Marquee Pullman Celebrates Opening of Dumbo the Flying Elephant with 4-Legged Friends IMAGES

Sunday, March 31, 2019 - 09:49 Story and Photos by Tony Rutherford

No pink elephants visited the Marquee Pullman Dumbo lobby party, but other four legged friends available for adoption were present along with a friend from Texas Roadhouse, and a display of Dumbo books from the Geek bookstore.

The live action Dumbo, a remake of an 80 year old animated icon, is directed by Tim Burton. The heartwarming story of a bullied elephant with "big" ears that can fly is family friendly.

Burton's best sleight of hand comes by turning the "baby" elephant into a huge puppy (how many want one for a pet?) with lots of sad eye and curiosity styled close ups. Effects are so "real" that you contemplate that the CGI flying scenes are "real," for that matter, is the "baby" Dumbo an elephant or a perfectly integrated computer generated example of how advanced the industry has leaped.

Balancing the (pardon the pun) elephant in the circus, Burton illustrates that the baby elephant has  a will of his own, resisting the efforts of show masters to orchestrate an on demand performance. 

The David and Goliath circus / carnival "big time" commerce wars have been upgraded in favor of a reimagined "big top" that has the markings of a world's fair or theme park.

Normally, eccentric Burton allows his innovative directoral tricks to stay low key. "Dumbo" has more of a sweet, teary straight family flick than an "Edward Scissorhands."  His quirky cinematic landscape has more subtle inserts like costume details or set decoration. 

 

 

  • Original Dumbo