Review:
*Originally written March 31st, 2019*
Well, it begins. The first of the four live-action remakes Disney are releasing this year and sadly, this is definitely one of the more middling entries in what I've found to be a pretty solid set of films so far. I was actually kind of interested in this one. The original Dumbo is one I adore and one of my favourites from Disney, a brisk 70 minutes that manages to pack in heart, humour and beautiful animation into a very brief run-time.
Tim Burton is also a very interesting choice of director. His last few films haven't been great and the last time he worked on a Disney film was an atrocious mess (His Alice in Wonderland holds a strong place as one of my most hated films of all time), but he's slowly started crawling back to the Burton I loved from the '90s. He's still got a ways to go, but Dumbo is definitely one of his stronger films of recent years, despite its many problems.
I don't mind the idea of Disney re-imagining their older properties for a new generation and I appreciate the attempt at adding more depth to a very thin story, but while it's all perfectly serviceable and has a good anti-corporate message (The irony, considering it comes from Disney), it just lacks the heart and soul of the original.
I'm just having a hard time wondering why Disney bothered to hire Burton to direct this, when it ended up being so devoid of what makes Burton so great and unique. It's such a workmanlike and cookie-cutter creation that fits perfectly in line with what Disney are up to these days. Making films that are ticking boxes to satisfy broad, mainstream audiences in order to make some easy money, but failing to incite anything creative or original in fear of driving away audiences that shy away from anything even remotely different or interesting.
That's why I'm having trouble with this. The execution of this is something I absolutely hate about modern cinema, but at the same time I kind of enjoyed it and mostly had a good time, despite how utterly by the numbers and passable it was. There are moments where Dumbo shines, which I will get to, but for the most part, it's very much cynical Disney, yet at the same time, very watchable. There's only so many free passes I can give to these films and I can feel my patience growing thinner with each one, there's only so much more I can take. Much like how I feel with superhero films, I think Endgame will be my turning point for that genre too.
It's not all bad though, like I said, this is certainly watchable and tells its story well enough with a great cast and mostly well-rounded characters. Danny DeVito unsurprisingly steals the show as the head of the failing circus, although it is hard to distinguish DeVito from Frank Reynolds at this point, but he's so insanely watchable and charismatic (Also, the Always Sunny cameo is gold). Colin Farrell is choosing some interesting projects right now, so it was a shame to see him be an absolutely fine lead with an obvious arc and doesn't get much in the way of showing off his acting skills. Michael Keaton on the other hand is clearly having the time of his life in his hammy performance that brought a lot of life to the screen during his screen-time.
Dumbo himself is a fantastic creation and just so adorable and easy to love. The photo-realistic animation is pretty astonishing and he feels like a real living creature, making it very easy to root for him and care when he's clearly in distress. An easy move for me, I hate seeing animals unhappy in any context. So that all worked.
While it does lack Burton's Gothic flair and weird quirkiness, this is at least a beautiful film to look at, with a dark, rich colour pallet and fantastic set-design that really didn't feel like the work of CGI at all. They do attempt to do the infamous "Pink Elephants" scene from the original, but it is remarkably tame and far less weird and out there redo of that moment, which is a shame considering that's what Tim Burton is so good at. The most Burton the film gets is when we reach Keaton's futuristic circus that is a wonderfully designed steam-punk wonderland that I didn't expect at all. Once we reach that location in the third act, it's a damn smooth ride from there.
I don't know what else to say about this, I had enough trouble even coming up with all the previous things I just said. Tim Burton's Dumbo is a perfectly watchable remake that lacks what makes a Burton film unique, but the cast are great and it tells a story worth revisiting, but Disney really need to let these directors put their vision on the screen rather than just a cookie-cutter cash-grab that feels more like a list of boxes to tick as opposed to a film from a director with a singular vision.
6/10 Dans
Dumbo is out now in cinemas in the UK
Watch the trailer below:
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