David Selim

I have come to appreciate the cleverness and innocence of Dumbo 1941 after seeing Dumbo 2019. This movie is not Mary Poppins or even Mary Poppins Returns. Please pay attention to other parent reviews [below] of their children’s reactions to the movie – especially those that involve crying and restlessness which is not from onions or ants. The beginning of the new live-action was magical: the train and the small circus troop beautifully led my mind into the circuses of the past. I just wanted to keep a tight hold on those thoughts. Had the story plot been limited to keeping within the boundaries of a small circus and had not veered away into the money problems of running a circus – such as having the circus owner selling off assets and eventually his own soul to the big-show greedy evil guy – well, I would have felt better. There are great plots, kept within a small circus scope, which do not have anything to do with money – allowing for more involvement in Dumbo’s character development. Instead, this movie is about the external forces pushing a voiceless baby elephant around at a human’s whim, setting up an at-risk situation only to be resolved by an escape. This new movie has the following modern themes: 1) A dark side to the Disney machine is portrayed in metaphor – by using a theme park parallel 2) Using capitalism to make men rich by exploiting animals in captivity – achieved by Dumbo being ridden into the air by the female trapeze artist and mother Jumbo being relegated to a freak show 3) Exploitative capitalism is brought to its knees – through the physical collapse of a circus 4) Not having animals in captivity is a good thing – by the humans executing a plan for Dumbo and Jumbo’s escape 5) Animals should live in a place where they cannot be harmed or threatened – by placing the two elephants in a wild paradise, with their own kind, away from humans The heroes are two young children and their father. Another hero is the female trapeze artist companion to the villain. That villain, played by Michael Keaton, outshines them all, and stole the show even from Dumbo, in my opinion. Had the other characters been developed to the level of the villain, there might have been more opposing forces between them. Development of the modern themes carries the film instead. So, this movie may not be for some little children and some sensitive adults if you were expecting the old Dumbo. I watched the original movie again after seeing this new one and started asking myself what I was really looking for in a Dumbo movie. I contrasted the magic of the old, with its masterful character development, and then compared it to the CGI effects and modern themes of the new. Dumbo 1941 is so clever that it does not get old after watching it over and over. The evidence of this is my constant half-cocked smile in reaction to some cute little nuance revealed as pure entertainment every 30 seconds or so. I don’t think there is any other movie I’ve ever seen that achieves this clever trait better than the old Dumbo. The bar is set so high that only the original animators could top themselves — possible proof that they knew a lost art which may have died with them. They came from a different era which only our great-grandparents would understand, which makes the old movie all-the-more alluring to me. So, if you still want to see the new movie, I would go see it yourself first before deciding to invite your family to come along. The dark side of capitalism may go over their heads anyway, as it did for my son - who said he liked the movie. But I think the plot blows-up into a monster as soon as the small circus owner sells his soul to the big-time amusement park circus guy, later regretting it. If you want the Dumbo you fell in love with, then go see the original, in all of its innocence, at home. Bring out your copy of the DVD and refresh yourself with the magic of the 1941 classic.