Book Review: “The Art and Making of Dumbo”

Hi everyone!

We received “The Art and Making of Dumbo” to review. The book runs 256 pages and not only covers the new Tim Burton film but also the beloved animated classic with 20+ pages. That first section was my favorite in the book. However, even though my review of the live-action film was not glowing, I do like the style of the movie artistically and the book is chock full of concept art, photos and information on almost anything you would want to know. Here is my review.

At least 20 pages are dedicated to the original film and it is an excellent piece of history within those pages. I really enjoyed reading about the animated version and how Dumbo almost never made lift-off. With World War II, layoffs and a strike, the Walt Disney Studios was struggling and was very focused on making Bambi. Dumbo was meant to be a short film of about 30 minutes – and it is still the second shortest animated Disney animated feature film at about 64 minutes. Dumbo and Bambi were being created at the same time (though Dumbo took much less time to create), and Bambi received more of the resources and the top paid animators. That said, to look at the list of animators who worked on it – Ward Kimball, John Hench, Bill Tytla and more – there was so much talent that you’d not think now that Bambi received preference. There is discussion also on whether Walt may have been less involved on Dumbo than on other films, and whether he was or not – he said in 1955 that Dumbo was his favorite of the films he’d made. Animating Casey Jr. was up to train buff Ward Kimball, and there is some discussion of that as well. This is a fantastic section and I learned a lot.

The majority of the book is about the live-action version. The screenwriter is Ehren Kruger, and he is a big fan of the original movie. He pitched the idea for a live-action version of it in 2013, wanting to expand the story. Tim Burton was the only director Disney was looking at to tell it. Burton also writes a very brief foreword in the book.

There are a lot of sections to “The Art and Making of Dumbo“, whether it be character studies, bringing Dumbo to life through visual effects, the complexities of the fire scene and so much more. There’s a lot about Dreamland and how it was the largest interior set that Tim Burton had ever created – 800 feet long and 180 feet wide. There is talk about creating the Casey Jr., which doesn’t have a big role in the new film but is shown and they wanted it to have personality. Also, it is well known that Eva Green had a strong fear of heights prior to filming, and “The Art and Making of Dumbo” expounds more on that. It wasn’t really expected that she’d necessarily learn to fly – possibly even just an inch of the ground. But in 5 months she learned to be on her way to becoming an aerialist and can even hold herself up with one arm for a minute or so.

Micheal Keaton was brought in by Tim Burton, who was looking forward to working with him again after twenty-five years (the fourth time they have worked together). Burton said that he felt Keaton brought the energy and intensity he had in Beetlejuice.

The scene that reminded me so much of Busby Berkeley is actually inspired by a photo of Footlight Parade, which is a movie I knew about because of the former Walt Disney World attraction The Great Movie Ride. “The Art and Making of Dumbo” tells about the challenges of creating the scene.

You don’t have to love the new Dumbo film to appreciate the art that went into it. Certainly the book will be even more cherished if the new movie resonated with you, but this is a book that I really enjoyed. I didn’t share every tidbit from the book, it’s hard to pick and choose when there is so much to draw from. But if you love Disney movie magic, “The Art and Making of Dumbo” is a well crafted book that you should enjoy.

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