Directed by Tim Burton and a live remake of the original 1941 Disney animated film, Dumbo is a visually arresting movie that attempts to recreate the magic of the original beloved classic but ultimately fails to provide the expected high-flying inspiring emotions. Set in 1919 America, the film begins when we meet a soldier returning from World War I named Holt Farrier, played by Golden Globe winner Colin Farrell, to the Medici Brothers’ Circus where he was employed in a horse show and is reunited with his two kids who just recently lost their mother and his wife. The owner and operator of the circus Max Medici, played by Golden Globe winner Danny DeVito, knows that his circus is in financial distress so he takes a gamble in purchasing a pregnant elephant named Jumbo. After the aging elephant gives birth to a baby elephant with abnormally large ears and is made fun of and called Dumbo, Medici tries to get rid of both elephants. However, Holt’s children Milly, played by newcomer Nico Parker, and Joe, played by Finley Hobbins, become attached to the mother elephant and her son and quickly discover Dumbo is very special because he can fly. Eventually, Medici discovers his baby elephant’s potential to make money and decides to sell Dumbo and the entire circus to V. A. Vandevere, the slick owner of a amusement park known as Dreamland and is played by Oscar nominee Michael Keaton. Also deep in financial troubles and trying to get financing from a New York banker who is played by Oscar winner Alan Arkin, the amusement park owner is desperate and cuts all corners in order to make money off of Dumbo and separating him from his mother to avoid a distraction. He even asks his prized trapeze artist Colette Marchant, played by Golden Globe nominee Eva Green, to join a very risky trick with Dumbo using his ability to fly. Towards the end of the movie, things go very badly for the villainous Vandevere and a plan is hatched by the members of the Medici Brothers’ Circus to rescue Dumbo and his mother. Where the loosely adapted story of the animated film is lacking, Tim Burton’s unique visual vision is brilliantly able to recreate a glossy circus and amusement park from a vintage era in which showmanship was essential. Overall, the highly anticipated movie fell short of expectations and puts into question Disney’s money-making strategy of sometimes unnecessarily remaking their animated classic catalog into live action movies.
KEITH on Reels 