Dumbo (2019) - Review: A Big Heart is What Really Helps Dumbo Take Flight
Release date (US): March 29th, 2019
Starring: Eva Green, Colin Farrell, Danny DeVito, Michael Keaton
**DISCLAIMER**: This is a subjective, opinionated article that does not have, nor should have any effect on your opinion. As such, my opinion is entitled to change over time and whatever is written here at this point in time may not and should not be held to me in the future. You are not meant to agree with me 100 percent of the time, because the nature of subjectivity is we see everything differently. If there is something you happen to disagree with, I absolutely respect your point of view if you will respect mine. Please keep this in mind.
Everyone knows about Dumbo. Disney has a way with their magical creatures. The flying elephant has become a staple of popular culture throughout the years, especially for children, as they remember the flying elephant with huge ears that made us believe in the impossible.
Even I, having not grown up on the film, knew the basics of Dumbo; an elephant with big ears who relies on a feather to fly but realizes he doesn't need the feather and learns to take flight on his own. But when Disney announced that they would be remaking the film in live-action, as they had been doing for a lot of their other classics, I was a little skeptical. Animation was a different story in terms of making an animal that doesn't talk the protagonist because of how expressive you can make the creature through drawing. But in live-action, I wasn't quite sure.
The trailers sold me on the film, however. The sweetness, and the sadness, and the beating heart that this film has was foreshadowed by some brilliant trailers that showcased the incredible cast of Colin Farrell, Michael Keaton, and Danny DeVito.
And for better or for worse, this film ended up being pure "Disney". This film is Disney encapsulated in a two hour film. The movie has the heart, the soul, the joy, and the pure exhilaration and wonder that are reminiscent of old Disney classics.
What's interesting to me is that the film doesn't actually portray Dumbo as the main character, because it knows about the limitations of making this animal the main character. But what it does do it take its stellar cast and wrap it around the elephant to accentuate the charm that this CGI creation has. And for what it's worth, the elephant works in the context of the film. The CGI isn't the greatest there's ever been for an elephant. I'm sure if you saw a CGI elephant from the upcoming Lion King compared to Dumbo, it would be night-and-day. But the filmmakers sacrifice pure realism for a little bit more expressiveness and emotion in Dumbo's eyes that do make him a little more "cartoony" but work wonders to let the audience know how he's feeling at any given point in time.
What sets this apart from a lot of other Disney films as well is that you end up really rooting for the protagonist. Some of the latest films are enjoyable, but it lacks the true involvement from the audience that a lot of the previous films had. You really do want Dumbo to fly. I found myself at the edge of my seat when Dumbo was teetering on the edge of a platform about to fall, and there was genuine tension. I knew there was never a doubt in my mind that Dumbo was going to fall but then catch himself at the last second and fly. But the way the scenes were shot and laid-out provided actual, dramatic tension.
Anytime you have a cast as good as this one with Danny DeVito, Michael Keaton, and Colin Farrell, you're bound to get some great performances. Each one of them performed their roles exactly as they were told by the script. Their performances were extremely solid. Eva Green also has a significant role, which I wasn't expecting, but also which I didn't quite enjoy as much. Her character felt almost entirely superfluous. Again, I preface all of this by saying that I haven't seen the original in an extremely long time, and don't remember nearly anything from it, but I felt both Eva Green's performance and character was not the best.
Despite some solid performances, however, I felt that the real weakness of the movie was the predictability and the script. Every single moment of the movie, I was able to telegraph what the next few scenes and plot points were going to be. This isn't really Tim Burton's fault; he was going off of a tried-and-true formulaic type of story that was set in stone many, many years ago. So while I don't fault the filmmakers necessarily, I do have to point it out. And the script, much like the story, is a product of the original film. It's a little clunky at times, and doesn't lend the characters much room to breathe. They're very, very one-dimensional, but then again, so were the originals. It just doesn't quite lend itself to live-action as well as it could, because live-action and animation are very, very different mediums.
And since the script is so weak and the characters are so flat, it makes it so much worse when the child actors are so bad at acting. Especially the little girl; every time she said anything, it brought me back to Jake Lloyd or Hayden Christiansen from the Star Wars prequels. It was so wooden and so stiff that I couldn't believe that this was the best child actress for the role. While Colin Farrell can make a bad script work by acting around it, these children don't do the movie any favors.
But the point of a movie is so make you feel something. It really is to give you an emotional experience, and whatever that may be, whether it's horror, action, thrills, chills, sadness, you should come out of a good movie with high emotions. Many others have said that this film is "dark" for a Disney movie; I can see why this movie would be traumatic for children, but as for me, I didn't quite get that sadness that I thought I would. But on the "highs", the film really delivers an experience that is true and faithful to the original while bringing its own unique, classic twist to a new generation.
In Conclusion: Dumbo lends itself to animation more than live-action, let's be 100 percent clear about that. The emotion needed from the elephant is less than what it could be on an animated screen. And yet, despite the weaknesses of translating an old story and an old screenplay to the silver screen, the actors make it work, and the elephant makes it work. You end up loving baby Dumbo and being able to see him overcome the odds and fly is what you really came to see in the movie. And by the time I walked out of the theater, I believed an elephant could fly - at least this one.
The Review
Everyone knows about Dumbo. Disney has a way with their magical creatures. The flying elephant has become a staple of popular culture throughout the years, especially for children, as they remember the flying elephant with huge ears that made us believe in the impossible.
Even I, having not grown up on the film, knew the basics of Dumbo; an elephant with big ears who relies on a feather to fly but realizes he doesn't need the feather and learns to take flight on his own. But when Disney announced that they would be remaking the film in live-action, as they had been doing for a lot of their other classics, I was a little skeptical. Animation was a different story in terms of making an animal that doesn't talk the protagonist because of how expressive you can make the creature through drawing. But in live-action, I wasn't quite sure.
The trailers sold me on the film, however. The sweetness, and the sadness, and the beating heart that this film has was foreshadowed by some brilliant trailers that showcased the incredible cast of Colin Farrell, Michael Keaton, and Danny DeVito.
And for better or for worse, this film ended up being pure "Disney". This film is Disney encapsulated in a two hour film. The movie has the heart, the soul, the joy, and the pure exhilaration and wonder that are reminiscent of old Disney classics.
What's interesting to me is that the film doesn't actually portray Dumbo as the main character, because it knows about the limitations of making this animal the main character. But what it does do it take its stellar cast and wrap it around the elephant to accentuate the charm that this CGI creation has. And for what it's worth, the elephant works in the context of the film. The CGI isn't the greatest there's ever been for an elephant. I'm sure if you saw a CGI elephant from the upcoming Lion King compared to Dumbo, it would be night-and-day. But the filmmakers sacrifice pure realism for a little bit more expressiveness and emotion in Dumbo's eyes that do make him a little more "cartoony" but work wonders to let the audience know how he's feeling at any given point in time.
What sets this apart from a lot of other Disney films as well is that you end up really rooting for the protagonist. Some of the latest films are enjoyable, but it lacks the true involvement from the audience that a lot of the previous films had. You really do want Dumbo to fly. I found myself at the edge of my seat when Dumbo was teetering on the edge of a platform about to fall, and there was genuine tension. I knew there was never a doubt in my mind that Dumbo was going to fall but then catch himself at the last second and fly. But the way the scenes were shot and laid-out provided actual, dramatic tension.
Anytime you have a cast as good as this one with Danny DeVito, Michael Keaton, and Colin Farrell, you're bound to get some great performances. Each one of them performed their roles exactly as they were told by the script. Their performances were extremely solid. Eva Green also has a significant role, which I wasn't expecting, but also which I didn't quite enjoy as much. Her character felt almost entirely superfluous. Again, I preface all of this by saying that I haven't seen the original in an extremely long time, and don't remember nearly anything from it, but I felt both Eva Green's performance and character was not the best.
Despite some solid performances, however, I felt that the real weakness of the movie was the predictability and the script. Every single moment of the movie, I was able to telegraph what the next few scenes and plot points were going to be. This isn't really Tim Burton's fault; he was going off of a tried-and-true formulaic type of story that was set in stone many, many years ago. So while I don't fault the filmmakers necessarily, I do have to point it out. And the script, much like the story, is a product of the original film. It's a little clunky at times, and doesn't lend the characters much room to breathe. They're very, very one-dimensional, but then again, so were the originals. It just doesn't quite lend itself to live-action as well as it could, because live-action and animation are very, very different mediums.
And since the script is so weak and the characters are so flat, it makes it so much worse when the child actors are so bad at acting. Especially the little girl; every time she said anything, it brought me back to Jake Lloyd or Hayden Christiansen from the Star Wars prequels. It was so wooden and so stiff that I couldn't believe that this was the best child actress for the role. While Colin Farrell can make a bad script work by acting around it, these children don't do the movie any favors.
But the point of a movie is so make you feel something. It really is to give you an emotional experience, and whatever that may be, whether it's horror, action, thrills, chills, sadness, you should come out of a good movie with high emotions. Many others have said that this film is "dark" for a Disney movie; I can see why this movie would be traumatic for children, but as for me, I didn't quite get that sadness that I thought I would. But on the "highs", the film really delivers an experience that is true and faithful to the original while bringing its own unique, classic twist to a new generation.
In Conclusion: Dumbo lends itself to animation more than live-action, let's be 100 percent clear about that. The emotion needed from the elephant is less than what it could be on an animated screen. And yet, despite the weaknesses of translating an old story and an old screenplay to the silver screen, the actors make it work, and the elephant makes it work. You end up loving baby Dumbo and being able to see him overcome the odds and fly is what you really came to see in the movie. And by the time I walked out of the theater, I believed an elephant could fly - at least this one.
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