Movie Review: Dumbo (2019) · 5:12am Jul 2nd, 2019
Okay, let me come out and say it right out the gate: I'm *really* not a fan of Disney's current practice of releasing live-action remakes of their animated films. To me, the practice just screams either "lack of new ideas" or "blatant cash grab". And as a further point, I also raise my eyebrows at the thought of remaking such films as The Jungle Book, Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King to be in live-action; given either the lack of human characters/plethora of animal characters (TLK, TJB) or the typical stylization of cartoons (all three of them), rendering such characters as Lumiere, Timon and Pumbaa, Baloo and Bagheera in CGI seems like a case of "completely missing the point".
Now with all of that being said... imagine my surprise when, of all films in the Disney animated canon, <em>Dumbo</em> is suddenly announced to be getting the live-action treatment.
I mean... Dumbo? Really?
Now, much as I grumble about the idea of Disney remakes, most of the prior choices I could understand. Cinderella is a classic. The Jungle Book was the last of the Disney films that Walt worked on. The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast are, admittedly, much more recent, but also very iconic movies too.
Point being - they have fans. There exists people who'd check out those movies if they were updated or re-made in some form.
But again... Dumbo?
Because, really, the original Dumbo 1) has very little cultural footprint aside from the image of the title character, and 2) really isn't a good movie. It comes off as mean-spirited due to a lot of the abuses that the poor little elephant suffers, and also too suffers from some pretty dated/unfortunate character imagery (the roustabouts, the crows)… aside from Dumbo himself and Timothy the mouse, most everyone else is a jackass...
I've only seen the original once, and that was enough for me. So when the news of a remake hit the 'Net, I was pretty sure that this was Disney hitting the bottom of their creativity barrel. Even the news that Tim Burton (a director that I'm more favorable to than a vast majority of most other critics nowadays) was to be directing this film did little to stir my interest.
So when my dad (who is a fan of Burton) wanted to go see it, I ended up tagging along mainly for lack of much else to do. I didn't expect much of anything at all from this movie...
And imagine my surprise when I actually found myself enjoying the movie. Is the remake of Dumbo perfect? Heck no, but it's far superior to the original in my eyes.
Opening in the aftermath of WWI, our story begins with the Medici circus, run by Max Medici (Danny DeVito). One of his star performers, the equestrian trick rider Holt Farrier (Colin Farrell) returns to the circus life and to his kids Milly (Nico Parker) and Joe (Finley Hobbins), but to sad circumstances: Holt's wife and co-performer Annie has died from the recent flu outbreak, and Max had to sell the show's horses to cover for recent financial troubles. Holt, having lost an arm in the war, ends up assigned to be a caretaker to the circus' pregnant elephant "Mrs. Jumbo."
The elephant soon has her baby, and at first the circus celebrates - until the discovery that the baby has exceptionally large ears. Max orders that the baby's ears be hidden from the public... but naturally, the secret comes out during a show, and several jerks in the crowd mock the baby elephant and nickname him "Dumbo." The baby elephant's mother flies into a rage at the mistreatment of her son, and rampages through the circus tent, causing it to collapse - with one of the circus' animal handlers (albeit an abusive jackass) being killed by a falling pole.
Max quickly locks up and sells Dumbo's mother to prevent a scandal. Holt's children try to comfort the lonely baby elephant, and then discover that Dumbo can fly when he flaps his ears. They also discover that feathers are key to making the elephant do this.
During another performance of the show, Dumbo is put into the act as a firefighter clown, but the act goes awry and the little elephant is trapped on a high platform surrounded by flames. Milly is able to get a feather to Dumbo, which enables the elephant to fly to safety. The audience and the circus performers are all astounded, and the story of the flying elephant spreads... eventually reaching entrepreneur and amusement park owner V.A. Vandavere (Michael Keaton). Vandavere meets with Medici and offers him a lucrative collaboration; Dumbo becomes an act at Vandavere's "Dreamland" park, and Medici's troupe be employed at Dreamland (with Max as Vandavere's partner).
However, the deal swiftly turns sour for the circus folk, and Holt and Milly and Joe are soon looking for a way to help Dumbo escape, and to reunite the little guy with his mother as well. Joining the proceedings is Colette (Eva Green), a French trapeze artist who is part of Vandavere's entourage but empathetic to the Medici circus folk.
It all comes to a head in a fiery climax, where Dumbo must - in a nice call-back to the original - fly without the aid of the confidence-boosting feather. No spoilers, but I had a lot of fun with the finale of the movie, especially in regard to the final fate of Vandavere, as well as the conclusion of the movie.
Admittedly, despite the title character being the flying elephant, I'd like to come out and say that I think this movie was very smart to put a lot of its major character focus on the humans in the story. As I said before in my introduction, I've been baffled by the remakes of several of these animated movies, due to my belief that typically, what happens in animation is best left in animation and not to be repeated in live-action film. So ultimately, given the shift in format with this film, I do think that it was a practical move to put more focus and development on the human characters and their interactions with Dumbo, rather than try to have the majority of the film be about the little guy.
Of the actors in the movie, one whose performance was a very pleasant surprise to me was Danny DeVito as Max Medici. The ringmaster of the circus is a grouch and a skinflint, who often feuds with a monkey in his cabin, but he is also a character with some surprising heart (consider that while he sold Holt's horses and often grouses about money, he still took care of Milly and Joe and didn't just pawn them off on an orphanage when their mother died); it's very plain that he's ultimate quite concerned about his troupe being able to find work, and is plainly crushed when his partnership with Vandavere turns out to be such a raw deal. In fact, I'd actually be willing to say that DeVito's performance is in many ways the real heart of the movie, believe it or not!
Colin Farrell turns in a solid performance as Holt Farrier, if nothing else than for the fact that he is able to convincingly give the character a rural American accent that sounds natural and not exaggerated. The relationship between Holt and his daughter Milly is a big part of the film - a tension between father and daughter is that Milly wants to be a scientist and doesn't want to be a part of the circus, while Holt wants his daughter to take up some kind of craft to help with the circus - and the scene where Holt and his daughter finally reconcile and find a suitable compromise is a genuinely touching part of the story.
As for Milly and Joe... there are admittedly weaknesses with their performance, but that's mainly when they're having to interact with Dumbo, who of course exists as a visual effect and thus isn't really "there". Put them in a scene with Colin Farrell, Eva Green or Michael Keaton though and they're fine. So ultimately, I was able to forgive a lot when it came to the two kids in this film.
Eva Green as Colette the trapeze performer was also a very nice surprise for me in the movie. When she first appears in the film, it's as a girlfriend on Vandavere's arm, and her reaction to Dumbo (who tries to snort up the feathers from her fancy shoes) initially suggests that she will be the archetypal snobby bitch who exists to be humiliated for the audience's amusement. However, as she interacts more with Holt and the kids in preparation for Dumbo's performance at Dreamland, she turns out to have a lot more depth and character.; being professional-minded and also ending up as something of a surrogate mother to Joe and Milly. It was just really nice to see the subversion of expectations with the character.
On a final note about performances in the movie... Michael Keaton as V.A. Vandavere is an interesting antagonist. First of all, he's clearly a riff on Walt Disney himself, with the fact that he's an entrepreneur owner of an amusement park, with a lot of nice-sounding rhetoric about dreams and such. (With which, he readily endears himself to Milly, causing additional strife with her father midway through the movie.) However, that charm rapidly proves to be superficial, and Vandavere proves readily to be a control freak and a jackass who's willing to cheat and do anything to make his vision for his park become a reality. It's quite ironic that a Disney movie have such a satire of the man himself in this movie, but it does work well enough.
Now, though, while I've praised a fair few performances in the movie, I do have criticisms of the film to make. Namely, that it feels too short. There are good moments and concepts packed into the film, but the movie moves along at a pace (especially when you get to Vandavere and Dreamland) that make me wish that the film could have delved into a lot more. A number of side characters - in particular the other performers at the Medici circus - offer some little moments (my personal favorite being an Indian performer who shows kindness and respect to Dumbo) that could have really used further development to pay off. My sister has said that she felt an extra half-hour of time would have really helped the movie, and I feel that she was quite right. (Also, while it's not major, the one circus worker who dies in Mrs. Jumbo's rampage is so over-the-top an asshole that it's frankly just kinda laughable.)
That being said, there's still some pretty clever stuff in this movie. Lots of little touches that draw on or play with moments from the original abound, from little mice dressed like Timothy for one would-be circus act... to a hilarious reference to the infamous pink elephants scene when a clown offers Dumbo some champagne. "Do NOT give the baby champagne!!" Max yells XD
(Oh, and speaking of pink elephants... yes, they do make an appearance, as part of an act at the Dreamland circus. It's a suitably weird and uncanny sequence, perfectly Tim Burton in execution.)
To conclude... while I do think that the movie could have seriously benefited from changes to the runtime and development of plot points, I still had a rather pleasant time with Dumbo. It bothers me that the movie got so much flack from critics, in particular those who accuse the movie as "nostalgically pandering" to the days of the old circuses and the animal abuse that went on with the acts back then - a rather odd takeaway to have, considering that the film almost literally ends with a message about the circus not needing animal acts. (And also, too, that the movie clearly shows the ill-treatment of Dumbo and his mother to be a BAD THING. What, was it too subtle for those people? Do they not understand "Show, Don't Tell"? DX)
While it's definitely not a film I'd recommend to everyone, I'd definitely say that this is one remake that is far better than its original, and certainly is a decent enough offering on its own as well.
To be fair, The Jungle Book remake was great, honesty to the point where I think I prefer that version of Mowgoi to the original since they did their own thing, not just copying the original beat for beat. As for Beauty And The Beast, they TRIED to add some new stuff, some works, some doesn't, but it's mostly the original, although I will say this, the new movie's rendition of Gaston and The Mob Song are FANTASTIC.
And Aladdin was AMAZING, I honestly think Aladdin and Jasmine are done better than in the original, Will Smith is funny as the Genie, but also sells the more serious moments pretty well. Also the Sultan is more than just a walking punchline. I think the key to that movie is being able to disassociate it from the original, specifically Robin Williams as the Genie, if you can do that, you're going to have a fun time. It follows most of the same story beats, but with enough originality that it feels like its own movie,
If you need a bit of closure, here's my thoughts on the future of Disney. Hope it helps.
Unfortunately, while I was able to disassociate Aladdin from the original due to having no particularly strong nostalgia for it, not so much The Lion King. So, that's gonna be hard to me. I can probably quote a fair bit of the movie, I know most of the songs, so, it's gonna be hard to me to NOT constantly compare it to the original.
5082912
Really? That's pretty fascinating to hear. My older sister watched the Jungle Book remake and pretty much hated it - felt that it tried to hard to be different from the original in some ways while hewing too close to the original in others.
Never bothered with the Beauty and the Beast remake myself. Heard a bunch of mixed things about it.
Though in regard to Aladdin - I'm glad that you enjoyed it. I'd had no interest in watching it myself (not because of the original - I've actually never seen it, I dunno why, but the story itself just does nothing to interest me). Though really, if you say the key to watching it is to disassociate from the original and accept it as its own thing... I probably could do that, considering that I never saw the original to begin with.
5082989
Understood.
5083163
Well, if you want the best of Beauty and the Beast 2017, listen to Gaston and the Mob Song.
And yeah, the new Aladdin is more or less the same story, but it does its own thing. Nobody is exactly the way they were in the original. Also Jasmine gets TWO solo songs and quite frankly? I adore them. They send chills down my spine.
I do recommend the OG Aladdin, if only because of Jafar and Genie, but it isn't a movie I consider a "must watch".
5083174
Hmm, I see. Thanks for the input.
5083176
Happy to help. Plus, Robin Williams, Genie really is quite funny, if you like reference humor and get the references. If you don't, then a fair bit of the comedy is lost.
5083177
Of course. I honestly don't have anything against Williams, I just never really saw the comedies that he built his stardom on.
5083180
Understandable,