There’s a tonne of movies that went way over my head as a kid. It wasn’t that I was particularly clueless, I just feel that some ‘kids’ movies are often designed for adults more than they are for young’uns.
It makes sense though, parents are usually the ones that have to sit through a movie and actually pay attention for the entire runtime, so studios have gotta flick them a bone every now and then. It’s nice, really.
This leads me to the latest release of a for-kids-but-more-for-adults flick, Disney’s Dumbo. The tale of a little baby elephant with ginormous ears is a bona fide classic, but even though the animated Dumbo came out almost 80 (!!!) years ago, I find that I can relate to the reinvigorated story more as a grown-up (I use the term loosely) than I ever could as a wee sprout.
Here are a few things that happen in Dumbo (spoiler free) that I related to hardcore.
GROUPS ARE QUICK TO JUDGE
Mob mentality is a very real and very infuriating phenomenon. Sure, you might not have had hoards of people shouting at you for no good reason but you’ve almost certainly had a few people gang up on you seemingly out of the blue.
In all honesty though, when people gang up on me it’s usually because I’ve pulled an irrational stunt that I’m not proud of. But Dumbo’s better than I am and didn’t deserve to have a bunch of Judge Judy’s slinging insults at him. Justice for Dumbo.
NICKNAMES ARE GIVEN WITHOUT CONSENT
Without giving too much away, lemme just say that the name Dumbo is rarely used an insult in the flick. Regardless, all of us (I assume) have experienced copping a nickname they weren’t fond of. At the very least, you know someone with a craptacular nickname that they can’t escape.
It sucks. The best you can do (and the best Dumbo does) is own that nickname. Make it yours. People will stop calling you names if they stop getting a rise out of you. Just thought I’d slip a lil’ life tip there for everyone – thank me later.
PEOPLE FORGET WHAT THEY WERE MAD ABOUT
While it is true that people are quick to judge, they’re just as quick to forget what they were even judging you for.
Think back to how many times you believe you’ve stuffed up royally – and people jump on you for it in a matter of seconds – but then it eventually fades into obscurity. It happens all the time. Best to just ride it out until people focus their attention elsewhere. (Life tip #2, I’m on a roll).
GROWN-UPS LOSE CONTROL
See, when I was young I used to think adults were cool, calm and collected at all times. M8s, let me just tell you right now that that is so far from the truth I don’t even know where to begin.
Watching Dumbo and seeing how often one of the men or women lost it, I wasn’t even shocked – I have a tantrum at least once a day. Minimum.
ANIMALS ARE TAKEN FOR GRANTED
Okay for the last time, we’re the lucky ones to have animals in our lives – it’s not the other way around and it never will be.
Without giving anything away, I will recommend you brace yourselves – at various points throughout the movie, you’ll wanna climb into the screen just so you can hug all of the animals. All of them. Don’t discriminate, just hug ’em all, climb back out of the movie and return to your seat like nothing happened.
DUMBO CRACKS UNDER PRESSURE
I probably felt this one the most. Pressure can be a nasty piece of work or it can help you thrive like a legend. Like me and my new best mate Dumbo, it can do both. I either crack like an egg or I amaze myself.
Alright fine, 99% of the time I’m an egg, 1% of the time I’m a superstar. Give or take 1%. (Okay I’m just the egg, get off my back.)
Moving right along, if you still haven’t seen the heartwarming story of Dumbo, get motivated and watch the trailer below:
Disney’s Dumbo is in cinemas RIGHT NOW.
