Tim Burton Flies Us Through a Scene in 'Dumbo'

Dumbo opens this week and Tim Burton stopped past the Variety offices to break down the parade scene from the movie with his costume designer Colleen Atwood. It's always exciting when Burton has a new movie out. He's frequently seen as a darker auteur, so knowing he's collaborating with Disney is a little confusing.

But in a recent interview with IndieWire, Tim Burton said, “It’s my story as an animator, it’s my problem as well. It’s a two-way street, right? At Disney, they like me, but I get paid to be the slightly accepted weirdo.”

A good, weird, Tim Burton movie is glorious. So, I am excited to see how he tackles an elephant with Mommy-issues that can fly. 

In the same interview, Burton went on to say, “I felt for that kind of character from the get-go, I tried to keep what I loved about it, the image of this character who doesn’t quite fit in being devoured by a large family multi-entertainment company. …The old Disney movies used to give you everything: joy, happiness, sadness, death, fear. The kids would run screaming out of ‘Pinocchio.’ Nowadays people go, ‘Oh, it’s still too scary.'”

You can see Burton's tender care for the elephant in this parade scene, which breaks down Dumbo's parade into town 

A lot of what Burton breaks down here is how the circus is a substitute for Disney. A giant metaphor for what Dreamland can be. 

He also elaborates on why he chooses to build sets around practical set pieces and then mixes in CGI later to create depth and color. 

One thing that struck me is how much time he put into animating Dumbo's eyes. They needed to be human-like so we could have empathy for him, something we know from our character bio article. 

Colleen Atwood also gets in on the fun, talking about how her costumes bring character and character development to the foreground. She can add some class, or make someone poor. She can add elaborate costumes to show the wealth and grandeur, and she can make sure each costume also contributes to the arcs of the characters in the story. 

What did you think of the breakdown? Let us know in the comments. 

And check out the official trailer for Dumbo! 

What's next? Learn how to be a human from Blade Runner 2049! 

Like its original cinematic predecessor, Blade Runner 2049 is a film which both fans and critics are going to be examining and reexamining for years to come.

Beautifully shot by cinematographer Roger Deakins (read more about Deakins’ work on Blade Runner 2049 here) and masterfully directed by Denis Villeneuve, Blade Runner 2049 will always be remembered for its lush visuals, dystopian soundtrack, and great performances by stars Ryan Gosling, Ana de Armas, Robin Wright and Dave Bautista.

However, as YouTuber Tim Hickson (aka Hello Future Me) explains in his in-depth 25-minute video essay, Blade Runner 2049’s real legacy is in the philosophical questions that it brings up. Namely, what does it mean to be human? And, what is the soul?