While watching the 4th installment of the Transformer franchise, I realized something: the one thing that really makes these movies great is the writing. Sure, Michael Bay throws in a few cool camera tricks, and you see the occasional special effect, but it’s the dialog and the story that really makes these movies come to life. Little did I know that the screenwriter of these films was none other than Ehren Kruger, the man who penned the remake of ‘The Ring,’ ‘Scream 3,’ and ‘Arlington Road’ (which is my second favorite pre-9/11 movie about terrorism.) It looks like Disney has finally caught wind of this Kruger’s work and have tapped him to write the screenplay for the upcoming live-action remake of Dumbo.
The Hollywood Reporter broke the news this morning:
Disney is developing a live-action take on its 1941 animated classic Dumbo and has Transformers franchise writer Ehren Kruger penning the script.
Justin Springer, who worked on Tron: Legacy as well as Oblivion, is producing, as will Kruger.
A live-action remake of Dumbo? Now I’ve been, done, seen about everything! However, this will not be just another hastily-thrown-together Hollywood remake of a classic film:
The new take involves the adaptation of the original movie while adding a unique family story that parallels Dumbo’s story. Also, the studio believes that because of the current state of CG technology, live-action movies featuring a soaring pachyderm (or any animal for that matter) are viable.
I’d really love to believe that Disney was holding off on the Dumbo remake until this very moment because the previous states of CG technology were not sufficient to properly tell the story of Dumbo. But who knows, could be a legitimate excuse. Either way, I’m glad that recent advances in science and technology have finally made it possible to make a movie about a talking elephant that can fly. But I am a little concerned about how Disney and Kruger are going to navigate the scenes with Jim Crow (yes, that’s the name of the crow) and the other black birds. Hopefully, Kruger will handle this more delicately than he handled subtly-racist Autobot twins Skids and Mudflap.
Wow. Until that clip, I’d forgotten that both Skids and Mudflap couldn’t read. Yikes.