Dumbo (2019)

RATING: B-

There are few things I despise more coming out of Hollywood these days than this string of Disney remaking all their old *and* still relatively recent animated classics. It's creative bankruptcy taken to levels of insanity. But I will rant more about that later in a separate post... trust me. (Next week, actually.) 

Anyway, there was *one* remake in the list that caught my mild interest--and that was Dumbo. Why? For starters, because it's a Tim Burton movie. And while not all of his movies are my cup of tea, he is one of the most creative and imaginative minds in Hollywood, so I usually try to give most of his works a shot. 

The other thing is... the original Dumbo actually isn't all that good. It wasn't without a couple good moments, but it's ludicrously short (64 minutes!) and despite that short length, there's still not very much happening in the movie. Dumbo doesn't even learn to fly until near the very end. And it also contained some really annoying side characters. 

Dumbo was one of the very, very few Disney animated classics that could've actually used a do-over. And they got Tim Burton to direct it, which was quite fitting--the story of a character born with some kind of mutation that is actually a gift, but he is an outcast for it. Edward Scissorhands, anyone? 

So yes, this is still the story of the baby elephant (*not* delivered by storks this time--I think) who is born at a traveling circus (led by Danny DeVito) with unusually large ears; and he discovers that somehow with these ears/wings, he can fly. And that's one thing this version gets right--Dumbo flies much, much earlier. The immediate difference here is that instead of being helped out by a talking mouse, Dumbo is helped out by some humans--namely, a pair of siblings whose mother is dead and whose father has just come back from WWI with a missing arm. 

This version does seem to get a lot right particularly in its first half. The story and plot move along more organically. Sometimes it's a little by-the-numbers, but there's never really any annoyances along the way. And some impressive CGI gives us a baby elephant with very expressive eyes, which helps us be endeared to the little guy quickly (if the eyes aren't too "uncanny-valley" for you, that is). 

Of course, given how short the source material is, this version was bound to have make up some completely brand new material. And that--in the second half--is where things get a little off the rails. Michael Keaton shows up to buy Danny DeVito's circus, and then proceeds to play a megalomaniac entrepreneur so cartoonishly villainous, the only thing he was missing was a mustache to twirl. While Keaton does alright at hamming it up, the character is annoying because there doesn't seem to be much motivation behind a lot of his evil actions--not even money at times. 

The other main issue with this film is the fact that they felt the need to re-do the famous/infamous "pink elephants" sequence for some reason. Except this time, it's not an acid trip; it's some bubble-blowing sorcery, and it somehow feels even more pointless. At least this is fairly short, though. 

Still, the film kind of gets its act together again towards the end when it sort of mirrors the end of the cartoon. The result is a short genuinely feel-good sequence with a human element added to it. There seems to be some belief among some that this movie doesn't have the heart of the original, but there was enough for me. And to be frank, I don't remember the original having a dramatic amount of heart aside from that one heartbreaking scene we all remember (which is also kind of repeated here). 

Even though some of the human characters are forgettable, there's still some good performances. Danny DeVito particularly stands out; Colin Farrell and Keaton are fine as well. However, child actress Nico Parker is also notable as of one two siblings who befriend Dumbo. 

Burton's version of Dumbo isn't outstanding or anything, but it's a very rare (almost nonexistent) breed among the Disney remakes in that it actually outdoes the original. And again, it's also a very rare breed among the remakes in that its existence feels more justified. This is worth a watch if you're a fan of Tim Burton movies at all.