V.A. Vandevere

"You have something very rare. You have wonder. You have mastiff. You have... nature. Come with me, and we'll take over all Earth's mightiest winds."

- V.A. Vandevere.

Red V.A. Vandevere is the main antagonist of the 2019 remake of Dumbo. He is the ruthless owner of the amusement park Dreamland.

He was portrayed by Academy Award nominee actor Michael Keaton, who also played Chick Hicks in Cars, Ken in Toy Story 3, Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming, Raymond Sellars in Robocop, Betelgeuse in Beetlejuice and Carter Hayes in Pacific Heights.

Personality
At first, Vandavere was thought to be a kind man as he formed a beneficial deal with Max Medici to show Dumbo's talent to the world. But this is all a facade to his true nature as a ruthless greedy businessman who is determined to make profit by any means necessary, as he was more than determined to have Dumbo's mother killed in order to keep Dumbo for himself. As it turns out, Vandavere was abandoned by his father when he was a kid, but took it as a good sign because he learned to fend for himself before rising himself up to be a famous businessman, believing that it is essential to grow up by distancing away from those who care the most; even telling Joe and Millie Farrier that they would be better off living without their father Holt (despite the latter's care for them).

He is also a bit foolish as when he tried to turn the electricity back on with two switches at once, only to accidentally start a fire which eventually destroyed his theme park and led to his downfall.

Employing the Medici Circus
Vandavere first appeared when reading a newspaper about the baby elephant Dumbo being capable of using his large ears to fly at the Medici Brothers' Circus, which has enamored the audience and media. To that end, he personally arrived to the circus and formed a deal with the circus ringmaster Max Medici: the latter would become Vandevere's partner and the circus' troupe would be employed to perform at Dreamland.

During Dumbo’s debut performance at Dreamland, Dumbo soon learned that his mother Mrs. Jumbo is at a separate exhibit in Dreamland (as she was sold away by Medici to prevent a public relations problem following the death of an abusive handler named Rufus Sorghum). Due to the trauma of being separated from his mother, Dumbo flies out of the circus ring to reunite with his mother, which disappointed the audience. Upon witnessing this, Vandavere orders his men to separate Dumbo from his mother, despite Holt's objections.

Plotting To Kill Mrs. Jumbo
Because of the disappointing performance, Vandavere believes that Mrs. Jumbo is being a distraction, so he decides to get rid of her immediately to have Dumbo for himself. When an objecting Holt begs not to do it as it would hurt his kids Joe and Millie emotionally, Vandavere refuses by that stating that he was once abandoned by his father when he was a kid and had to fend for himself before rising up into business; even taunting Millie that Mrs. Jumbo will be going on a trip far away from Dumbo. To that end, he get his right-hand man Neils Skellig to arrange a transport for Mrs. Jumbo for her termination during Dumbo's next performance. He also forced Medici to fire his entire troupe to cover his tracks, much to Medici's distraught.

However, Holt and the troupe refused to accept this and decided to free both Mrs. Jumbo and Dumbo from captivity. While Vandavere is busy overseeing Dumbo's new performance, little did he know that Holt and the troupe are utilizing their talents to gain hold of the truck containing Mrs. Jumbo so that they can transport her to the docks away from Vandavere's grasp. When Skellig found out about this, he informed Vandavere, who furiously ordered his park to be locked down so that the troupe won't escape.

When Skellig managed to catch Joe and Millie, Vandavere interrogated them about their father's presence, but he learned too late that Holt opened up a hole in the tent to allow Colette and Dumbo to fly out, which distracted him and Skellig long enough to allow the kids to escape. Colette and Dumbo then fly over to the park's systems tower, when they turned off all the lights and security systems to allow the troupe to escape with Mrs. Jumbo from the park. Colette and Dumbo then escaped away with Holt and his kids, which incited an angry Vandavere to reboot his systems, though this only starts a fire triggered by his own enraged mismanagement, putting the entire park in flames and forcing all attendants to flee away in safety.

Defeat
With the elephants and the troupe having escaped, Vandavere furiously orders for Medici to be arrested for 'stealing his elephant' and 'breach of contract', knowing that he was involved in freeing the elephants the entire time. However, Medici wisely states that while he may be no expert in contract law, he points out that Vandavere has bigger problems to deal first as Dreamland is burning thanks to Vandavere's foolishness, something which Vandavere realized too late. He is last seen moping in defeat as he watches his park being burned down.

It was later implied that Vandavere and his cohorts got arrested and put to trial by the authorities for arson and misconduct while Dumbo and his mother were transported on a ship to a native jungle in India for safety.

Quotes
"Momy’s going on a trip.."

- Vandevere setting his rights on Jumbo.

"Just when I thought I’d seen everything."

- Vandevere seeing Dumbo fly.

Trivia

 * This was the third movie Keaton worked with Danny DeVito and the sixth movie he participated with Tim Burton.
 * Vandavere is considered to be a parody of Walt Disney, as they are both wealthy businessmen known to run successful theme parks. However, Vandavere is considered to be a more darker version of Disney due to the former's insatiable desire for greed and disregard of his fellow employees.