#except now I do. I have trap opinions both from a storytelling perspective and from a fascination perspective

[white-weasel]

Notes:

I didn’t add any traps where I’m relying on someone else to save me. All of these are ones where I have to Do Something in order to live. So that also excluded Daniel Rigg and Eric Matthews’ tests from the pool since you win those by doing nothing (and also probably don’t count as actual traps but? Meh)

Going with the above, if any trap mentioned has multiple people, assume I’m the one who has to Do The Thing for us to survive

Assume all traps play out as explained/intended. This means that rigged traps (i.e. the Angel Trap and the Pendulum) are technically winnable in this world, even if winning would suck majorly

Tried to pick my top 10 that are the most contentious about survivability. I’m pretty sure 99% of us think we could survive something like the bucket head trap so I’m not including it on this poll lmao

[that-shamrock-vibe]

Movie Review: Dumbo (Spoilers)

Spoiler Warning: I am posting this review the day after the movie is first released in the U.K, so if you haven’t yet seen the movie, go and see it and then read on.

General Reaction:

/I have fallen in love with Tim Burton’s take on Dumbo, the character not the movie. He is so adorable in places just so full of innocence that it is impossible not to fall in love with him by the end of the movie. The movie is a slow-burn I think depending on your level of enjoyment of the 1941 animated movie as well as your willingness to believe in the Disney magic. I always at least a toe in the pool of Disney magic with any Disney movie I see and that 1% of pure belief actually thought Dumbo was real.

Now when it comes to the movie as a whole, I had a good time. Just like I would if I went to the circus or an amusement park in real life, I enjoyed the spectacle and the wonder what the movie offered me. However, the fact the original animated movie is just 64 minutes whereas this 2019 version is 112 minutes did flare up red lights for me as I didn’t know how exactly they were going to add pretty much an hour of extra content to a movie that pretty much drags as it is from what I remember.

I haven’t seen the original animated movie for about 15 years if not more, but by memory the movie was “A stork brings baby Dumbo to his mother who is part of a travelling circus but he has big ears so everyone sees him as a freak and dress him up as a clown-act. He befriends a mouse who gets him drunk and he sees pink elephants, they both discover he can fly with a feather after meeting a quartet of racially-stereotypical crows who help him reunite with his mother...end of movie”. This was definitely a more fleshed-out and, in my opinion, more adult adaptation while still maintaining Disney’s family-friendly nature.

Focusing on more human characters than just the one ringmaster when you haven’t got that first-hand perspective of talking animals is definitely the right decision, and fortunately they did not pull focus from the start that is Dumbo himself. However, all the main human characters were rather compelling and charming in their own way and all of them simply aided to making Dumbo that much more adorable and cute.

When you hear Tim Burton is directing a movie, you are looking for the wonder, the macabre and the unique Burtonisms that brought us Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman and Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter....in the first Alice movie. However, for the first half of this movie I was not seeing what I was expecting from him, until Dumbo’s first circus performance where we and he see the acts before he goes on...including Burton’s reimagining of the pink elephants. With the original Dumbo had Dumbo drink and see them, I was slightly Burton was going to make a live-action baby elephant drink, fortunately thought it was merely part of the circus performance with pink elephant bubbles that somehow came to life, believe in the Disney magic!

The scene that had me on the edge of my seat was the clown scene when Dumbo was trapped on that ledge with the fire and I was holding my breath so worried for him. When a movie can make me care that much about a CGI elephant it’s something special.

Also, it is slightly concerning that the villain of the movie is essentially Corporate America, in the shape of Michael Keaton. If there were villains in the original I feel it was simply humanity in general whereas here they showed the good, the bad and the corrupted sides of humanity and that, to me, is a lot more realistic and better storytelling.

But when you consider that Keaton’s amusement park “Dremland” is very similar to the theme parks of today and this inspires Danny DeVito’s ringmaster of the circus character to make his circus more family and animal friendly whih also seems to be a very early version of DisneyWorld is either Disney commenting on themselves or on theme parks in general.

Cast:

Aside from the animals, you had many supporting human characters both in the Medici Bros. Circus and Keaton’s business associates. Front and centre is Colin Farrell who is surprisingly a WWI soldier who lost an arm during the war, this was a surprise because it was never revealed in the trailers and the only shots we see of him are most likely with the prosthetic he has. I thought the loss of his wife wasn’t as heavily felt in the movie but his for for his kids was.

The kids were okay, I am not seeing anything great here but I never really see anything great from kids in Disney movies usually, with the exception of Mowgli in The Jungle Book.

Eva Green was fabulous in this movie, I have not yet seen her star power fully shine yet because I am still seeing Helena Bonham-Carter-lite probably because Burton seems to be turning her into that. I thought the French “Queen of the Skies” they created for her was very well used in the context of the movie, the only thing I believe will hurt the character, and Eva Green, is the fact that we have very recently seen a flying trapeze lady with Zendaya’s character in The Greatest Showman and while Colin Farrell’s Holt and Zac Efron’s Phillip Carlyle are different characters, both fill that kind of middle-management/underling in their respective circuses and while Holt and Colette never explicitly have a romance in this movie it does just draw comparisons.

Danny DeVito as a circus ringmaster calls back to his turn as The Penguin in Tim Burton’s Batman Returns because Cobblepot there led a circus troupe although slightly more demonic than this group. Also, from when we first meet Medici, I had so many callbacks to his other Disney role as Philoctites in Hercules with his talk about “Rule number 1″.

As I said Michael Keaton is the villain and reasonable as a villain, although I do feel it draws more on campy than threatening at times. There are a couple of moments when he enters a room and almost sing-speaks to the point where I thought he was going to burst into song, being a Disney movie. But fortunately the only song in this movie is Baby, Mine and not sung by him.

The actual troupe are great diverse characters, however much like Shazam! it does seem to be where the diversity is.as the main cast are all Caucasian. The snake charmer, the strongman and the mermaid are the three that stand out and surprisingly the mermaid is Rae from My Mad Fat Diary. Interesting to see how far people come. She was very wooden, particularly during the song, but she was passable. I particularly loved the elephant breakout plan at the end of the movie as it felt like they all used the strengths that made them circus performers in the first place.

Going Forward:

Because Disney does only really seem to be wanting to be showing updated versions of these animated classics, I don’t see this movie going anywhere after the conclusion of the film. But honestly, that scene where Dumbo and his mother are freed from the amusement park and find safe haven in India along with a herd of their kind was beautiful and seeing Dumbo flying around the grove was the moment where I welled up because it was just so perfect an ending.

However, if they wanted to somehow attempt to link up these live-action movies, they could have had an adult Mowgli appear looking over the grove or seeing Dumbo fly by. I know it may never happen but it would have been exciting, even as a mid-post-credits scene.

Recommendation:

I had a lovely time watching this movie, I never felt bored or like I wasted my time. I would gladly see it again and do remember most of the key moments. If you are someone who wants to believe in the Disney magic then you will see it here, if you are someone who wants an updated version of the animated movie then you will have that. If you just want a great family-friendly movie then you will definitely have that. Just go and have a great time.

Overall I rate the movie a 7/10, it’s a good live-action adaptation ahead of Cinderella and Oz but below Beauty and the Beast and The Jungle Book. Somewhere on par with Maleficent and 101 Dalmatians. I enjoyed myself and I am glad I saw it.

So that’s my review of Dumbo, what did you guys think? Post your comments and check out more Disney Movie Reviews as well as other Movie Reviews and posts.