Aight, so…
The screenplay was one-note. I hit the watch-check after 20 minutes, so the introduction did nothing for my wobbly attention span. The acting, across the board, felt a tad choreographed, which makes sense for a flat screenplay. Good idea casting Danny DeVito as the circus owner—perfect fit!
Burton’s effect:
About 75% of my interest in seeing this movie was due to Tim Burton. Hair, makeup, costuming and set design are like extra characters for him. He usually balances those elements where they don’t consume the film, they support each other. This film relied too heavily on those visual elements to help make this film enjoyable. I’m thinking “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” I’m thinking “Edward Scissorhands,” I’m thinking that Willy Wonka re-make no one asked for, where he played so well with the menacing and ominous but it didn’t necessarily equate to evil or wicked. This remake could have worked so much better IF he would’ve added his signature flair. Or lit the hell outta those deep blues and dark purples into some Burton-esque magic. This just didn’t do it for me.
He used the weather as a mood ring, of sorts. For example, there was a dreary, gray backdrop of the horizon where the characters were framed when Dumbo’s mom was taken away from the circus. Gray backdrop, cue melancholic dramatics. Not saying it was a good or bad idea to showcase symbolism, just on-the-nose.
I expect circus-themed anything to go overboard with histrionics! ‘Tis expected. Here though, a few scenes rushed from joy to immediate sadness to awe to despair a little too rapidly. And I live for the melodramatic. One element missing from this was a succinct musical number. Most, if not all, 2D animated Disney movies are musicals. But, this isn’t a musical, and I think I kept wanting it to be “The Greatest Showman.” This film lacked sparkle because it was missing an extra je ne sais quoi. I didn’t need a sing-a-long song type thing, just a little nugget of something.
The score was adequate though-typical, unwavering from circus-styled norm.
Loved the palette Burton chose. It’s hard to mess up a circus, but it can be done, and it can look super cheesy. He stuck to stereotypical primary colors—reds, whites, blues, golden rods, but went a bit skewed to match his particular brand of quirk. A+ on the costuming/hair/makeup!
Oh, and shout out to the writers for including a little girl’s interest in the scientific method and her pursuits in STEM in a family fantasy re-make! Super, double-tap love for that “Flinestones-chewable vitamin,” medicine-in-the-candy moment. Great underlying theme! 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 The Madame Marie Curie exhibit at Dreamland almost (ALMOST) made me shed a thug tear. 😢 **shouts “Girls in STEM! Girls in STEM!”**
To conclude, this movie looked EXPENSIVE. 👀 I hope it recoups. It must have been difficult to adapt a well-known 2D animated film about anthropomorphic animals into a live-action movie where the titular character takes a supporting back seat to the humans around him. I kept forgetting the movie was about the magic of Dumbo and his special oddity.
Note: For my GoT fans, the Thenn Warg from the series is a villain in this film! I fixated on this for like 20 minutes.