Disney’s Dumbo in Theaters Now!

Posted on March 29, 2019 by Erin

Disney’s Dumbo in Theaters Now!

By Jonelle

Growing up I loved Disney. As an adult, I love Disney. Driving into the Disney Studios in Burbank, never gets boring. This was a placed I dreamed of working. As I walk to the theater where the special preview of Dumbo is screening, I wonder if Mr. Disney walked the same streets or turned the same corners.

I was asked to screen the upcoming Disney release Dumbo and here’s the thing, I never saw the original in its entirety, which I just found out is only about 60 minutes or so. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Dumbo was originally slated as a 30-minute short film. It ultimately expanded to just under 64 minutes (Dumbo is Disney’s second shortest animated feature film behind 1942’s “Saludos Amigos,” which was just 42 minutes).

I’ve seen the trailer for the live action version many times, and each time I had tears and chills. I kept thinking 1. Wow, Colin Farrell gets better looking with age and 2. That is the cutest elephant I’ve ever seen, where can I get one. Yes, that is how real the CGI looks.

Holt Farrier (Colin Farrell) and his children Milly (Nico Parker) and Joe (Finley Hobbins) are charged with caring for a newborn elephant whose oversized ears make him a laughingstock in an already struggling circus. ©2018 Disney Enterprises, Inc.

Let’s be honest, I know a little bit about the original. It’s about a baby elephant who is taken away from its mother, has ginormous ears and is forced to fly in a circus. Beyond that, I had nothing. We all know about the famous music that came out of the original. Danny Elfman keeps those same elements in his reimagined score. You’ll find a few other elements from the original, like the pink elephants, a reimagined Timothy Mouse and of course the famous Casey Jr. Circus Train.

The film centers around a traveling circus in the height of the traveling circus craze. Colin Farrell’s, Holt Farrier, has just come back from WWI having sustained an injury that left him with one arm. His wife has died and his and his children were left, being raised by the “Circus Freaks” they’ve come to know as family. Holt and his wife were the main attraction of the Medici Family Circus, and once that duo ceased to exist, so did the attraction of this traveling band of misfits. With times hard continuing in the foreseeable future, Max Medici, sells Holt’s prized horses to purchase a pregnant African Elephant, call it a two-for-the-price-of-one deal. However, once baby Jumbo, Dumbo’s original name, is born, Max sees him as just another freak, saying, “a face only a mother could love.”

With his Jumbo ears, Dumbo, is made to dress up like a clown, perform horrific stunts and is teased mercilessly by the circus crowd. Mama Jumbo gets very angry at the people laughing at her baby and take matters into her own hooves. Because of her actions, one of the roadies get killed and many spectators get injured. This is going to wreck the Medici Family Circus, so he gets rid of Mama Jumbo and keeps his new attraction: Dumbo the Flying Elephant.

Dumbo, even with the love of Holt’s children Milly and Joe, is depressed because he misses his mother, something Milly and Joe can relate to. There are so many parallels between Milly, Joe and Dumbo. They’re not taken seriously, they have lost their mother, they’re trying to just find their place in the world.

Once the circus begins to thrive again with Dumbo’s help –he’s forced to fly–, villain V.A. Vandevere, played by Michael Keaton, makes Max Medici an offer he cannot refuse, he becomes the Vice President (in name only) of Vandevere’s state of the art amusement park, Dreamland. Not everyone in Dreamland agrees with Vandevere’s treatment of his animals, especially his most prized item, Dumbo. This leads to the climax of the story. Dumbo is anxious to be with his mama once more.

FLYING HIGH

The movie itself is absolutely visually stunning. We are taken back to 1920’s America and then taken to a “Fantasyland” of entrainment called Dreamland. You forget you’re looking at CGI elephants. They look so real and Dumbo’s eyes are the most endearing eyes, you can’t help but want to save all the elephants. The costumes in Dreamland are brightly colored and magical, especially the costumes worn by Eva Green’s, Colette Merchant, the famous trapeze artist who is tasked to soar with Dumbo. She wears this this beautiful feathered outfit that truly makes her look like a soaring bird.

One thing that Max Medici says towards the end of the film is that animals “don’t belong in cages”. The messages in this film speak volumes. At its heart, this simple story is one of family and acceptance, acceptance of what makes us all different. We could learn a lot from Dumbo. And yes, animals don’t belong in cages.

Dumbo is directed by Tim Burton and stars Colin Farrell as Holt Farrier, Michael Keaton as V.A. Vandevere, Danny DeVito as Max Medici, Eva Green as Colette Marchant, Nico Parker as Milly Farrier, Finley Hobbins as Joe Farrier, Alan Arkin as J. Griffin Remington, Roshan Seth as Pramesh Singh, DeObia Oparei as Rongo the Strongo, Joseph Gatt as Neils Skellig, and Sharon Rooney as Miss Atlantis.

Like DUMBO on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DisneyDumbo/

Follow DUMBO on Twitter: https://twitter.com/dumbo

Follow DUMBO on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dumbo/

Visit the official DUMBO website here: https://disney.com/dumbo

DUMBO is in theatres everywhere now!

Soaring with the Stars of Dumbo

Posted on March 27, 2019 by Erin

Soaring with the Stars of Dumbo

By Jonelle

We were invited as media to cover the press conference. All thoughts & opinions remain our own.

On March 10^th I drove out to the Beverly Hills Hilton to sit in a Disney magical ballroom with Tim Burton, one of my favorite directors of all time, to listen to him talk about his latest project, Dumbo. Believe it or not, I’ve never seen the entire 1941 original, which comes in at only 64 minutes. My thought going in to this film was, how are they going to make a full-length movie about an elephant?

Journalist Grae Drake, our moderator for the day, dressed as a ringmaster, introducing her “circus”, and what a circus it was. First up we heard from Screenwriter Ehren Kruge, Producers Justin Springer, Derek Frey, Katterli Frauenfelde, Production Designer Rick Heinrichs, Costume Designer Colleen Atwood and Composer/Oingo Boingo founder Danny Elfman.

I remember taking a film music class in college where we analyzed the music of various film composers. Danny Elfman was one of the composers we studied, a composer that I greatly admire, and he’s worked with Tim Burton on 17 films. Come on, it wouldn’t be a Tim Burton film without an Elfman score. For Elfman, working with Burton, isn’t as simple as working with other directors. Burton’s mind is both strange and interesting. Just like the way audiences see the amazing characters that Burton creates.

Burton making a movie about a traveling circus is very fitting. Producer Derek Frey said that, Tim Burton’s films “are populated with outsider characters” and that “Dumbo was the original Disney outsider” in a world full of beautiful Disney Princesses. Burton took on this very simple, sweet story. You have a band of outsiders who make their own sweet, simple family. Burton himself, never liked the circus, but liked the idea of running away with the circus.

The Costumes created by designer Colleen Atwood were beautiful and magnificent. They had to represent both hardship and extravagance. She made the 1920’s heyday of the traveling circus come to life. Samples of these gorgeous costumes were on hand to admire. The red feather dress worn by Eva Green in the film was just breathtaking. All of her costumes were beautiful. As the trapeze artist, her costumes were delicate and flowy, similar to that of an elegant bird soaring through the sky.

Diving into the 30th Anniversary Edition of “The Little Mermaid” at Walt Disney Animation Studios

Posted on February 12, 2019 by Erin

Diving into the 30th Anniversary Edition of “The Little Mermaid”

By Melanie Gable

I was invited as media to visit Walt Disney Animation Studios to learn more about the Walt Disney Signature Collection edition of “The Little Mermaid.” All thoughts and opinions are my own.

It’s hard to believe that it’s been nearly 30 years since Ariel first swam into theaters, but the fandom for Disney’s lovable mermaid princess has continued grow as each new generation experiences the magic of “The Little Mermaid.” This month the classic film will be joining the Walt Disney Signature Collection with both digital (available Feb. 12) and Blu-ray (Feb. 26) editions packed with all-new bonus features.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of “The Little Mermaid” and take a look back at the film’s legacy, Walt Disney Animation Studios hosted a media event featuring Director Ron Clements, Animation Supervisor Mark Henn, and The Little Mermaid herself, Jodi Benson! Erin invited me to cover the event for her, and I jumped at the chance to learn more about one of my favorite movies from the talented people who brought it to life.

We first met with Co-head of Animation Kira Lehtomaki, who gave us background on the revitalizing impact that “The Little Mermaid” had on the studio. “At the time that ‘The Little Mermaid’ was being made, we weren’t sure if the animation studio was going to close or not,” said Lehtomaki. “It wasn’t quite at the pinnacle of what animation had been, and it wasn’t until The Little Mermaid came along that she really revitalized the studio and launched a whole new renaissance for Disney animation.”

Hans Christian Andersen’s fish-out-of-water story had been on the studio’s list of potential fairy tale adaptations since the 1930s, but it wasn’t until 1989 that Disney was finally able to bring “The Little Mermaid” to theaters. The studio had been in a creative and box office slump, at least compared to its early films, but “The Little Mermaid” was a hit with critics and audiences alike, receiving a Golden Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical, and winning Oscars for both Best Original Song (“Under the Sea”) and Best Original Score.

Ariel inspired legions of kids to long for mermaid tails and scarlet hair, and I was one of them. (I pity my poor mom, who had to endure me begging her to dye my hair red like The Little Mermaid on a nearly-daily basis after we saw the movie. Sorry, Mom!) The film also sparked the ambitions of a new generation of artists, many of whom dreamed of becoming Disney animators. “I knew at a very early age that I wanted to be part of this world,” confessed the charming Lehtomaki, who wanted to be a Disney “drawer” starting at age five, and even shared one of her childhood drawings of Ariel.

Lehtomaki led the team that brought all of the Disney princesses together, and designed their iconic loungewear, in “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” and she is particularly drawn to Ariel. “One of the reasons why I deeply connect to Ariel is because she’s a collector. She has ‘gadgets and gizmos a plenty,’ and I, too, am a collector. I’m kind of known around here as the resident Disney hoarder,” she joked. Lehtomaki used her personal collection of Disney princess figurines to remember the placement of each princess when she was animating their scene with Vanellope in “Ralph Breaks the Internet.”

She also formed a friendship with Ariel herself, actress Jodi Benson, who voiced the headstrong mermaid in the original film and subsequent Disney projects, including “Ralph Breaks the Internet.” Lehtomaki gushed about Benson, saying, “Jodi was so valuable in the information she gave us, but the other part was we got to watch her in the recording studio, and if you watch her you will see she IS Ariel. She embodies her.” Benson was kind enough to talk with us over video web chat about what “The Little Mermaid” has meant to her over the years and her memorable experiences during production.

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Disney’s Dumbo in Theaters Now!