Dumbo (2019) on Netflix
PG20191h 52mAdventureFamilyFantasy
Holt Farrier returns from World War I to a struggling Medici Brothers' Circus and is put in charge of a newborn elephant with oversized ears. Medici orders the ears kept hidden.
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- Netflix2.7/5
- IMDb6.2/1089,323 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes46%
Trailer
Plot summary
In 1919, the Medici Brothers' Circus in Sarasota, Florida, is struggling when Holt Farrier returns to it after World War I. Holt lost an arm at the Battle of the Argonne, and the ringmaster, Max Medici, has sold the horses after the death of Holt's wife, Annie. Medici puts Holt in charge of Mother Ella Jumbo, the circus's pregnant Indian elephant. Her calf is born with unusually large ears, and Medici tells Holt to keep them hidden, afraid of how the public will react. Holt's children, Milly and Joe, befriend the calf and find that flapping his ears lifts him into the air. Word of a flying elephant spreads, and V. A. Vandevere, owner of the amusement park Dreamland, offers Medici a partnership.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Dumbo (2019)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Tim Burton said that making Dumbo convinced him his days with Disney were done: he realized he was Dumbo, working in a horrible big circus and needing to escape, and called the film quite autobiographical.
- Before Colin Farrell was cast as Holt Farrier, Will Smith was in talks for the part but passed due to scheduling conflicts with Bad Boys for Life, later playing the Genie in Aladdin; Bill Hader, Chris Pine and Casey Affleck were also offered the role and passed.
- Tom Hanks was reportedly in discussions to play V. A. Vandevere before Michael Keaton was cast; Hanks instead signed on to play Geppetto in Disney's 2022 live-action Pinocchio.
- Jenna Ortega auditioned for a role in Dumbo at fourteen and felt "gutted" at not getting it, doubting she would ever work with Tim Burton again; she later worked with him on Wednesday and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
- Dumbo was the first of five live-action adaptations of earlier Disney animated films released in 2019, followed by Aladdin, The Lion King, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil and Lady and the Tramp.
- For scenes where Eva Green's trapeze artist flies with Dumbo, the team used a motion base that visual effects supervisor Richard Stammers called "essentially a hydraulic round gimbal rig," with hydraulic pistons simulating the flight.
- Rodeo FX hid Holt Farrier's amputated arm by digitally recreating the character's costumes and the backgrounds blocked by the sleeve, and merged aerial footage with matte paintings and CGI for the film's opening train sequence.
- The group of crows from the 1941 animated film that had been criticized as racist were left out of the remake, with their dialogue given to a ringleader character instead.
