Review of Dumbo (2019) by Ahmedaiman1999 — 08 Jul 2019

Although I put it on the list of my top 10 most anticipated movies of the year, I can't deny that I was very skeptical about this. From the moment I knew that the original 1941 animated classic would made into a live-action film, I was really worried how it would turn out. I mean, the beloved animated classic has a very simple story that could only work (at least as I thought) in an animation form. The original Dumbo alongside My Neighbor Totoro are the most "innocent" films I've seen in my life. Add to this the fact that it's directed by Tim Burton (one of my favourite filmmakers) whose adaptation of Alice in Wonderland wasn't the best thing it could be (although I liked it).

To my surprise (and a lot of people's, I reckon), Burton's rendering of Dumbo marks Burton's return to his creative, unique vision he's always been known for. I can see Burton here at his brilliant. The eccentric visual panache that distinguish Burton's works are evidently present here and not only for its own sake. Burton's imaginative visuals that leap off the screen, as Dumbo's cuteness do, also add to the storytelling a great deal.

What surprised me even more is when I found that this live-action remake isn't a "remake" per se. This is more like a movie that's inspired by the story of the original. Needless to say, the human characters here are way more richer and well-rounded than they were in the the animated film. Simply because: 1) most of them are new. 2) some of them are technically the protagonists of the story. And I can say that these characters are given a considerable amount of depth.

The villain, played by Michael Keaton, is a bit over-the-top, but I think Keaton put his touch on it, and made me forget about that for the most part. Eva Green is just fine as always. Colin Farrell is just great as always. Danny DeVito is just likable as always. All the actors did a fine job, except for Nico Parker whose acting rubbed me the wrong way as well as her infuriatingly stereotypical character.

Halfway through I thought the movie is pretty good, if certainly not as poignant and warm as the animated classic. At the third act, which is a bit overlong, the story became quite basic. It ends up treading very familiar territory. Even some characters have changed to fit the approach the movie took at the end, such as the villain who became even more over-the-top. For all that I couldn't help being less invested in the story, and the stretched denouement didn't help either. I also found how the things tuned out at the end a tad unsatisfying. And I believe that the moral at the end was slightly on-the-nose. That said, the messages that the movie conveys are well-woven into the fabric of the story. Mostly due to Burton's masterful visual storytelling techniques, including ingenious foreshadowing.

The CGI isn't as good as I expected. I wasn't looking for something like what I saw in Favreau's The Jungle Book, but I hoped the rest of the animals would look as good as the elephants do, Dumbo in particular. Because if there is only one thing Burton did better than Favreau, it would be making the lovely baby elephant Dumbo as realistic as it's agonizingly cute. But unfortunately the CGI in general looks a bit outdated in comparison to what Hollywood has achieved in the recent years.

All in all, I loved this version of Dumbo so much. And I think it's one of the best live-action remakes Disney has made so far. Also, now I can be pretty optimistic about Tim Burton's upcoming projects after I was quite disappointed from Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.

(7.