Disney’s Dumbo has returned to the big screen in live action format on March 29, 2019. Disney has been on a large kick lately of rebooting their animated movies and remaking them in live action formatting, using both live actors and CGI to recreate their original animated masterpieces.

As expected, the children who enjoyed the animated classics as children tend to revisit the live action versions as adults. A few movies already remade include classics such as The Jungle Book, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, 101 Dalmatians, and Mary Poppins. The next Disney picture on the list is Dumbo.

Dumbo is the story of a baby elephant with very special giant ears who has to learn to fly to gain respect from his fellow circus animals. Dumbo accomplishes this primarily with the help of Timothy Q. Mouse, his only friend among the circus animals. The animated version was released on Oct. 23, 1941, and was well received by the public for its music and compelling plot. The animated film also included a couple of songs well-remembered through the decades after, including “Baby Mine” and “Pink Elephants on Parade.” The animated film also won a 1941 Academy Award for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture and had been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

The new Dumbo stars Collin Farrell, Alan Arkin, Michael Keaton, Eva Green, and Danny DeVito. The film will also be directed by Tim Burton, who has worked on many Disney projects in the past, both animated and live action. In this version of the film, significantly more focus has been put on the people running the circus teaching Dumbo how to fly, rather than focusing solely on the animals themselves. As someone who was a huge fan of Dumbo growing up, I am reminded of the deep message of how embracing what makes us different is in fact what makes everyone special! I can not say this enough, if you haven’t seen this movie yet, go now!