Review - Dumbo (2019)

Dumbo (2019) is the first of Disney's live action reboots of beloved animated films that we're getting this year and I do not think it bodes well for the future. It's the story of two children whose mother has died and whose father has gone off to fight in the Great War, and therefore are raised by the circus. Their father comes back missing an arm and negotiates a new job at the circus, no longer a rodeo king but now a herder of elephants. One of these elephants has a baby with abnormally big ears and that is our titular Dumbo. Turns out, Dumbo can fly which attracts the attention of a very rich man who owns an entertainment empire, including a huge theme park. He wants Dumbo to come and perform at his park and that's where a lot of the conflict comes from, about whether the mass exploitation of talents for a huge company is ever truly right. Two problems with that synopsis though. Firstly, you may have noticed that I haven't mentioned Dumbo a lot. That's because the elephant isn't really a main character in the film. To find an odd comparison point, it's like how the humans are the main characters in Transformers when it should be the actual Transformers, the titular characters. Secondly, a movie that is anti-conglomerate coming from a company that recently bought another equally large movie company can't help but ring a little untrue. I guess there's some credit to be given for forging a slightly different path to the original film narratively but there's only so much I'm willing to give this film.

There is actually a pretty great cast at work in the film here, although sadly they aren't quite at their best. Leading the ensemble is Colin Farrell, who has been putting in some amazing work recently, especially in completely mental films like The Killing of a Sacred Deer. He's certainly not bad here, as he's probably the emotional core of the film but he does feel a tad muted. Joining him in the emotional core are two child actors, Finley Hobbins and Nico Parker. I feel bad saying anything mean about child actors because they always have room to grow as actors but yeah, they're not great, a little wooden. Probably my favourite performance in the film is Danny DeVito because I've been watching a lot of Always Sunny recently and despite not discussing his predilection for intimacy with women of the night, he plays a similarly slimy character who is a delight to watch on screen. In a word? WOW. Going to the slightly weaker end, there's Michael Keaton. I really like Keaton, he's proved himself so very many times but he feels just a little limp in executing his villain role. Ironically, if he threw himself into the mania like DeVito did, the performance could be a lot more enjoyable. Finally, Eva Green is also... in this film. Like, she does a French accent and I guess that's cool but she just seems to be in this because she is the current Burton muse. So no, not crazy on the performances.

Maybe the crux of why I didn't care much about Dumbo was that it felt too artificial and this goes back to the problem with "live action" remakes of animated films. When films are animated, there is a limitless potential in terms of visuals, the only restraint is what you can actually draw. When that gets translated to a film that is filmed conventionally, there are suddenly limited practical possibilities, awkwardly rubbing shoulders with limitless visual effects of varying quality. Even when an animated film was made in the forties, it can be more visually coherent and spectacular than something made today in live action. The cast and crew of 2019 Dumbo have even said that everything was shot at least partially with a green screen and that shows. All the environments feel so painfully artificial. It isn't even uncanny valley level of CGI, it's just moderate effects work that is noticeably CGI. Part of the appeal of Dumbo is that you're meant to believe that an elephant could fly but there was never a second in this when I felt that I was watching an elephant fly. Plus, by making it live action, the decision was also made that the elephant shouldn't talk and therefore it loses all personality apart from some admittedly well rendered eyes. And then there's the whole Disney thing again. The villain of this film is basically Walt Disney and you can't help but feel that the message of "originality is key" is poorly placed in a film made by Disney, essentially starring Disney and is a reboot of one of their previous things.

I don't really know what I expected. Disappointed but not surprised, ya know? There was a moment with Dumbo where I felt mildly interested in seeing it but by the time I took my seat, I realised what little interest I had in seeing it. If you've been taken in easily by Disney's live action remakes, I guess this is for you. If you read my blog though, you probably aren't into that and that means this film isn't going to be for you. It certainly wasn't for me and so I have to give it a