DUMBO – 2019
*CUT TO THE CHASE*NOTE: This spoiler was submitted by Jeremy
1919 – The Medici Brothers Circus travels across the country, performing for audiences of all ages and backgrounds. Run by Max Medici (Danny DeVito), the circus features a number of freak show type performers, including Rongo the Strongo (DeObia Oparei), Pramesh the snake charmer (Roshan Seth), colored dogs, and the Farriers. Holt Farrier (Colin Farrell) performed with his wife Annie on horses before he went off to serve in World War I where he lost his left arm. Annie passed away during his time out, never getting to say goodbye to her husband and leaving their children, Milly (Nico Parker) and Joe (Finley Hobbins), along with the troupe. Holt returns to his kids, who are both stunned at the loss of his arm, but Holt tries his best to hug them both.
Holt meets with Max, who tells him that the circus has fallen on hard times and that he had to sell the horses after Annie passed. Max hoped that Milly would have followed in her parents’ footsteps, but Milly is more interested in making scientific discoveries. Max then assigns Holt to the position of caretaker for an elephant he bought off another man, which they have named Mrs. Jumbo. Max brings Holt and the kids to see her, and she is lying on the ground to rest as she is pregnant. Later, Holt tries to spend time with his kids but finds that he cannot connect with them the way he wants.
The next day, the elephants are being led out by the obnoxious animal wrangler Rufus (Phil Zimmerman). He starts to antagonize Mrs. Jumbo, who doesn’t want to leave her carriage. When he becomes too aggressive, Holt punches Rufus in the face. The kids notice something is wrong, and they see something moving in a pile of hay. Mrs. Jumbo has given birth to a little pachyderm with incredibly large ears. Rufus mocks the baby elephant, which makes Mrs. Jumbo grab his leg with her trunk and dunk him into a tub. Max is worried upon seeing the elephant, now named Jumbo Jr., feeling that he will make his circus a laughingstock.
Milly and Joe check on Jumbo Jr. later on. They feed him peanuts and hold a feather to his trunk. Jumbo Jr. accidentally inhales the feather, and when he sneezes, he is suddenly lifted off his feet and is floating with his ears, which causes the kids to fall back in surprise.
The circus holds a show that night where they will debut Jumbo Jr. The elephants are brought out to the crowd with Jumbo Jr. in a carriage that reads “Dear Baby Jumbo”. However, the little elephant sneezes, which pushes him out of the carriage and exposes his large ears to the crowd. The carriage letters also get messed up to read “Dumbo”, which the crowd starts mockingly calling him while pelting him with garbage. Mrs. Jumbo then charges into the tent to protect her baby. Thanks to Rufus, she starts a rampage that starts to bring the tent down. As everyone evacuates, Rufus hides under the bleachers and is crushed when a beam comes down on him.
News gets out about the incident, and Max sells Mrs. Jumbo back to her original owner for half-price. Jumbo Jr. watches sadly as his mother is taken away in a carriage. Milly and Joe stay by his side to comfort him and decide to call him Dumbo so that he won’t think of his mother if he hears Jumbo. Joe tries to get Dumbo to fly again using peanuts, but they find it is more effective to use feathers. Milly then gets an idea for Dumbo’s next performance.
Max puts Dumbo in the clown act with a very humiliated Holt joining in. They raise Dumbo up on a platform so that he can put out a fire with his trunk. It works, but an accident with the mechanism causes the fire to spread, and Dumbo gets trapped up there. Milly then climbs up to reach Dumbo with the feather to inspire him to fly. He inhales the feather, but Milly falls and lands in a pool of water. Dumbo then flies over the now amazed audience, and even sprays three boys who were making fun of him.
Word of the astonishing flying elephant gets around to V.A. Vandevere (Michael Keaton), the owner of an enormous amusement park called Dreamland. He travels to the Medici circus with his star performer, the trapeze artist Colette Marchant (Eva Green). Vandevere sits down to talk to Max about partnering up so that Dumbo can be part of Dreamland as a new star attraction. Seeing it as a huge business opportunity, Max accepts and takes the whole troupe with him to Dreamland.
Vandevere sets Dumbo up to be in a dual act with Colette. They rehearse the act with a net as the kids watch, and they even have Colette riding Dumbo as he flies. After rehearsal, Holt and Colette chat. He learns that Vandevere picked her off the streets and made her a performer, but their alleged relationship is a sham. Colette also tells Holt that his children want him to believe in them.
Dreamland holds a show for Dumbo’s big debut. Attending is J. Griffin Remington (Alan Arkin), a big-time banker that Vandevere hopes will fund his show. As the show starts, the performers blow pink bubbles that form elephant shapes (basically the “Pink Elephants on Parade” sequence from the original) before getting to the main event. It turns out that Vandevere had ordered his guys to not set the net for Colette in order to give the performance a higher stake. As Dumbo flies with Colette on his back, he stops on a platform, causing Colette to fall off of him and hang on for dear life. Holt rushes to catch her before she is injured. Dumbo starts trumpeting loudly, which alerts his own mother who is in the park. Dumbo hears her call and manages to fly across the audience before exiting the tent to find his mom. Remington is displeased and chooses not to fund the park unless he sees something better.
Vandevere thinks Dumbo being near his mother will be bad for business, so he sends her away to be put down. He also orders Max to fire his entire troupe. After giving them their pink slips, one of Vandevere’s men, Sotheby (Douglas Reith), comes to clear his conscience and tell the others about what Vandevere plans to do with Mrs. Jumbo. The troupe, now joined by Colette, plan to help save Mrs. Jumbo and bring Dumbo back to her.
The troupe sets up their plan during another performance with Max helping. Holt climbs up the tent to cut a hole in it for Dumbo to fly out of. The kids are pursued by Vandevere’s henchman Skellig (Joseph Gatt) while Colette shuts off the park’s power to give the troupe a chance to get Mrs. Jumbo’s carriage out of the park. Vandevere heads to the control room and, in a fit of rage, starts to try turning everything back on even though his men tell him it will cause damage. He doesn’t listen, and Vandevere causes a fire that begins to spread across the park. Holt reaches his kids in the tent and ties a rope to Skellig’s leg so a horse drags him out. The family tries to escape the tent, but it’s on fire and they are surrounded by flames. Dumbo flies back and sprays water to get the Farriers out. The kids fly on Dumbo’s back while Holt joins Colette. Meanwhile, Vandevere watches in disgrace as his beloved park burns to the ground.
The troupe brings Mrs. Jumbo to the harbor where she and Dumbo will board a ship that will take them home. Everyone says their farewells to Dumbo as he and his mother leave safely.
Sometime later, Max has redone his circus and renames it the Medici Family Circus, with all the troupe members having bigger and better roles, as well as having Colette join them. Milly has even set up a little museum of discoveries, including a film of Dumbo.
We then move to the jungle where Dumbo and Mrs. Jumbo find a whole herd of elephants. They trumpet to signal their arrival, and they are welcomed. Dumbo then flies across the other elephants, to their astonishment, before going back to his mother’s side.
CTTC
Max Medici’s circus has fallen on hard times, but that changes when an elephant he purchased gives birth to a calf with gigantic ears. Although viewed as a joke at first, the little elephant is discovered by the Farrier family to possess the ability to fly with his big ears. The elephant, Dumbo, is separated by his mother after she starts a rampage when her baby is endangered. However, Dumbo becomes a hit with audiences when it is discovered that he can fly.
Catching wind of Dumbo’s abilities is V.A. Vandevere, the shady owner of a large theme park called Dreamland. He convinces Max to join him in a partnership to exploit Dumbo, and Max brings his whole troupe with him. However, Vandevere’s scheming nearly gets Dumbo and fellow performer Colette in danger when he refuses to place a net for them during a show. Dumbo hears his mother calling during the show and he flies to her. Vandevere decides to have Dumbo’s mother sent away and be put down, until one of his guilt-ridden henchmen warns the troupe, leading them to form a plan to break the elephants out.
As the plan is set in motion, Colette kills the park’s power, but Vandevere angrily tries to turn it back on. This causes a fire that spreads across the park. Dumbo saves the Farriers from a fiery tent before flying to be with his mother on a ship to head home.
Max redoes his circus to greater success while Dumbo and his mom go to the jungle where they will live with a herd of elephants.
Max Medici's circus has fallen on hard times, but that changes when an elephant he purchased gives birth to a calf with gigantic ears. Although viewed as a joke at first, the little elephant is discovered by the Farrier family to possess the ability to fly with his big ears. The elephant, Dumbo, is separated by his mother after she starts a rampage when her baby is endangered. However, Dumbo becomes a hit with audiences when it is discovered that he can fly.
Catching wind of Dumbo's abilities is V.A. Vandevere, the shady owner of a large theme park called Dreamland. He convinces Max to join him in a partnership to exploit Dumbo, and Max brings his whole troupe with him. However, Vandevere's scheming nearly gets Dumbo and fellow performer Colette in danger when he refuses to place a net for them during a show. Dumbo hears his mother calling during the show and he flies to her. Vandevere decides to have Dumbo's mother sent away and be put down, until one of his guilt-ridden henchmen warns the troupe, leading them to form a plan to break the elephants out.
As the plan is set in motion, Colette kills the park's power, but Vandevere angrily tries to turn it back on. This causes a fire that spreads across the park. Dumbo saves the Farriers from a fiery tent before flying to be with his mother on a ship to head home.
Max redoes his circus to greater success while Dumbo and his mom go to the jungle where they will live with a herd of elephants.