Review: Disney “Dumbo” Live Action Picture Book

Hi everyone!

We received the Dumbo Live Action Picture Book, a storybook for kids based on the upcoming live-action film by Tim Burton. The movie is scheduled to come out on March 29th, 2019. The book is written by Calliope Glass and illustrated beautifully by Dominic Carola and Ryan Feltman. The target age range for this 40 page book is between 4 and 7.

The story of Dumbo is one of the most beloved in the Disney cannon. The live action film does include some pretty big changes – for example, Timothy Mouse is not part of this story. So buying this book vs. buying a book based on the animated film will be similar but different. The story is still about a baby elephant with big ears and how he eventually is reunited with his mom. Of course, it’s much more than that but there are new characters (Danny DeVito is very recognizable in the storybook as Max Medici) as well as a somewhat different beginning and ending. The movie will be much more in depth than the storybook, but if you plan to watch Dumbo, you might want to wait to read this book until after. It will also give you more of a feel for the movie and what this book will be about.

The illustrations are beautiful – lush, and the cover has a nice texture to it. I read through this book and also the Dumbo Read-Along Storybook and CD from the original film. The overall tone of the Dumbo Live Action Picture Book is quite a bit darker, but both could easily sit in a library with this one being a new interpretation of the story.