Dumbo - Review

Here we go, folks! Yet another remake of a classic animated movie from the house of mouse. Luckily for us, this live-action adaptation of Dumbo is not simply a remake beat-for-beat, but it's a continuation of the original story.

I rewatched the 1941classic in prep for Tim Burton's new take. Not only was it a pleasant trip down memory lane, even though I witnessed some scenes that were the fuel for my childhood nightmares again, but I realized that Dumbo is only an hour long with a very simple story. So it begged the question, "how are they going to take a movie about an elephant that doesn't speak and is simply the observer to the strange world he lives in and turn it into a 2-hour live-action film?

Well, I give props to Disney to bring Tim Burton on to direct. While I have my own problems with his adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, Disney knew that that story needed to have a very distinct look and the world itself needed to feel like its own character. The original Disney Alice in Wonderland's story was very basic too and more focus was on Alice exploring the craziness that is Wonderland. Dumbo works the same way with the main focus of the movie being the world where the simple story takes place in. And if any director knows how to world build extremely well in their movies, it's Tim Burton.

The look and the feel of this movie are absolutely breath-taking. Everything from the set design, the color palette, the costumes, the hair, and make-up, even to the font of the text, just screams Tim Burton 1910's circus. It's a wonderful world to escape to.

But with no likable characters, the world the movie creates can only be enjoyed for so long. The good news is that Dumbo, our little flying elephant is extremely adorable. Much like the first movie, his big expressive eyes allow us to relate to him. We experience his happiness, his sorrow, his fears, and his triumphs along with him so easily because we just love adorable, curious animals. So Dumbo himself was a delight to see on screen again.

However, Dumbo may be plenty to hold our attention and investment in the original film along with help from Timothy Q. Mouse, but in a live-action adaptation with an extra hour of needed run-time, it's understandable that we need some human protagonists also. This is where the movie loses points in my book. The human characters are quite bland and boring. Colin Ferrel plays a war veteran who comes back to the circus with his two children. While Colin Ferrel is a brilliant actor and can give a really heart-warming performance (Saving Mr. Banks), he isn't given much material or room to work within this movie. One scene serving as an exposition dump to know his past and struggles, and what seems to be a George W. Bush impression, and that's his character. However, I can give his character a pass simply because Colin Ferrel's charisma does win you over, who didn't win me over at all were his children, especially his daughter.

Now I don't know about you, but if I ever saw an elephant fly, I'm sure I would have some sort of reaction on my face. Whether that be utter bewilderment or in total awe and shock, the slightest bit of human emotion would come across in my reaction. This girl gave me absolutely nothing. I know I shouldn't be hard on child actors, but it seemed like she had literally no interest what was happening around her. Her voice, her facial expressions, her tone, nothing made me think that she was invested in anything happening in this story.

Danny Devito may have been the best actor in the film because he is one of the only ones, next to Eva Green and Michael Keaton who seem to be giving effort into their roles or even have some fun with it. You can tell that Danny Devito is having a blast with this movie when you see his reaction to Dumbo flying and how he hypes up his new nighttime spectacular!

Michael Keaton, while you can tell he is putting passion into this role, I think it's pretty safe to assume that this role was made for Johnny Depp. I couldn't stop thinking that throughout the film and I wasn't able to get as invested as I hoped for. As for Eva Green, you can tell she is putting passion into the role too, except similar to Colin Ferrel, we aren't given much time to really get to know her or invest in her either. But her conviction does follow through and it's not a major problem in the movie.

In fact, there are no major problems in this movie except for the kids. The direction that the story goes after we see the events of the original movie unfold is a fairly logical route for the story to take and it lends itself to Tim Burton's wonderful vision. The additions to the story felt warranted and the subtractions from the original kept the story streamlined and, quite frankly not racist (If you have seen the original, you'll know what I am talking about). The perfect word I can use for this movie is "cute". Nothing spectacular and nothing that will blow your socks off, but for fans of Disney and the original, Tim Burton's Dumbo is worth a watch.