From Dumbo to Water for Elephants: A Brief History of Elephants in Movies

This is a big box office week for elephants. Not only do the world's largest land mammals finally get the screen time they deserve in Francis Lawrence's Water For Elephants, but they also share the screen with Robert Pattinson and Oscar-winning actors Reese Witherspoon and Christoph Waltz. In celebration of this momentous achievement, let's take a look back at some other significant screen work done by our pachyderm friends.

Dumbo (1941)

Back in World War II-era Hollywood, Walt Disney relied on Dumbo -- the flying elephant whose huge ears are ridiculed by everyone except his mother and his rodent friend Timothy Q. Mouse -- to recover studio losses from the less traditional film Fantasia. Dumbo was a success both financially and critically (won an Academy Award for Original Music Score) and is still relevant in Walt Disney amusement parks today.

The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)

Admittedly, elephants didn't have the most exciting role* in Cecil B. DeMille's circus drama -- also remembered by many as the worst film to ever receive an Academy Award for Best Picture. Still, elephants were a (literally) large part of this Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus-scape. DeMille demanded that his cast actually learn their characters' stunts so Gloria Grahame was forced to let an elephant rest its foot just an inch away from her face.

*Compared to Jimmy Stewart as a doctor convicted of mercy killing his wife who adopts a fugitive lifestyle as a circus clown OR Charlton Heston as a no-nonsense circus manager whose life is saved by a blood transfusion from a handsome trapeze star?

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)

In Steven Spielberg's second installment of the adventure franchise, elephants were given a break from demeaning circus roles so that they could do something meaningful onscreen -- like transport a fictional archaeologist/khaki aficionado through India. Sadly, the animals and star Harrison Ford did not get along so well; while riding an elephant, Ford suffered a spinal disc herniation so severe that a hospital bed was brought on set so that the actor could rest between takes.

Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995)

An elephant is featured in a climactic scene from this Jim Carrey comedy. After Carrey's goofy P.I. summons the animal community to storm the Nibia embassy, a single elephant bursts through the wall, leading a stampede of other animals including an ostrich carrying Ventura.

Operation Dumbo Drop (1995)

As Movieline's observant commenter DPF pointed out, this Disney film was an important credit for elephants. Based on actual events, two U.S. Army officers (Danny Glover and Ray Liotta) and their unit attempt to deliver an elephant to a South Vietnamese village to maintain loyalty during the Vietnam War. Eight life-size elephants (two animatronic and six made of fiberglass) were built for the climactic "drop" scene.

Larger Than Life (1996)

In the mid-'90s, Bill Murray starred in a forgettable comedy as a motivational speaker whose circus trainer father bequeaths him an elephant named Vera. Murray must decide whether to give the animal to a cruel trainer (Linda Fiorentino) or an environmental activist who wants to ship Vera back to her natural environment (Janeane Garofolo). Decisions!

George of the Jungle (1997)

An African elephant named Shep (voiced by Frank Welker) is buddies with the titular character -- played by Brendan Fraser -- in Disney's live action adaptation of the cartoon. George, who was raised in the jungle by animals, thinks that Shep is his "dog" and teaches him how to fetch a crocodile.

Elephant (2003)

The second film in Gus Van Sant's "Death Trilogy," this drama revolves around the figurative "elephant in the room" at a fictional Oregon high school at the time of a Columbine-like school shooting. No actual elephants appear in this movie.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Michel Gondry's fantasy film (from a Charlie Kaufman script) shows its main characters Joel (Jim Carrey) and Clementine (Kate Winslet) stumbling upon the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus elephants on the street. This incident was actually not scripted. The crew happened to be shooting near the Manhattan event and Gondry decided on-the-spot that it would make for a good film, otherwise elephants would have never made the cut in this Oscar-winning film.

300 (2007)

Elephants got their CGI close-up in Zack Snyder's bloody adaptation of this graphic novel. Centering on the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC, Gerard Butler & Co. at one point battle tens of thousands of men PLUS charging CGI elephants and rhinos. The CGI circus mammals were so expensive that Snyder could only afford a few of them.

Horton Hears a Who (2008)

The Pachyderms got more animated work the next year in the adaptation of this Dr. Seuss book. Jim Carrey voices Horton, a sensitive and imaginative elephant who protects the microscopic city of Who-ville while Horton's friends and neighbors refuse to believe that it exists. Coincidentally, this was the third time that Carrey teamed up with elephants onscreen.

Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010)

Banksy's Oscar-nominated documentary featured footage of his first major U.S. show which made headlines for its controversial elephant exhibit. A live animal named Tai was painted in pink and gold paint to match the warehouse's wallpaper and signify how the world's poverty is mostly ignored. As celebrities like Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and Jude Law took in the display, the Los Angeles Animal Services Department declared that they would never allow for such a "frivolous" event again. The elephant's owner, meanwhile, argued that the animal was completely safe. "Tai has done many, many movies," her owner Kari Johnson said. "She's used to make-up."

Water For Elephants (2011)

One elephant has a starring role in this weekend's adaptation of Sara Gruen's best-selling novel. The unhinged Benzini Brothers trainer (Christopher Waltz) takes out his aggression on his wife Marlene (Reese Witherspoon) and Rosie, an animal that is believed to be untrainable until a dreamy veterinary student named Jacob (Robert Pattinson) joins the circus and saves both creatures from lives of despair.