The Weekly Planet - Mason Hates Dumbo - Caravan Of Garbage
Episode Date: March 26, 2019SUBSCRIBE HERE ►► http://goo.gl/pQ39jNWith the 2019 Dumbo reboot why wouldn't we go back and revisit the 1941 original Disney classic. Because it's pretty blerg. That's why.Video Version ► https...://bit.ly/2utkd76Edited by Matt ► https://twitter.com/ResDolphTwitter ► http://twitter.com/mrsundaymoviesFacebook ► http://facebook.com/mrsundaymoviesPatreon ► https://patreon.com/mrsundaymoviesT-Shirts/Merch ► https://www.teepublic.com/stores/mr-sunday-movies The Weekly Planet iTunes ► https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-weekly-planet/id718158767?mt=2&ign-mpt=uo%3D4 The Weekly Planet YouTube ► https://goo.gl/1ZQFGH Amazon affiliate link ► https://amzn.to/33b99uI Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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This is very exciting.
It's a very exciting time for me,
and I know it will be an exciting time for listeners of our show,
The Weekly Planet and Caravan of Garbage.
Well, you've covered everybody there.
Everybody's excited.
You, the listeners.
Yes.
Anybody else to be excited there?
Everybody that counts is excited because, Mason,
you have notoriously not seen almost every Disney movie.
That's correct.
By design.
Yes.
You've gone out of your way to ignore them.
They're not my jam, you know?
And so this is a great opportunity.
Now we're getting all these live-action remakes to have you go back
and watch them for the very first time with fresh eyes as a bitter old man.
A bitter old man who doesn't like... You can't get on board with the joy of just an animated,
a fun animated flick for the kids.
It's not my demographic.
It's not my generation.
It's nearly a hundred years after some of these have come out,
you know?
Exactly.
The first one we're doing is Dumbo.
And it's a coincidence for a number of reasons.
Well, there's two reasons.
There's a new Dumbo remake,
but also this was the movie that set you off, Disney movies.
Disney movies, yes, that's true.
So why not start with it again?
What's the worst that could happen?
What about this when you saw it as a kid did you not like?
Bearing in mind that this is Walt Disney's favourite Walt Disney Disney movie.
It was his favourite.
Yes.
He's changed his mind since then.
Oh, really?
Yeah, the frozen head has changed his mind since then.
Now he loves Tangled.
He loves Tangled.
Of course he would, yeah.
It's a good movie.
He wants to grow his hair like that.
The seven-headed Walt Disney, frozen, wants to.
Why wouldn't it be frozen, though?
He's frozen.
He's frozen.
Maybe that's why.
Too close to home for him.
I understand, yeah, that's true.
But when you saw this, why were you like, I hate this?
Even as a kid, and I could not tell you at what age I saw this,
but it would have been under 10.
Yeah.
So I reckon probably maybe in the 6 to 10 range.
Yeah.
It's just, it's the relentless sadness of these movies.
I think it's, this is when I,
maybe I'd seen a couple of Disney movies before this.
I can't really remember.
Yeah.
But I think this must have been when I felt the formula kick in, i'm like these movies are just everything's really sad yep and then things
get even more sad and then at the end things are slightly less sad but it's still pretty sad
still pretty sad yeah this is like i i'm i like a lot of disney films some i even love oh yeah this
one i hate can we even include this as a movie?
Well, it was theatrically released, but it's only 64 minutes long.
It's true, yeah.
And it's breezy.
You told me it was an hour.
And I started up and I'm like, oh, an hour and three minutes and 56 seconds.
Oh, I'm so mad.
To be fair, though, the credits go for a really long time.
They do.
This is 1941, so this is the era where the opening credits are everybody.
And you get nothing at the end.
None of this.
Whoever flipped that around, I can't remember who it was.
George Lucas?
Might have been George Lucas.
Whoever flipped it around, bless you, George Lucas.
For that and everything you've done.
Yes, George Lucas deserves billions of dollars.
Solely for that, yes.
I agree, yeah.
But you know what?
I was unexpected from this for me, and maybe it's just as a dad, Mason.
A lot of the baby animal stuff was like, unexpected from this for me. And maybe it's just as a dad, Mason.
A lot of the baby animal stuff was like, oh, this is nice. Because it opens with a stalk, with a bunch of stalks, a platoon, whatever you want to call them.
An air force.
A swarm.
A vicious swarm of stalks, yes.
A murder of stalks.
Dropping off baby animals to the circus.
An afterbirth of stalks.
I'm done. But also,
it's kind of horrifying
because this circus,
they've got all these
variety of different animals.
Enslaved animals, yes.
Enslaved animals.
And then in one night,
everybody's just given
a whole lot of animals
to take care of.
Yeah, right.
Some of them have like
four or five at once.
Yeah.
The ringmaster doesn't seem surprised.
No.
He's not like,
what happened?
What's going on? What is this? Double the peanuts. Every animal just got no he's not like what happened what's going on
what is this double the peanuts every animal just got peanuts yeah right that's all they got they're
being paid peanuts you're not wrong but i just think there's nothing more terrifying for me than
just like hey you got four kids now like no build-up just yeah right that's true because i
guess you know they're they're you know that's the stalk brings you the babies there's no you know there's there's no inkling of the biological rationale behind that
it's just like looking up at the sky yeah yeah that would i you know that probably also would
have terrified me as a kid just the idea that maybe one day you could just get delivered a
little version of you and you have to look after it you're like i didn't do anything
leave me alone um yeah i mean what i what initially i liked about this is that i even though
i believe this is a this this came after fantasia i think and so it's a lot simpler than that yeah
well it was intentionally made simpler and cheaper because the two movies prior to this
bombed uh fantasia and pinocchio oh yeah this is only the fourth the first one being yeah right
snow white yeah oh yeah so but yeah i was like oh this is quite this is quite simple but i also like that there's this um the swarm of of uh
storks like they go in a little formation like oh the animation is that is nice but then it
it quickly took a turn when i realized the the the first voice actor the stork that is delivering
dumbo is uh sterling holloway who's my least favorite possibly my least favorite voice actor
in the world why is that he's he's the, possibly my least favourite voice actor in the world. Why is that?
He's the voice of Pooh.
Like the original one, though.
Yeah, the original voice of Pooh and any number of other things.
But I just, I hate him.
I hate him.
You just find his voice grating?
It's just grating, yeah.
It's a perfect start, I think.
So you're glad he's presumably dead?
Yeah, no, he is.
Okay.
That's why I'm saying this.
Look, a lot of people love him, but it's just the delivery.
And it's just like, oh.
So it's the same kind of delivery every time, is it?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
Now, you mentioned the unrelenting sadness in this movie.
Yes.
It's so fucking sad.
It's so sad.
But it even opens where Dumbo's mother...
By the way, his name's Jumbo, and he gets bullied.
Jumbo Jr., yeah. Bullied into being where Dumbo's mother, by the way, his name's Jumbo, and he gets bullied into being called Dumbo.
But she's the only one who doesn't get a baby delivered.
And it's just so forlorn and sad.
And she clearly wants it more than anybody else because half of the other animals are asleep when they get their kids delivered.
That's true, yeah.
They don't even care.
But she's looking at the sky, waiting.
But she does finally get her baby arrives.
And initially initially the other
elephants are like this baby's awesome and then when it's seen to have big ears they just turn
on a dime they really do vicious relentless mocking just the way they say that's the thing
and what i enjoy about a movie what you know maybe something like this in animation maybe
is that all the bad people get got that's's what I like about an action movie, certainly.
This is a revenge film.
Yeah, but that's the thing.
But they don't get revenged enough, I feel.
This is very much, this is like,
this is a Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer situation.
And if I may spoil Dumbo, the movie Dumbo,
at the end of it, Dumbo gains the ability to fly.
Yeah.
Or he always had it in him,
but he needed to believe in himself or whatever.
But then he doesn't kill anybody but i feel he should but like it's like rudolph where like rudolph was relentlessly
mocked until he gained the ability you know he could guide that machine gun exactly and then he
could he could guide santa slay to the various murders yeah but and then they're like oh you're
useful yeah good for you you're useful so we're friends now yeah it's the same as this he should have visited bloody revenge on all of them but he couldn't
he well because he was he was enslaved also exactly the other elephants didn't get booted
out of the circus did they that's what should have happened is that he should have been they
should have been like oh dumbo you can fly you're the best elephant there is don't need any any of
these other elephants and just dump them in a tar pit or whatever yeah right yeah here's one thing i do also like about this there are moments with dumbo and his mother like when they meet there's a bit
where she gives him the bath it's quite cute uh-huh there's the bit where they have the reunion
because she gets locked up for when he when he's bullied by nerds and she yeah right she goes crazy
and yeah she's getting whipped and tied down with the. It's a very distressing scene. Chained on all their legs.
It's awful.
It's a sign that says mad elephant on the page.
Mad elephant.
I don't even see, like what, there's nothing about this elephant that deserves it.
And he's also not an unattractive elephant.
As far as elephants go.
That's exact, as far as elephants go.
None of these other, look, I'm a bit fixated but none of
those bloody other elephants are an oil painting are they exactly exactly they're all a bunch of
argos if you ask me he's the best of a bad bunch i've got a fun fact here because this is this is
to really drive home the sadness dumbo was seen standing on his own swaying from side to side
after his mother was taken away this is actually an accurate depiction of what elephants do when they're emotionally distraught.
Oh, no.
So they went out of their way to be like,
what does an elephant do when it hates itself?
Didn't they go and observe elephants?
Or they even brought elephants into a soundstage or something like that?
Well, most likely.
A lot of the movements here is quite good.
So that wouldn't surprise me at all.
What did you think about,
I'll preempt whatever you're going to say, I hated it.
Okay, so he
makes friends with a mouse timothy q mouse timothy q mouse who is a terrible friend and bloke uh-huh
just making him do horrible things one of the plans for the mouse is the the the ringmaster's
idea is he's going to get all the elephants to stack on top of each other but he needs a big
finale because that's not enough inexplicably to have nine elephants stack on top of each other but he needs a big finale because that's not enough inexplicably to have nine
elephants stack on top of each other and they just sweat and crawl it all over each other's faces
and then the mouse whispers in his ear when he's asleep that the finale should be dumbo runs in
then bounce off a springboard and then lands on the very top yeah i don't think that's necessary
but the other thing is they don't seem to have practiced it.
Because when he goes to run in, he's tripping over his ears.
Yeah, right.
They should tie his ears back.
Well, they do, but they barely...
Like, he should be wearing a hat.
There's no one backstage to kind of usher him on except a mouse.
Yeah.
What is this universe?
And also, well, you know, I guess the mouse's ultimate goal
is for Dumbo to be the best in the world.
But then at the end of it, of course, the mouse signs a lucrative contract and he gets rich.
So obviously his ultimate goal is not altruism.
It's getting a piece for himself.
Yeah, because he's trying all manner of things to make Dumbo famous.
And it just happens to be that he could fly by pure chance.
Yes.
Because these experiments could very likely have resulted in Dumbo's death,
possibly from alcohol poisoning.
Yeah.
Or misadventure.
Or misadventure.
Or being set on fire, probably.
Yeah, that's right.
There's another sequence where Dumbo is demoted to being a clown.
And then all the other elephants denounce him as not being an elephant.
Did you see that?
He's excommunicated like he's being kicked out of a church.
And they're like, we'll no longer recognize him as an elephant did you see that he's excommunicated like he's being kicked out of a church and they're like we'll no longer recognize him as an elephant but then they they they set him
as he becomes a baby that's trapped in a burning building yeah and then he gets pushed out of the
but they really set it on fire yeah and they really pour gas on it and they really it's
horrifying yeah and the other thing is the mouse is pushing him into all these things
when all the elephants topple because it's dumbo's fault yes so it could have killed so many people yeah like
all the elephants are busted and i guess it's supposed to be funny because they've all got
broken legs but the whole tent topples over see that's the thing as a kid that mouse is a lunatic
yeah but that's the thing like as a kid i you know i I'd be like, oh, slapstick, funny. But as an adult, I'm like, broken legs are really serious, guys.
That ball's really strong.
Yes.
How are they all balancing on?
I don't know.
The logistics of this are crazy.
Maybe just sell your really strong ball to the military industrial complex.
Make your money that way, ringmaster.
Now, probably the most infamous scene from this movie,
and it goes for much longer than I remember.
Oh, it is?
Is Dumbo gets drunk.
The Pink Elephant sequence.
By accident.
Yeah.
It should be really, though, more accurately,
it's Dumbo takes a lot of acid.
Yeah, right.
Because, you know, I've had my fair share of beers
and nothing like this has ever happened to me or anybody.
But have you ever had them out of a bucket?
No, I haven't.
That's correct.
A slop bucket of dirty water.
A slop bucket, yeah.
With an Ebola in it or whatever.
Yeah. We don't know what those clowns were on, really. No, we really haven't. That's correct. A slop bucket of dirty water. A slop bucket, yeah. With an Ebola in it or whatever. Yeah.
We don't know what those clowns were on, really.
No, we really don't.
Yeah.
But animation-wise, it's quite spectacular.
I think it is, yeah.
It's horrifying.
I would have watched, honestly, I would have watched an hour of that.
Really?
I thought it went way too long.
But the one memory I do remember from a kid is there's a point where we see this gigantic
monster elephant that is made up of elephant heads.
Like a Voltron. Like a Volt up of elephant heads like a voltron
like a voltron of elephant heads menacingly coming towards the viewer and i'm like oh that's brought
back something bad i don't like this i made i have to keep watching this apparently i do the things
that uh stood out one in particular was one is a camel it's a camel elephant and then it turns into
a snake but just a regular snake not an elephant snake and then it turns into a snake, but just a regular snake, not an elephant snake. And then it turns into a lady elephant.
And then it turns into an eyeball.
So that's all good, isn't it?
Oh, yeah.
These are all great things.
Classic beer slash champagne hallucinations.
Yes.
Now, he wakes up in a tree after this binge.
Yes.
And this is the scene that it's...
This is the most memorable scene, I feel.
It's the most memorable scene.
And it's considered groundbreaking and the most memorable scene, I feel. It's the most memorable scene and it's considered groundbreaking
and also very controversial.
Yes.
Depending on what side of the fence you fall on.
Right, because Dumbo and the mouse wake up in a tree.
Yes.
They wonder how they get in a tree.
Yep.
And then we see the arrival of a murder of crows.
Very good.
Thank you.
Who then sing the song.
What's it called again?
When I See an Elephant Fly.
When I See an Elephant Fly, which I guess is the most memorable song.
It's the best song.
It is absolutely the best song.
This is the highlight.
But also, are they minstrel stereotypes, the crows?
I don't know.
Well, that's the thing.
So in the script, the main one was initially referred to as Jim Crow.
Yeah, right.
That was changed.
Okay, then good.
And considering this is 1941,
it's not the most racist thing that could have happened.
Absolutely not.
At least they're living free.
They're kind of the freest thinkers.
They're the most fun characters.
And three of the four are actual African-American actors.
Right, okay.
Which was very unusual for the time as well
because that was the era when,
just get a guy in blackface. That's's fine just get a white man in blackface and put
him in the recording booth and record some audio with blackface on that'll really make it authentic
you know yeah that's it so whoopi goldberg actually said a few years back she likes the
crows and they should be merchandised by disney because you know they sing a song to dumbo that
everyone remembers and it's like this this fight it's like the most famous song from the movie.
Yeah, right.
Yeah.
But hey, it is the best song in the movie.
Yes, it's true.
But this is when the mouse gets the idea.
And I remember it being the crows, but it's the mouse.
The mouse tells Dumbo that, yeah, we probably flew up there.
You can probably fly.
And then he's the one who puts the,
gets the idea that we should definitely try this.
And the crows kind of do shove him towards the,
the edge.
Because Dumbo doesn't talk.
No.
Dumbo has no,
he has no way of objecting to anything.
He's got no agency,
this kid,
you know,
he's a real goose.
He's a bit of a goose,
isn't he?
But then by,
by chance he can fly and everyone's pretty happy that he can fly.
Well,
well,
yeah. I mean, what's the, the mouse does get the idea, but I believe the he can fly and everyone's pretty happy that he can fly. Well, yeah.
I mean, the mouse does get the idea, but I believe the crow, Jim Crow.
Yeah.
Let's not call him Jim Crow.
Gives him the magic feather.
He gives him the psychological edge he needs.
Yes.
For good or ill.
But again, there's no guarantee that would work. There is no evidence that he can fly other than he was in the tree.
Yeah.
If I found an elephant in the tree.
Yep.
If its wings were 100 feet across, I wouldn't assume that it flew up there yeah if it had a jet pack i wouldn't
assume that it flew up there yeah but no then obviously this movie has ladders in it it's got
ladders this universe has ladders and trampolines and yep yeah but you're right though the ending
it feels vicious but also kind of toothless And that's interesting because the end result is what it says on the poster.
The original Dumbo release poster.
It's a vicious,
but toothless.
Yeah.
But the end result is Dumbo gets a slightly better carriage.
All the animals,
except for the crows still work for the circus.
Yeah.
The mouse.
They're not paid.
Sorry.
Yeah.
Bloody peanuts.
It seems like three quarters of the animals That the circus keep they don't actually use
Right
What's the kangaroo doing?
What's the hippo up to?
Just sleeping underwater
Just slowly drowning underwater
Hippos don't have gills
Is that hippo trying to kill itself?
Yeah
So I guess the one kind of silver lining
For me at the end is
And I'd forgotten this from a kid
I thought the mother just of silver lining, though, for me at the end is, and I'd forgotten this from a kid, I thought the mother just disappears.
She doesn't die.
I would have made that assumption as well.
If you'd said to me prior to me watching this, what happened to the mother?
I'd be like, they took her away in chains and she died in sadness.
Yeah.
But no, still alive.
Still alive.
I mean, still enslaved.
Yes.
But they get a little private car.
They get a private elephant car on the train at the end.
So isn't that something?
Yeah, that train that is seemingly conscious has to drag.
Is the train also enslaved?
I guess so.
Or does the train get paid?
Maybe the train gets paid in coal.
Yeah, like coal.
But where can it go, though?
You know what I mean?
That's right.
It's got a one-track mind and just service.
Yes, exactly.
I get it.
Yeah, yeah.
Trains. Trains. No, I understand. Trains, yeah. Look, yeah, I don't like that. mind and just service yes exactly i get it yeah trains trains no i understand trains yeah yeah
look yeah i don't i don't like these better get better that's all i'm saying well the next one
we're probably doing is a ladder okay right i'm told that one's good yes so and i've picked up
enough i've picked up enough from context of various parodies and video games and and other
things that this one might be more up my alley
absolutely but what do you rate our first dip back into disney for you what do you give it
uh out of out of frozen wall disney heads at it yes sure uh one frozen wall disney head out of
um depends how many times they've cloned him i guess okay sure so like let's say five let's let's
be traditional that seems fair
yeah fantastic you're very welcome hey this has been caravan of garbage and guess what also we
have a podcast called the weekly planet where we talk movies and comics and tv shows you want to
check it out it comes out every monday we talk movies we talk comics we talk tv shows did i
already say that i can't remember i wasn't really paying attention i was just remembering and i was
just trying to shoehorn something in that I thought Jiminy
Cricket was going to be in this movie.
Oh, right.
But he's not.
He's in Pinocchio, right?
Yes.
Okay.
Why wasn't the mouse Mickey Mouse?
See?
Exactly.
But the voice of Jiminy Cricket is the main crow in this.
Right.
Okay.
That's why I sort of remember that.
I feel like maybe Jiminy Cricket should have been the Nick Fury of these movies.
Yes.
And he keeps showing up in all the various ones, right?
Absolutely, yeah.
Okay, if they're going to reboot these, maybe bring in a Jiminy Cricket with a high patch.
I wish that mouse was stamped to death like that one from The Simpsons.
You know that joke in The Simpsons?
Yeah, for sure.
I didn't hate him so much.
Not a fan.
Okay.
Bad bloke and mouse.
Two things.
You're right.
There's also videos here every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday.
If you've got something that you want us to check in on, it could be a comic, it could Okay. Bad bloke and mouse. Two things. You're right. There's also videos here every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday.
If you've got something that you want us to check in on,
it could be a comic, it could be a movie, it could be a TV show,
it could be a video game, we'd love to.
What's your favourite Disney movie?
Is it this?
Can't be this, surely.
Surely not.
No.
Yeah.
Walt Disney's favourite, though.
Walt Disney, if you're listening to this, and you might be,
you're getting all the information from the web pumped into your brain,
send us an email.
Please do. Yeah. All right, guys, thanks for listening. Grab that gem, you guys getting all the information from the web pumped into your brain. Send us an email. Please do.
Yeah.
All right, guys, thanks for listening.
Grab that gem, you guys.
We'll see you next week.
Goodbye.
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I mean, if you want.
It's up to you.
As women, our life stages come with unique risk factors. It's up to you. explores the surprising and fraught relationship between two women who play a deadly game of truth and lies on the road from Istanbul to Paris and London.
One woman has a secret,
the other a mission to reveal it
before thousands of lives are lost.
FX's The Veil, starring Elizabeth Moss,
is now streaming on Disney+.