Dumbo

This Dumbo is certainly a visual spectacle, and it could've gone awry if not for the one key thing required to make this movie work: Dumbo is really, really cute.

I believed an elephant could fly, this Disney remake a beguiling fantasy that does its animated predecessor proud.

Expect to be impressed by the cinematography (Ben Davis), costumes (Colleen Atwood), production design (Rick Heinrichs), music (Danny Elfman) and the animation that created the adorable Dumbo with those large watery eyes that sparkle in the wild.

That this same blockbuster should turn out to be utterly soulless and the cinematic equivalent of a tacky Vandevere production is a gorgeously satisfying irony, and certainly the most interesting element of an otherwise vapid, uninspired remake.

While Dumbo has the premise of a Burton movie - an outsider cast adrift in a carnivalesque world - it hardly feels like one, with the director's signature visual style subsumed into a world of sunset hues and glassy CG veneers.

The animation of old feels so much more real than the live-action remake.

…Tim Burton’s Dumbo may not please its target audience with a feeling for both light and shade, but it provides plenty of evidence of Burton’s genuine acumen and showmanship as a director…


Unfortunately, the filmmakers cannot seem to get out of their own way and Dumbo crashes before it takes flight.

It’s bad enough that this overbloated, soulless imitation can’t find a reason to exist. But it’s all style and no substance, and even the style isn’t worthy of the Tim Burton name.

Burton’s usual dark tone is subdued but the creativity and imagination remain, finding messages in various segments of the story everyone can relate to.