Review: Dumbo is charming, magical, and far from a shot-for-shot remake
You’ll believe an elephant can fly…
★★★★☆
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. (IMDb)
At a certain point, we’re going to have to stop discussing every single Disney “live-action” remake in comparison to its original. We’re reaching the limits of that approach as a useful way to critique these projects. And, honestly, the 1941 Dumbo just isn’t a movie that a lot of us are going to be able to remember all that well. The classic animation is something many viewers won’t have seen since childhood. While this has the spirit and some of the themes of that film, it does put a modern spin on them and feels a lot like a new story entirely.
The narrative isn’t necessarily the most lighthearted of Disney tales. This is clearly a rather “loose” remake of the original. It takes place in a different time period, has no talking animals, and no musical numbers. It’s a film about people, and about how the circus mistreats animals. It has a specific focus on the circus as a struggling business and a clear villain in Michael Keaton’s dastardly VA Vandevere.
The story follows the employees of the Medici Bros Circus (run by Danny DeVito as Max Medici), in particular Colin Farrell’s Holt Farrier, who has just returned from World War One as an amputee. He struggles to connect with his kids, Milly (Nico Parker) and Joe (Finley Hobbins), finds his position has changed, and has to come to terms with his wife’s death from influenza while he was gone. As I said, it’s not the most lighthearted story! Holt’s put in charge of the elephants at the circus, and it’s his kids who realise the newborn Jumbo Jr may have the ability to fly with his unusually large ears.
One of Tim Burton’s best movies in a while
In recent years, Tim Burton has had a mixed bag of movies to his name, some have been widely praised and others have been real flops. This is slightly less obviously a Burton movie, and it feels like a film that reins in some of his more quirky and peculiar tendencies. That makes Dumbo all the more approachable and more emotional, though. Our focus is on the plight of this poor little animal, and the difficulties he’s facing (and, yes, Dumbo is absurdly cute). Some of the typical Burton “tropes” are almost completely absent here, and that’s a good thing. This is a film about human characters coming to terms with their mistakes and recognising not only when others are taking advantage of them, but how they are complicit in taking advantage of animals. This is a story about freedom, family, and doing the right thing.
A fantastic visual treat
We’ve come to take a lot of astounding visual effects work for granted, but it’s worth recognising just how fantastic it is that Dumbo is able to make us believe that this baby elephant is capable of flight. The animation for the titular character is excellent, it’s just the right amount of photo-real but also cute and cartoonish too. Dumbo’s expressive eyes convey emotion really effectively, and while obviously elephants physically can’t fly, the visual effects team has clearly worked on making Dumbo walk and behave like an elephant would in reality. And there’s something highly convincing about the way the flight is animated that just makes it all the more easy to accept the movie magic and suspend your disbelief. It’s also evident, even if you haven’t seen the original film in a long while, that the design and approach to Dumbo honours and respects the look of the character from the 1941 animation.
It builds to a rewarding finale
Dumbo doesn’t get going very quickly, and it definitely feels like it’s slow going in the first half. But it builds well towards an effective, rousing, and uplifting finale in which many of the characters come to their senses and begin working to protect Dumbo and save his mother. What really helps make this film feel so worthwhile is that unlike a remake like Beauty and the Beast, it really doesn’t attempt to simply re-tell the original story beat-for-beat. There are major changes here, and it’s rewarding to see the film reckon with the idea of a dominant overlord company that engulfs the Medici Circus and clearly plans to dismiss all of its employees (it may be completely unintentional, but the way that this echoes Disney’s real-life business practices and behaviour, especially in recent years, is incredibly relevant and topical — is Burton criticising Disney from within the system?), along with considering its mistreatment of animals and risky practices that put performers at risk. There’s a lot going on in this film, and Dumbo just about manages to balance all of its themes and issues successfully as it builds towards its powerful and spectacular action-packed climax.
Verdict
It may be a remake, but it feels like a new story. Burton’s take is dark, but heartwarming and impactful too. It has a brilliant finale and looks stunning.
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