Here's why 'Dumbo' may be a little dark and emotional for some people

Bring a hankie to the new movie version of Disney’s flying elephant tale “Dumbo” because it may be a little dark for some people.

The movie, a live-action remake of the 1941 animated Disney classic, is centred on a circus baby elephant who is ridiculed for having huge ears and, whose mother, like in the original, is forcibly removed.

“That is still very much the launching point for our story,” actor Colin Farrell, who plays the father of two children who adopt Dumbo, told reporters on Thursday at the London premiere of the film.

“They both deal with topics and issues that children and families and grown-ups face in the world every day – loss, grief, guilt, shame, all those things. But at the same time, it’s done in the context of making it accessible to children, and not too much to bear,” Farrell added.

Danny DeVito, who plays circus owner Max Medici, warned that the film was a tearjerker.

“You look at that baby (elephant) and it’s just … you melt. When you see this movie, bring a Kleenex. But it’s a good movie, it’s funny and happy,” he said.

“Dumbo,” directed by Tim Burton, arrives in movie theatres worldwide starting next Wednesday.