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Operation Dumbo Drop

Play trailer Poster for Operation Dumbo Drop PG Released Jul 28, 1995 1h 47m Kids & Family Comedy Play Trailer Watchlist
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26% Tomatometer 23 Reviews 29% Popcornmeter 25,000+ Ratings
Soon-to-retire Captain Sam Cahill (Danny Glover) and his unit labor to build a secret relationship with a local Vietnamese village in order to conduct surveillance on an enemy weapons-smuggling operation that goes through on a nightly basis. When the enemy discovers this, they kill the village's elephant as a punishment. Cahill, his replacement Captain T.C. Doyle (Ray Liotta) and a team of special forces must locate and transport another elephant in time for the village's spiritual event.
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Operation Dumbo Drop

Operation Dumbo Drop

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Critics Consensus

The Vietnam War would seem an unlikely backdrop for a family-friendly comedy involving an airlifted elephant, and Operation Dumbo Drop lands with a thud.

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Critics Reviews

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Lisa Schwarzbaum Entertainment Weekly Rated: B Sep 7, 2011 Full Review Mike Clark USA Today Photographed by the great Russell Boyd but looking drab and washed out for 108 minutes, the movie just gets by on heart and a conversation-stopping finale. Rated: 2.5/4 Jan 1, 2000 Full Review Joey O'Bryan Austin Chronicle Rated: 0/5 Jan 1, 2000 Full Review Polly M. Robertus Common Sense Media A harmless, if mostly charmless, movie. Rated: 2/5 Jan 2, 2011 Full Review Chuck O'Leary Fantastica Daily Rated: 1/5 Oct 8, 2005 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Rated: 2/5 Aug 17, 2005 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Dale R A group of American soldiers need to get an elephant to a remote town during the Vietnam War. This movie has heart. It starts a little slow, but picks up after they find the elephant as character development and plot start moving forward. There were five soldiers in the main group. The ones played by Danny Clover and Denis Leary were well acted and I enjoyed. Doug E. Doug got in a few good lines, but he wasn’t given much to do. Corin Nemec was just there. He had few lines and I wondered why they even put his character into the movie. Maybe he had some scenes that were cut for time, but the movie is only about an hour and a half. Finally Ray Liotta’s character was the lead character and I didn’t connect with him at all. I did enjoy the relationship that the soldiers developed with the kid that was the elephant’s trainer. That is the real heart of this movie. The special effects had a lot of very noticeable green screens that didn't hold up, but I think this movie is worth a watch. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 07/07/24 Full Review StephenPaul C The least funny 01 hour: and 47 minutes ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 08/03/23 Full Review Charlie H It is a dumb movie, but still a good one. Worth a watch. Don't get lost into it... just appreciate it as nonsense. And it managed to get a great cast... makes me think a documentary would be even better. Hahaha Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/28/23 Full Review Audience Member A bland family comedy that has some okay acting and amusing moments but is a bit boring, has a peculiar backdrop that doesn't really strike me as a good introduction to talking to your children about the Vietnam War, boasts groan-worthy dialogue and the attempts to deal with themes of war and animal welfare clash with the goofy antics that involve shoving a hand up an elephant's ass, among other things. At least it's well-shot. But I wouldn't recommend this as "Baby's First "Apocalypse Now"". Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/23/23 Full Review Audience Member A group of American soldiers need to get an elephant to a remote town during the Vietnam War. This movie has heart. It starts a little slow, but picks up after they find the elephant as character development and plot start moving forward. There were five soldiers in the main group. The ones played by Danny Clover and Denis Leary were well acted and I enjoyed. Doug E. Doug got in a few good lines, but he wasn't given much to do. Corin Nemec was just there. He had few lines and I wondered why they even put his character into the movie. Maybe he had some scenes that were cut for time, but the movie is only about an hour and a half. Finally Ray Liotta's character was the lead character and I didn't connect with him at all. I did enjoy the relationship that the soldiers developed with the kid that was the elephant's trainer. That is the real heart of this movie. The special effects had a lot of very noticeable green screens that didn't hold up, but I think this movie is worth a watch. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/15/23 Full Review Audience Member Bem bonitinho, pensei ter relação com o Dumbo, mas foi só um título oportunista, aquela mesma linha Disney, americanos heróis e fofinhos (ou não)que salvam o mundo de todo vilania existente… Mas sequestram um elefantinho de seu ‘habitat', para colocar no lugar de um que eles "ajudaram" a matar… O menininho rouba as cenas, e a lenda em torno do elefante é bem bonitinha… E no final, a informação de ser baseada em uma história real, do major Jim Morri para me deixar ainda mais derretida... Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/12/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Operation Dumbo Drop

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis Soon-to-retire Captain Sam Cahill (Danny Glover) and his unit labor to build a secret relationship with a local Vietnamese village in order to conduct surveillance on an enemy weapons-smuggling operation that goes through on a nightly basis. When the enemy discovers this, they kill the village's elephant as a punishment. Cahill, his replacement Captain T.C. Doyle (Ray Liotta) and a team of special forces must locate and transport another elephant in time for the village's spiritual event.
Director
Simon Wincer
Producer
Diane Nabatoff, David Madden
Screenwriter
Gene Quintano, Jim Kouf
Production Co
Walt Disney Pictures, Interscope Communications, PolyGram Filmed Entertainment
Rating
PG
Genre
Kids & Family, Comedy
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jul 28, 1995, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 27, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA)
$24.7M
Runtime
1h 47m
Sound Mix
Surround
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