In 1940, Walt Disney gave the world Dumbo; the adventures of a flying elephant. Over half a century later, Percept Picture Company has come up with their own haathi-wala movie. While the names have merely the difference of a mere first letter, the stories are completely different. The movie has the voice-overs of Akshay Kumar who lends his awaaz to main character blue elephant named Jumbo along with Lara Dutta who plays his love, and pink elephant Sonia. Being a Hindi animated film, it also has a mother, voiced by Dimple Kapadia and a villain spoken by bad-man Gulshan Grover.

Jumbo is interesting for its clichéd Hindi movie plot. While it may sound ironic, it is for this reason that the movie may do well with its young watchers. Jumbo (Akshay Kumar) is separated from his mother (Dimple Kapadia). This elephant, we are told, was son to a royal king elephant who lost his kingdom to the villain Bhaktavar (Gulshan Grover). So he grows up in the wild under the guidance of an uncle, falls in love with Sonia (Lara Dutta) and then is summoned back to his province to fight a war and win back his land. Without giving away the ending, it is easy to predict who wins the war.

The movie has some similarities to the Lion King, especially with the whole revenge aspect but shouldn't be compared to any Hollywood produced animation movies which are par excellence. After Roadside Romeo, this is an honest effort from India as they have only recently understood the demand of animated films. However, the animation is still raw and obscure. The lip syncing is well done and each of the voice-overs fit the elephants perfectly.

Percept Pictures has however, used a failed idea that most movies have defeated this year. Firstly, a movie doesn't sell because of a few popular actors voice-overs, and that includes an animated movie. Secondly, children are not easy to please in the twenty first century. It is not fair to take them for granted and assume that they will take anything you throw at them. Reality check –that doesn't work.

Cute is literally the keyword here. The music is cute, as are all the animations for the animals. For a few hours, I did feel like a little kid as I watched a pink and blue elephant romance and sing songs around a tree in typical Bollywood fashion. The comedy element is evident throughout the film and the movie has many hilarious scenes which make it worth of a watch.

As I mentioned before, India has finally realized that cartoon animated movies have a great market with the children and adults. While it may take a while before we will be able compare them to those made in Japan or the U.S, it is definitely headed that way, and Jumbo is a good example of that. While I don't imagine adding Jumbo to my list of favorite animated flicks, it is a good watch for the young kids and the kid in you. So this holiday season, make it a Jumbo one!

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