Then Mysterio shows up. Right from the get-go, it feels as if he's auditioning to be part of the MCU. He gives himself a tragic origin which incorporates elements of various MCU characters -- a bearded flying genius in the mold of Iron Man, a soldier similar to Captain America, and "a grieving family man like Hawkeye," albeit with a less stupid haircut. It's like Beck is "aware of the tropes of the story he's in." If that wasn't enough, Beck literally creates CG monsters to fight, calling them "worthy of the Avengers" -- which could be read as referring to the team or the movie.

Sony Pictures Releasing"They could make a bunch of movies about my adventures! A Mysterio Cinematic Universe, if you will."

What's Mysterio's plan? To get those glasses, of course. Which is right on theme, because they're the symbolic embodiment of Downey Jr.-ness. And when we see behind Beck's digital curtain, it turns out he's wearing not a fishbowl and cyber-magic armor, but a mo-cap suit -- those ridiculous pajamas Downey had to wear on set.

Walt Disney PicturesJust once, could we have a superhero who doesn't look like a complete doofus behind the scenes?

And since the movie is secretly about vying for Marvel stardom, casting Jake Gyllenhal as Beck is a sly inside joke, because this isn't the first time he's almost usurped a Spider-Man. Back in 2004, Gyllenhaal nearly replaced Tobey Maguire for Spider-Man 2, because the studio was allegedly "irritated" by Maguire's behavior.

The bulk of the movie is about how Wade idolizes the socially awkward creator of the virtual reality world he loves, James Halliday. Who was Spielberg's idol? Stanley Kubrick, who was a "hero and mentor" to him. In the biggest deviation from the book, Wade's second challenge finds him journeying inside a recreation of the Overlook Hotel from The Shining.

Warner Bros. Pictures

Warner Bros. PicturesThat does explain why this wasn't set in any of the roughly ten billion horror movies that would be a better fit for a goofy action movie.

Which isn't a random choice. That's how Spielberg met Kubrick. He was waiting to shoot Raiders Of The Lost Ark on the same soundstage where Kubrick built the interiors for the Overlook. They soon became friends, and eventually began collaborating on what would become A.I.: Artificial Intelligence. Which you might remember is all about robots. And how does Wade connect with Halliday? Through archived recordings that are curated by a robot.

Warner Bros. PicturesIn fact, the entire movie is very reminiscent of A.I., in that it's generally disappointing and the ending sucks.

In the end, Wade wins the contest and Halliday leaves him both his fortune the keys to his legacy. Similarly, shortly before his death, Kubrick decided not to direct A.I., but opted instead to entrust the project to Spielberg. One could argue that inheriting a vast VR playground is slightly better than getting a job filming Jude Law pretend to be a robot gigolo, but still.

Forky eventually learns to accept his existence because he makes Bonnie happy, just as the writers presumably realized that their work would similarly make kids happy (and also, you know, boatloads of money). Instead of shying away from the strain of being the fourth movie in a 24-year-old series, the story makes that strain its "emotional spine."

Meanwhile, Woody walks away from being a child's toy to live his own life. Which makes sense. The first movie can be interpreted as a clash between traditional animation (the old-fashioned cowboy Woody) and the newfangled computer animation Toy Story pioneered (futuristic spaceman Buzz). In the end, there's room for both of them in Andy's room, and at the time, there was room for both kinds of animation to entertain kids. But in 2019, Disney has "no current plans" to make another traditionally animated feature. So likewise, it's time for Woody to pack it in and follow whatever wild, hedonistic life isn't suitable for impressionable Pixar audiences.

Director Simon Kinberg claims the acronym was coincidental, and he didn't realize the connection until a costume designer showed him the shoulder patches. But rather than scrap their plans and waste a bunch of perfectly good props, Kinberg decided to embrace the accidental meta subtext with "a wink and a smile." Sure, the MCU beats up and imprisons the X-Men, but by the end, they're all fighting together to rid the world of ... ah, who knows, we'd already walked out by then.

Vandevere is a beloved celebrity, but behind the scenes, he's a ruthless businessman. He wants Dumbo to be a part of his park, so he proposes a merger with our heroes' ramshackle travelling circus. Once he gets what he wants, he fires them all, which is somewhat reminiscent of Burton's own history with Disney. It's also pretty prescient commentary, seeing as this movie came out shortly before Disney's takeover of Fox led to thousands of layoffs. It sure seems like this Disney movie is one big "F-you" to the way Disney does business.

Further underscoring the Disney/Dreamland connection, once Dumbo's act is off the ground (so to speak), they start selling toys that look like the original cartoon character. You know, like the ones they sell at Disney parks.

Walt Disney Pictures"That'll be $67.50. Sorry, we don't accept Dreamland Dollars."

And while we're pointing out the odd meta aspects of this movie, how about the fact that it's basically an inverse of Batman Returns? Danny DeVito is still a loner surrounded by circus workers, but he's now the good guy. And Michael Keaton is still a millionaire, but he's the bad guy. Still, the weirdest part is that this film was made by Disney. It's like if An Inconvenient Truth had been funded by a sentient cloud of carbon emissions.

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