Well, that didn’t take long! We’re surprised it didn’t happen sooner. Yesterday it was announced that Tim Burton would be directing a live-action version of "Dumbo" for Disney, and less than 24 hours later People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals are already pushing for an ethical ending to the movie.
In the original 1941 film, Dumbo winds up a circus celebrity and is given a private car on the company’s train with his mother. But in an open letter (via THR), PETA senior vp Lisa Lange has suggested a different finale, writing "we’re hopeful that in your adaptation of Dumbo, the young elephant and his mother can have a truly happy ending by living out their lives at a sanctuary instead of continuing to be imprisoned and abused in the entertainment industry."
On one hand, making a live-action movie about circus elephants —particularly after it was recently announced that Ringling Brothers would no longer use those animals in their shows by 2018— seems in poor taste and judgement. But in the studio’s defense, no one knows what is in "Transformers" writer Ehren Kruger‘s script, though earlier reports have suggested Dumbo will be joined by a human family, meaning the story will be slightly different from the 76 year old original. So maybe we should see what Disney has planned first?
Anyway, debate and discuss in our comments section and watch the original ending to the 1941 animated movie below.
People Eating Tasty Animals: Human comic books for animals since 1980
Is this news? Or just an occasion to smugly snort by putting "Already" in your headline. Maybe Dumbo should challenge our assumptions about the circus. That would be an interesting movie actually. A movie that could challenge assumptions unlike the indiewire staff which gets the warm fuzzies by being close to celebrity and oscars. Stay smug guys!
There is not a single word in that headline that doesn\’t make me think I died in my sleep and woke up in Hell.