Operation Dumbo Drop (1995)    Disney/Action-Comedy-Drama    RT: 107 minutes    Rated PG (war action, language)    Director: Simon Wincer    Screenplay: Gene Quintano and Jim Kouf    Music: David Newman    Cinematography: Russell Boyd    Release date: July 28, 1995 (US)    Cast: Danny Glover, Ray Liotta, Denis Leary, Doug E. Doug, Corin Nemec, Tai, Dinh Thien Le, Tcheky Karyo, Vo Trung Anh, Marshall Bell, James Hong, Long Nguyen, Tim Kelleher, Scott N. Stevens, Kevin Larosa.    Box Office: $24.6M (US)

Rating: ***

 Three decades after the fact and I’m still contemplating how Disney thought they were going to sell Operation Dumbo Drop to the moviegoing public. It’s a hard, almost impossible movie to market. On the one hand, it’s a PG-rated family movie involving an elephant. Kids like animals in movies. By all counts, a cute pachyderm that can do tricks ought to attract them in droves. On the other hand, it’s a war movie, the Vietnam War to be exact. How do you even begin to explain that terrible war to grade schoolers? While there’s no graphic violence or soldiers dying in battle, all that business with the VC might be too much for some kids. At the same time, the makers sanitize the war to the level of a McHale’s Navy rerun. Then there’s the question of genre. It’s advertised as a comedy and while it has comedic elements, it’s really more of a drama. Loosely based on a true story (by retired Army Major Jim Morris), I doubt it really went down the way it’s depicted in the movie. Either way, once little kids realize Operation Dumbo Drop isn’t all about a trouble-making elephant wreaking havoc, they’re bound to lose interest. It might be the weirdest movie ever made by Disney.

 Marketing woes aside, Operation Dumbo Drop is actually pretty good. I didn’t much care for it when it first came out. Although I was well beyond childhood in ’95, I was disappointed it wasn’t funnier. After rewatching Larger Than Life last weekend, I decided to make Operation Dumbo Drop part of this week’s “Saturday at the Movies at Home” package. I was pleasantly surprised this time around. It’s a sweet and humorous piece with a top-level cast and compelling storyline. I was actually moved by it.

 Set in ’68, by-the-book Capt. Doyle (Liotta, Goodfellas) arrives in the small Vietnamese village of Dak Nhe to relieve about to be discharged Capt. Cahill (Glover, Lethal Weapon) of his command. This village is important as it allows Americans a strategic vantage point to the clandestine Ho Chi Minh Trail.  Thanks to a serious gaffe by Doyle, the VC learns of the villagers’ cooperation with the Americans and shoots their work elephant in retaliation. In order to appease the village elders who blame Doyle for the pachyderm’s death, Cahill agrees to bring them a new one in time for an important festival.

 With less than a week to make good on their promise, Doyle (who’s in charge of the operation) and Cahill convince their CO (Bell, Total Recall) to provide them with additional men. He gives them two, artillery expert H.A. (Doug, Cool Runnings) and clerical guy Farley (Nemec, Drop Zone). H.A.’s going home in a week and doesn’t want to jinx it by risking his life. Farley, despite growing up on a farm in Iowa, isn’t good with animals. They’re joined by Poole (Leary, The Ref), an opportunistic supply sergeant who has to be blackmailed into going with them. He’s the one that arranges for the purchase of the elephant Bo Tat (Tai, Larger Than Life) whose owner, a Vietnamese orphan named Linh (Le), demands they take him along on their mission, one that involves travel by air, water, land and parachute.

 I think we can all agree that Operation Dumbo Drop is a silly title. It’s obviously meant as a reference to another famous Disney movie, one that gets referenced more than once. The problem is that it misrepresents the movie which, like I said, isn’t entirely comedy. Sure, it has the expected jokes about elephant dung and stuff getting knocked over (including a fruit cart). There’s one bit involving tranquilizers in the form of suppositories and another involving Bo Tat getting seasick (ew, gross!). The emphasis, however, is on the mission which proves to be more difficult than any of the guys could imagine. It isn’t easy traveling with an 8000 lb. passenger. On top of that, VC soldiers are out to stop them. They’re responsible for the long trip’s hairier moments. Drama comes in the form of Linh, a boy who has good reason for not trusting Americans or anybody else. He develops a real bond with Cahill along the way. It’s the nicest human aspect of the film.

 The cast does an amazing job. I never realized what a dynamite cast Operation Dumbo Drop has. Glover and Liotta have some good comic interplay. True, it’s not on the same level as Glover and Gibson in the Lethal Weapon movies, but what is? Leary shows his softer side as a hustler with a heart without losing any of his wise guy appeal. Doug is funny as the scared rabbit soldier loaded down with good luck charms. Nemec has some good moments as dim Farley. Lihn, in his only film role, is affecting and naturalistic. As for Tai, I believe a retroactive Oscar for Best Performance by a Pachyderm is in order. Heck, make it a Lifetime Achievement award.

 I never imagined I’d ever say this about a Vietnam War movie but Operation Dumbo Drop is extremely good-natured. Director Simon Wincer (Free Willy) set out to make a feel-good movie and largely succeeds. His movie could have been as clunky and heavy-footed as its titular elephant, but it isn’t. It’s not an accurate portrayal of war, but who says every Vietnam War drama has to be Platoon? Why not a nice movie about a mission of kindness? It works better than you think.