Dumbo (’19 review)

3 outta 5

Dumbo is the first of four live action remakes Disney is putting out this year. Next is the Will Smith as an oddly designed Genie in Aladdin, later there’s The Lion King which really isn’t live action (the grass and some tress may be real) but the animals are made to look realistic-ish, and finally there’s another installment of the Sleeping Beauty inspired live action spin off Maleficent. Anyway, the opening salvo of this remake quartet is director Tim Burton’s Dumbo and he delivers a very good looking movie. Most of Burton’s quirkiness is shaved away aside from maybe a stray frantic monkey or a few motormouthed con-men and otherworldly elegant CGI. Basically, it is late era Tim Burton movie which is more FX than heart, and yet another overtly bombastic orchestral Danny Elfman score that sounds like basically every other Burton movie score. But the title character is endearing for a dopey looking elephant.

A father who lost his arm in World War I, Holt (Colin Farrell), returns to his kids, Milly (Nico Parker) and Joe (Finley Hobbins). Their home is a travelling circus led by the penny-pinching Max Medici (Danny DeVito) and since Holt can’t ride horses anymore, Max tells Holt to look after their newest acquisition, a very pregnant elephant. Max dreams of the impending birth leading to fame and fortune yet it turns out the baby elephant is a odd looking runt with giant ears. After a disaster in it’s first unveiling, and its mom being taken away, the kids name it Dumbo. Amazingly, they discover if Dumbo snorts a feather he can fly with his giant ears. This attracts the attention of the wealthy park owner, Vandevere (Michael Keaton) who wants Max’s circus at his park Dreamland with Dumbo as the star being ridden by the famous and beautiful French trapeze artist Colette (Eva Green). But Max and his circus performers are sidelined and, shockingly, trapped at Dreamland park is Dumbo’s mother. The kids want to reunite the elephants but Vandevere thinks that would be bad for business.

The CGI to make Dumbo come to life is impressive although the big ears and distractingly human emotive eyes are a bit freaky. None of the animals talk so he’s not much of a character, he just kind of chirps. There are a few nods to the original cartoon, the iconic Pink Elephant scene happens here with elaborate soap bubbles although it isn’t as trippy. Dumbo carried a magic feather in the original cartoon but apparently that would be unrealistic if a supposedly live-action looking elephant carried a feather using his trunk like a fist. Instead Dumbo snorts the feathers in this movie to literally get high. Maybe not the best message to send kids.

Even though the elephant is supposedly the lead the movie spends way more time on humans. Maybe the daughter is the lead because she talks to Dumbo the most as the brother sort of hangs out in the background. Farrell’s Holt is broken down by his experience in the war although he makes for a likable paternal figure who cares about the elephant. With an outsized French accent, Green’s trapeze artist bounces from sidekick for the bad guy to hero for no real reason but Green sells it. DeVito’s Max seems like a huge part of the story early on but the movie sort of forgets about Max once they hit Dreamland as Vandevere takes over. The cadre of circus freaks Max rolls with look visually interesting and each has a chance to stand out with some small funny moments.

The script is not very deep as the characters are sort of one note. On the plus side, Max gets a lot of great quips which lets DeVito get to mug entertainingly, perpetually grumbling that the circus is going broke. When Max is meeting with Vandevere a wayward monkey in his desk goes haywire so Max slams it shut and Vandervere asks if he has a monkey in his drawer and Max says smoothly “Only for emergencies”. Seeing DeVito and Keaton together again in a Tim Burton film is a hoot as they played Penguin and Batman in Tim Burton’s Batman Returns, except now the good guy and bad guy roles are flipped. Although, from a certain point of view, Batman was a villainous billionaire who antagonized the self-made entrepreneur Penguin so maybe it isn’t that different. Keaton as Vandevere gives a highly energetic performance. Although it makes thematic sense that in the end he is done in by his own greed and hubris which sends the park crashing down, it’s kind of stupid that he would set it aflame just because he’s angry. It makes a character who has been portrayed as fairly shrewd seem randomly stupid.

Dumbo won’t make anyone forget the animated classic although this is a decent remake. The big performances of Keaton and DeVito help a lot. Burton makes it all look very spectacular and his assured direction dresses up a rote script. Still the same damn music in every Burton movie at this point is getting nauseating. While this remake doesn’t soar, it sometimes has small bursts of joy in flight and that is good enough.