Probably one of the most curious films in Disney’s array of live-action remakes was Dumbo. While the original film is regarded as one of Disney’s original classics, it became discussed much less in recent years, as Disney focused much of their merchandising and media on both their current films as well as their highly-regarded Disney Renaissance films from the 90’s. While their older films haven’t necessarily completely fell by the wayside, the only ones still regularly used in Disney parks, video games, and any other sort of promotional material are ones centered around their iconic princess characters - The Jungle Book being one of the only exceptions, having seen a live-action remake of its own back in 2015, to critical acclaim.
So when a Dumbo live-action remake was announced by Disney, it wasn’t as highly anticipated as other efforts such as Aladdin or The Lion King, which also see release this year. Younger generations didn’t grow up on the original film, and many of those who did see it quickly forgot about it as the Renaissance films came into play.
While the involvement of visionary director Tim Burton did raise some interest, especially thanks in part to the fact he directed the box office smash (though critically divided) Alice in Wonderland, this still didn’t elevate the film to a “Must-See” live-action adaptation. Again, mainly due to the fact that the original film doesn’t resonate as well with younger audiences, which leads to the question whether or not Disney should have bothered with this remake at all, one that which takes a lot of liberties with the original story.
Unlike the original, the film now follows World War I veteran and circus performer named Holt (Colin Farrell), who returns home from the war to a circus he once worked at, run by Max Medici (Danny DeVito). Holt is assigned to take care of the elephants, including Jumbo, who gives birth to a son nicknamed Dumbo due to his abnormally large ears. When Dumbo is ridiculed, Jumbo goes mad and kills one of the cruel elephant tamers, and is sold off to another circus. A now depressed Dumbo is taken care of by Holt’s children, who discover his ability to fly and train him to be the star of the circus, which gains the attention of V.A. Vandevere (Michael Keaton), who brings Dumbo, Medici, and the rest of the circus on board to his amusement park so he can exploit the elephant’s talent.
The remake runs at 112 minutes, nearly double the original’s 64-minute runtime, and it’s felt more than once throughout the movie. The plot is a lot more complex this time around. Whereas the original focused almost exclusively on Dumbo himself, this film also puts a decent amount of focus on the many circus performers, with some minor subplots dedicated to the relationship between Holt and his two children, as well as the various circus performers. These moments often don’t service the overall plot, and nothing of substance is said about any of these characters, which makes the film feel bogged down and full of unnecessary distractions.
Much of the film’s dialogue doesn’t help either. While the original was filled with brief bits of dialogue that was to-the-point, the dialogue in the remake is more just too obvious. Characters will point out interactions and discoveries the audience can clearly see for themselves, and will isolate some of these lines as heightened dramatic moments that come off as incredibly corny.
While the original film comprised mostly of animal characters, this time around, many of the characters are humans. Mrs. Jumbo is still a major supporting character, whose story follows many of the same beats, though this time being sent away rather than staying a part of the same circus and just being locked in a cage. All of the animals no longer talk, which eliminates the other elephant mothers who shun Dumbo, as well as the humorous stork that was seen early on in the movie, along with the notorious crows. Timothy Q Mouse, Dumbo’s only friend in the original, actually makes a few appearances in the movie, in a non-speaking role - though dressed in the same attire as the original - as a pet of Holt’s children.
Dumbo himself, like the original, remains the film’s strongest character, and the CGI used to bring the titular elephant to life is actually one on the film’s highlights. The film perfectly recreates the character as a cheery, adorable elephant whose facial expressions do manage to convey a wide range of emotions, and the audience still manages to feel a lot of sympathy for him. Unfortunately, with all the added characters, the remake doesn’t primarily focus on the titular elephant, and the scenes without him are all fairly painful to watch.
While each of the animals in the original added to the movie’s heart, the remake’s characters are simply devoid of any heart at all. Many of these characters are about as one-dimensional as they can get, serving as cardboard cutouts of every sort of generic character type possible. There is little-to-no depth to nearly any of them, each of them being portrayed as perfect saints, or evil for the sake of just being evil. And as mentioned earlier, when the movie devotes time to focusing on just them and leaving Dumbo himself out of the picture, they don’t offer any sort of insight that gives them any sort of depth.
There are throwaway lines for Holt’s children where they mention their dead mother, yet those don’t really connect to the plot in any way, shape, or form. Meanwhile, the decision for Holt to only have one arm is a strange one, as the only purpose it really serves is the fact that it offers some brief, albeit unfunny, visual gags. There’s also a shtick where Holt’s daughter Milly is very interested in science, and it’s used to discover Dumbo’s ability to fly. Though once that happens, that act is quickly dropped and she’s simply used to keep the plot moving while offering nothing else of substance.
Meanwhile, the film forgoes one racial stereotype (the crows in the original) for many more, with the Medici circus performers ranging from a generic Indian mystic, to a hulking African-American strongman, as well as a woman whose deemed part of the “freaks” supposedly for just being overweight (which is at least my best guess). While these characters are portrayed as Dumbo’s friends, they offer essentially nothing, and could have been cut from the movie altogether and it would have barely affected the plot.
To boot, the acting is mostly cringeworthy here and leads the characters to be borderline unlikable. Colin Farrell is unusually flat here, remaining borderline monotone for the majority of the movie, almost as if he truly did not care to be in this. Michael Keaton seems like he should have been one of the highlights as the sadistic circus owner, and seems like he’s trying to work with what he’s got, but his character is so paper thin that he’s more just someone we hate rather than love to hate. Meanwhile, newcomers Nico Parker and Finley Hobbins really fail to impress as Holt’s children, who get the brunt of the film’s poor, unsubstantial dialogue. Hopefully they both get another shot to properly convey their acting skills in a future film, as they totally miss the mark here.
Meanwhile, Eva Green, another normally talented actress, is given nearly little to do, starting off as Michael Keaton’s assistant, and then quickly switching sides to the protagonist at almost the drop of the dime, allowing for zero character development, while Alan Arkin makes a cameo where he does his usual abrasive, loud shtick but doesn’t actually utter any sort of humorous dialogue. The only highlight is Danny DeVito, who essentially channels his It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia energy and gives us essentially a tamer version of Frank Reynolds as a circus ringmaster, making for some of the only fun we have in this film. Unfortunately, he’s quickly sidelined halfway through the film and only used sparingly after the halfway point.
With the acting being weak, there’s nothing visually that at least makes up for that fact. While also taking place in a circus like the original film, this is the exact opposite of bright and cheery. While Tim Burton does have a unique visual style that always employed goth features, he’s leaned a lot more heavily towards these features ever since he directed Alice in Wonderland. Many of his recent efforts are dark and dreary and lack the colorful sensibilities of films like Beetlejuice and the Batman movies. Dumbo continues that trend.
The circus itself is quite dull, and even when the film shifts its focus to a high-profile theme park that’s meant to be almost like a Disneyland, there’s never a sense of wonder conveyed throughout the park. Rather than attempting to potentially fool the audience that maybe things will be alright for Dumbo and friends once they enter the park with a more colorful atmosphere, the film instead lays all its cards out on the table and immediately gives off a depressing sense of dread. The overall color palette allows for nothing to truly shine here.
Another big part of the original that helped keep the energy flowing was its soundtrack. Unlike the original though, the remake isn’t a musical. However, it does call back to some of the original’s musical numbers. Medici is briefly heard singing “Casey Junior” to himself while there’s a circus sequence that very briefly reimagines “Pink Elephants on Parade,” though is nowhere near as insane as the original song was, and ultimately, nowhere near as enjoyable. Meanwhile, the excellent “Baby Mine” is only heard briefly once in the film. While it was the height of emotional drama in the original, here it’s a random acoustic song performed for a few seconds by one of the circus performers and loses a lot of the weight it carried in the original, essentially serving no purpose, like many of the film’s supporting characters.
The remake of Dumbo is the antithesis of the original. While the original film was a serious film that still had a sense of wonder and enjoyment, there’s very little to be desired here. It’s a dull, dark experience that doesn’t do much to keep the audience engaged. The titular elephant is enjoyable to watch, but the film shoots itself in the foot by shifting the focus away from him multiple times to graze the surface of characters that no one cares about, outside of a fun Danny DeVito who ends up being criminally underused by the second half. It’s poorly acted, too long, lacks any sort of emotional depth, and is ultimately lifeless. Not only is this Disney’s worst live-action remake, but by far Tim Burton’s worst movie.
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