A Dad’s Review of Disney’s Live Action Dumbo
“You’ve seen a horse fly. You’ve seen a dragonfly. You’ve even seen a housefly. But you haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen an elephant fly!” —Baritone Bates, “Dumbo” Everyone will have their chance to see an elephant fly as Dumbo soars into theaters on March 29, 2019. I had the opportunity to attend a private press screening last night and have written my spoiler free thoughts on the movie below.
Did Dumbo soar up to my expectations?
I absolutely loved the movie and was very entertained for the entire 112 minute duration of the movie. One major thing to note about this movie is that it is not a traditional Disney movie remake where it follows the plot of the classic movie. Instead, this new Dumbo movie is more of an adaptation of the Disney classic we all love. The new story adds to the mystery and entertainment as you don’t know what is going to happen.
I thought the casting of the characters was absolutely perfect. I really enjoyed the humor of Danny Devito’s character. One small role I really enjoyed was Alan Arkin’s part as Remington because he offered the perfect comic relief. Overall it is a great movie and I highly recommend that you see it.
Will I cry?
I know most of you are expecting to cry uncontrollably like you did when you watched the classic Dumbo movie. I like to think that I am a pretty emotional person, especially for a guy, but I am actually kind of disappointed to say that I didn’t cry. Usually by the end of most Disney movies I have had some eye watering moments. These tears and feelings of emotion was the only thing I feel Dumbo was lacking. It might just be me but I don’t think this version of Dumbo is as sad as the classic.
Should I take my kids?
I think the PG rating is spot on for this movie as the language is very mild and there is nothing that I wouldn’t want my kids seeing. As far as violence goes there is one implied death but there is nothing graphic in terms of violence throughout the movie. My only concern with taking small children would be fear as there are some scenes that could be frightening. If your child has a fear of animals I would definitely not recommend this movie as there are a lot of animals and several portrayed in a way to cause “terror”. There is a lot of fire and suspense so those are a couple other things to take into consideration.
I took my 19 month old toddler with me and with the help of popcorn and a drink he was able to sit through the entire movie. He was actually pretty interested in the movie during several parts especially when there was music and he started to dance.
I hope you get a chance to see this great movie and I can’t wait to hear what you think. For more information and details about the movie you can follow along here.
