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» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Community   » Film Handlers' Movie Reviews   » Dumbo (2019)

   
Author Topic: Dumbo (2019)
Sam Graham
AKA: "The Evil Sam Graham". Wackiness ensues.

Posts: 1431
From: Waukee, IA
Registered: Dec 2004


 - posted 03-29-2019 07:51 PM      Profile for Sam Graham   Author's Homepage   Email Sam Graham   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
CINEMA: Regal Warren East 20, Wichita, KS
AUDITORIUM: 14, SEAT: G15
PRESENTATION: Warren GRAND auditorium slope floor with Regal Orange is the New Black Roller Coaster Vision
PRESENTATION PROBLEMS: Dim bulb...sitting a few rows back to the right who would not shut up. Also, the picture was dark.
RATING: One and one half star (out of four)

THE PLOT: An elephant has a baby. Wackiness ensues.

The fitting result of this movie would be that the person at Disney who green-lit this archaic, outdated script that has no place in the modern era even considering it’s a period piece is nicknamed “Dumbo” for the rest of their career.

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Karl Belter
Film Handler

Posts: 21
From: Chillicothe, IL, USA
Registered: Mar 2019


 - posted 04-01-2019 12:30 PM      Profile for Karl Belter   Email Karl Belter   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Manager and I sat through our opening showing of Dumbo. Movie missed the mark on target audience, due to the Director in our opinion.

There were very limited number of scenes where the kids in the audience laughed out loud. For a kids movie, if it is not funny, kids won't want to see it.

There was really only one song, but that did not even have words, for the kids to get into. Again for kids you need music they can hum or sing.

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Mike Croaro
Master Film Handler

Posts: 394
From: Millbrae, CA
Registered: Apr 2005


 - posted 04-01-2019 06:17 PM      Profile for Mike Croaro   Email Mike Croaro   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
So the children go to see a REAL movie and don't understand or enjoy it. Typical of today's society.

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Terry Monohan
Master Film Handler

Posts: 379
From: San Francisco CA USA
Registered: May 2014


 - posted 04-07-2019 07:53 AM      Profile for Terry Monohan   Email Terry Monohan   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Watched the new movie 'Dumbo' on Saturday at the AMC Metreon in San Francisco.
A big mistake for us to go on the weekend.
Dumbo in lame fake 3D was one of the darkest movies I have ever seen on the screen, not very bright picture plus a story that was not presented well for little kids in places.
The lady next to me in a sold out reserved seat cinema had this little baby on her lap that kept on crying when loud scenes came on the dim lit screen. To make matters worse she finally about 30 mn into the 'Dumbo' movie just let her kid go up and down the aisle in the dark climbing steps for about a hour!
While the movie had some great effects with the little baby elephant for us It did not have the punch as many Tim Burton movies do have.
The Disney box office for this remake of Dumbo tells the story. I think word got out to the parents about 'Dumbo' and they skipped seeing it this past week.
I guess the families and little kids in the crowd at yesterdays 2:50 PM matinee enjoyed the 25 minutes of trailers of mostly cheap kid computer animation movies coming to theatres soon all in fake 3D. At least the previews had way better light projected on the semi curved 1.85 screen at the SF Metreon Theatre.
For some reason I had thought 'Dumbo' was shot in 2.39 scope but I guess I was wrong.

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99


 - posted 04-07-2019 09:12 PM      Profile for Mike Blakesley   Author's Homepage   Email Mike Blakesley   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I think it was shot for Imax ... some scenes have peoples' heads cut off, or otherwise seem to be taller than the frame is.

I enjoyed it less than I thought I would. This is easily the worst of the Disney "remakes" so far. I can't compare it to Tim Burton's previous Disney films since I haven't seen them, but I would take the newer "Jungle Book," "Cinderella," or "Beauty and the Beast" (in that order) before I'd want to watch this again.

The acting was almost uniformly terrible, especially the kids, and ESPECIALLY the girl. Good grief, she showed almost no emotion at all. Very disappointing since Disney child actors usually do great jobs. The kids in "Mary Poppins Returns" were Oscar winners compared to the kids in this one. The only person I enjoyed watching in this show was Danny DeVito, who is always dependable it seems.

The story was OK, although it was inconsistent. The thing that bothered me the most is, they went from Dumbo being basically "untrainable" within a couple of days, to suddenly having the brains to know the kids were in trouble (and to fly right through the wall of a burning tent to find them). He also knew to fly to a control tower and crank various levers to turn off all the power to the amusement park grounds, without even being told or guided to do any of it! If this was a cartoon, you can be more forgiving of extra-smart animals, but in a live-action film you expect things to be a tad more believable. At least I do, anyway. The Dumbo flight scenes were more believable than some of the plot contortions.

The one thing that really took me out of the story was Michael Buffer yelling "Let's get ready for Dumbo-o-o-o-o!" a few times, in the exact same tones as his famous "Let's get ready to rumble!" wrestling announcements. Come on, Disney. Have some respect for the time period you're portraying. That guy wouldn't even have been born yet in the Dumbo time period.

It was OK, had a fairly uplifting yet sad-ish ending, but I felt a little let down by it. Here's hoping "The Lion King" remake is better. Since it's directed by John "Jungle Book" Favreau, I have high hopes for that one.

Two out of five stars.

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Lyle Romer
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1400
From: Davie, FL, USA
Registered: May 2002


 - posted 04-10-2019 09:01 PM      Profile for Lyle Romer   Email Lyle Romer   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Mike Blakesley
The one thing that really took me out of the story was Michael Buffer yelling "Let's get ready for Dumbo-o-o-o-o!" a few times, in the exact same tones as his famous "Let's get ready to rumble!" wrestling announcements. Come on, Disney.
When I read this I was hoping you were making some kind of joke and weren't serious. Then I went to IMDB and confirmed he is in the cast. Thanks for posting that because that took away any chance of going to see this movie. Thanks for saving me $20!

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Per Hauberg
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 883
From: Malling, Denmark
Registered: Jul 2000


 - posted 04-15-2019 04:05 PM      Profile for Per Hauberg   Author's Homepage   Email Per Hauberg   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Disney anno 2019 is just so much "Take the Money and run".
Look at it: Three of these re-makes in a row in just four months.
Dumbo wasn't good at all, and I sure fear for Aladdin and even more Lion King.
How audiences knew before the very opening, I can't imagine, but from the very beginning, I never got to use more than two hands to count them in there... [Confused]

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Jarod Reddig
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 513
From: Hays, Ks
Registered: Jun 2011


 - posted 04-15-2019 06:03 PM      Profile for Jarod Reddig   Email Jarod Reddig   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I got drug to the theater by my wife and her friend to see the Beauty and the Beast re-make, which wasn't too terrible, but still I refuse to give Disney anymore of my money on these terrible remakes of our beloved classics. It just reeks of laziness that they are remaking them all. It really steams me.

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Marcel Birgelen
Film God

Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012


 - posted 04-23-2019 09:19 PM      Profile for Marcel Birgelen   Email Marcel Birgelen   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Right now, Disney is still raking in the money, with all the stuff they've absorbed over the last 10 or so years, they have enough stuff going to keep them floating for a while.

But it seems like Disney is following an old, repetitive pattern. If they continue this path of low-level creative output, by just reheating old stories and pushing one sequel/prequel/whatnot after the other, then things will eventually start to turn against them...

I still remember when Michael Eisner was the new bigshot CEO. Although most people now have little good to say about his reign at Disney, he was actually the one who started the Disney Renaissance, after they hit a pretty hard low before that.

Under his reign, many of the now classic animation blockbusters were released. But near the end of his reign, this period of renaissance was over and Disney was merely pushing one direct-to-video release after the other, while their global theme park business was also in hot water and the only saving grace seemed to be Pixar.

Everybody was relieved when stuff turned around in 2005, when Disney got their current leadership and when they finally decided to buy Pixar. But now, after more than a decade, we seem to be getting back to the late Eisner period, where many of their original output is a mere reheating of existing franchises and reboots of old classics, nobody really has been waiting for...

While Disney has generally been great for the box office, the cracks start to show through. The way they mistreated Star Wars, by overloading the public for example.

And now, we've got a whole bunch of those CGI remakes lined up like this Dumbo movie, the Lion King and for whatever reason... Aladdin, featuring a blue Will Smith...

Also, the upcoming Pixar release, will also be just another sequel of a franchise that really had their most graceful goodbye ever with their last installment. But the Mouse is greedy this year, that's why there needs to be a Toy Story 4...

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Carsten Kurz
Film God

Posts: 4340
From: Cologne, NRW, Germany
Registered: Aug 2009


 - posted 04-24-2019 10:15 AM      Profile for Carsten Kurz   Email Carsten Kurz   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
No one commented on the aspect of an outgrown, monstrous 'Disney World' park being burned in the course of this movie and the idea of such 'entertainment enterprises' being torn down in favor of more individual, mom-and-pop type operations.

Did someone at Disney read the script before they let Tim Burton have a go with it? Self-Mockery being the last what I'd expect a Disney manager being capable of...

Tim Burton must have had great fun with this...

- Carsten

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James Biggins
Film Handler

Posts: 31
From: Leicester U.K.
Registered: Oct 2014


 - posted 04-24-2019 12:38 PM      Profile for James Biggins   Email James Biggins   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Mike Croaro
So the children go to see a REAL movie and don't understand or enjoy it. Typical of today's society.
Nothing whatever to do with it being a 'REAL movie' or 'today's society'.

It's just a bad movie.

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Marcel Birgelen
Film God

Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012


 - posted 04-25-2019 04:55 PM      Profile for Marcel Birgelen   Email Marcel Birgelen   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Carsten Kurz
Did someone at Disney read the script before they let Tim Burton have a go with it? Self-Mockery being the last what I'd expect a Disney manager being capable of...

Tim Burton must have had great fun with this...

Tim Burton and Disney did have some interesting early history together...

But wait, what? You expect a Disney manager to what? Read the actual script?

Ground Control to Major Kurz, please check O2 and CO2 levels. Over. [Smile]

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Jonathan Goeldner
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1360
From: Washington, District of Columbia
Registered: Jun 2008


 - posted 06-25-2019 11:06 PM      Profile for Jonathan Goeldner   Email Jonathan Goeldner   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I thought in this instance and specifically under Tim Burton's direction this movie had no soul, fun 3D, but overall I felt nothing for the characters or plot - very disappointing

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Claude S. Ayakawa
Film God

Posts: 2738
From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA
Registered: Aug 2002


 - posted 09-17-2019 08:26 PM      Profile for Claude S. Ayakawa   Author's Homepage   Email Claude S. Ayakawa   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I finally got to see the live action remake of DUMBO in 3D on blu ray I got from the UK. at home a few weeks ago and enjoyed it much more than the animated version. Both the story and the technical aspect was fantastic especially the 3D.

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