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.

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.

This remake improves on a lot of aspects of its predecessor. Dumbo is probably the most visually stunning and incredibly realistic live-action character Disney was able to produce so far. This little elephant alone is worth the price of admission.

While this Dumbo only flies so high, it never feels like it lacks for imagination.



The new live-action remake of the Disney animated classic Dumbo is helmed by the darkly eccentric director Tim Burton and his latest film is like nothing I’ve ever seen from the master of juxtaposition: Safe, almost tepid, and it’s monotonously boring.