DUMBO (2019) MOVIE NEWS & REVIEW

dumbo (2019) movie

Genre              |   Fantasy Adventure

Classification   |   PG

Running time   |   130 minutes

Released         |   28 March 2019

cast

Eva Green ... Colette Marchant
Colin Farrell ... Holt Farrier
Michael Keaton ... V. A. Vandevere
Danny DeVito ... Max Medici
​Alan Arkin ... J. Griffin Remington

director

Tim Burton

writer

​Helen Aberson ... (novel)
Ehren Kruger ... (screenplay)
Harold Pearl ... (novel)

cinematographer

​Ben Davis

music

Danny Elfman

film editor

Chris Lebenzon

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box office result

Worldwide               $​353,284,621

Australia                 $​8,635,555

North America        $​114,766,307

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the best dialogue

Milly Farrier: We're all family here, no matter how small.

Milly Farrier: [As Dumbo's mom is getting loaded into a prison train car] What's happening? Where are they taking her?
Holt Farrier: Take Dumbo back inside.
Joe Farrier: But she's his mom; do something.

Milly Farrier: Fly, Dumbo... fly.

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DUMBO (2019) MOVIE IMAGES

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DUMBO (2019) STORY SYNOPSIS

​A young elephant, whose oversized ears enable him to fly, helps save a struggling circus, but when the circus plans a new venture, Dumbo and his friends discover dark secrets beneath its shiny veneer.

DUMBO (2019) MOVIE REVIEW

Reviewed by Mark Geraghty   |   Review date 28 March 2019

Pop ​Movee Rating

Tim Burton’s version of DUMBO tries hard to squeeze the viewer’s emotions, but the inevitable grate between live-action reality and computer-generated “reality” dissipates the film’s story momentum to the point that it becomes a reductive exercise that feels more like a plot-point checklist than an heartfelt movie experience.

There are few filmmakers (perhaps only Walt Disney himself) whose careers have blurred the line between live action and animation as successfully as Tim Burton, so it comes as something of a surprise that he has struggled to bring the character of Dumbo to life in a “live action” feature.

It has not been a struggle in the past;

BEETLEJUICE (1988)

BATMAN (1989)

EDWARD SCISSORHANDS (1990)

MARS ATTACKS! (1996)

All of these films successfully translate story structure, visual style and characterisation from the Animation genre into living, real world environments that stretch the viewers comprehension of reality without completely descending into a WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT (1988) world where there is no distinction...

Whether the idea sprang from Burton’s own mindscape (such as BEETLEJUICE and EDWARD SCISSORHANDS) or an alternative well-spring (the DC comic book universe or the Topps trading card release), the filmmaker’s signature style has always featured an Animation flourish that acknowledge his own animation talents.

So, why does Burton’s DUMBO fail to translate into a compelling live-action adaptation?

To understand where Burton fails, it’s important to understand why Disney succeeded...

For those unfamiliar with the animated classic, the 1941 version of DUMBO is one of Disney’s most highly regarded films. 

DUMBO was released at a time when Walt Disney’s studio was under tremendous financial pressure. Neither PINOCCHIO (1940) or FANTASIA (1940) had been able to mirror the box office success of SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (1937), but both films had been expensive to make. 

The studio’s next film had to be made in a cost-effective fashion and perform well at the box office….

Due to budget restrictions, the animated DUMBO is the most cartoon-like of the early Disney animated films.

Fortunately for Walt Disney, the film’s lesser artistic qualities did not prevent DUMBO from achieving what was required. It was a financial success at the time and, throughout the years, has been lauded by generation-after-generation of viewers.

The key to the film’s success is its simplicity.

The lesser budget restricted Disney’s animators from creating the luscious background animation that had featured in the studio’s first three feature films. By necessity, the focus remained fixed on the foreground characters. 

At 64 minutes, it’s also the shortest Disney animated feature. 

The relatively short running time has the effect of distilling the story to its most critical elements. Without the multiple plot threads of a larger-scale adventure, the story unfolds quickly and efficiently. (Without doubt, this was also a cost-saving measure employed by Disney.) The film culminates with Dumbo learning that he can fly and there’s genuine delight in watching him soar around for the last six minutes of the film.

While not double the length of the 1941 film, the 2019 DUMBO clocks in 48 minutes longer.

So, how does Burton compensate for the longer running time?

By ignoring most of the original film...

It may sound odd, but Burton and screenwriter Ehren Kruger (SCREAM 3 (2000), TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION (2014)) take only a couple of the most basic elements from the original film... 

Other than the character of Dumbo himself, Dumbo’s ability to fly and Mr. Jumbo’s protection of her baby are the notable only story points from the 1941 film that make their way into the 2019 version. Sure, there are some scenes that are inspired by the 1941 film, but Burton transforms these into 21st Century CGI interpretations with only a passing resemblance to what appeared in the original.

Perhaps the most important thing to know about the 2019 film is that one of the central characters from the 1941 film, Timothy Q. Mouse, is missing. 

This is an important omission because Timothy provided the expository narrative bridge between the Circus animals and the humans; an anthropomorphised cypher that provided the insight into Dumbo’s actions and emotions. The absence of this link explains why there is a disconnect between live-action reality and the computer-generated “reality” in the 2019 film.

Burton and Kruger substitute Timothy with two children, Milly (Nico Parker) and Joe (Finley Hobbins). The children’s mother has recently died and their father, Holt (Colin Farrell), returns to them a changed man; affected by the loss of his arm on the battlefield while enduring the horrors of World War One. 

It’s a pretty gloomy premise…

Milly and Joe become more enlivened with the arrival of elephant Mrs. Jumbo, the newest acquisition made by Danny DeVito’s Max Medici, owner of the  Medici Brothers Travelling Circus. Farrell’s Holt quickly realises that Mrs. Jumbo is heavily pregnant, but Medici’s joy at the news (for a new crowd-drawing attraction) turns sour when the baby elephant is revealed with huge, oversized ears that make him the butt of everyone’s joke.

Young Milly and Joe become the conduit for translating the baby elephant’s emotions into some form the viewer can relate to, however, in doing so, the story becomes less about explaining how Dumbo feels and more about the children’s emotional fluctuations relative to the elephant’s circumstance…

The children’s interpretation of Dumbo missing his mother are seized upon as an opportunity to illustrate how the children are missing their own mother, highlighting the inadequacies of their father and the need for a matriarch (Eva Green’s Colette) to help provide balance in the family dynamic. It’s not a terrible message, but it has the effect of shifting the focus away from Dumbo and introducing a “human” element that wasn’t featured in the 1941 film.

DUMBO also suffers from some indifferent performances…

Parker and Hobbins do a solid job with their characters. Colin Farrell and Danny DeVito also all get a pass mark. Michael Keaton’s V.A. Vandervere is another story… 

Keaton struggles with finding an appropriate accent for the character and attempts several different versions of a similar “Dandy” theme throughout but he never hits the right note. He would have been better to have maintained his own voice and tune it up fractionally to deliver the sense of superiority he lords over everyone within his gravity.

Eva Green also appears at a loss with her material. She’s not terrible, but she’s not altogether convincing either. Despite how things may end, Colette never feels like she establishes the emotional connection with the Holt family that the story suggests. 

Alan Arkin makes an appearance late in the film as Banker J. Griffin Remington and, like so many of his performances, manages to steal every scene he’s in. The beauty of Arkin is that he never seems to be trying too hard. He delivers his lines in the “Arkin” style and gets on with it. The result is always both funny and relatable.

Tim Burton is a wonderful, imaginative film maker, but this live-action DUMBO feels forced and unnecessary.

The desire to remake the classic Disney films for a 21st Century viewer is a fraught endeavour. To this point, the new versions have been above average, with the possible exception of 2016’s PETE’S DRAGON. 

DUMBO is not unlike that film...

The human elements don’t quite marry with the visual effect of an oversized animal soaring through the air!

Without the belief in Dumbo himself, there’s not much left to “Wonder” about...

DUMBO MOVIE (2019) USEFUL LINKS

Dumbo (2019 film) - Wikipedia
​Dumbo (2019) - IMDb
​Dumbo (2019) - Rotten Tomatoes

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