Movie Man Darian Watching All Night Long

Dumbo (2019)

This film is visually appealing but falters more then it soars. Dumbo is the latest cash grab remake from Disney as they are on a goal to remake every Disney film from its vault and this is the latest one. Here is the problem with Dumbo if you rewatch it dose not hold up as the incredibly insensitive racist and very depressing narrative of how they treat animals and animal cruelty shown through the film is a very sad film to watch and also isn’t one of Disney’s most popular films like The Lion King and Snow White. So here they brush aside a lot of what the original had and trades it in for visual style which also is a falter for the film too. 

First off, This is loud and clear style over substance as Dumbo is visually appealing from the sets, costumes and cinematography that’s all incredibly well shown through the film. It’s all very well rounded from a technical point of view but it’s very easy to get caught up in the spectacle and not tell a coherent narrative which it unfortunately does. The film follows the same beats as the original take but since it’s very much longer then the original it has more time for filler and interjects unneeded side plots with these new characters that are pointless and go no where. It tries to introduce so many new aspects to this very old story that it just fails to work due to so much going on at once. Theirs a villain in the film which is new as the original never had a antagonist. So due to the cluttered and not well thought out pacing and overall execution it can’t help but feel like a mess that even the visual eye popping aspect can’t distract you from seeing. 

Secondly, Dumbo isn’t the centre of the film! The film is called Dumbo yet I felt as the supporting characters had more context and screen time then the title character. We get so much time with Colin Farrell’s and Eva Green’s character arc then we do with Dumbo which sucks. As Dumbo is more of a sympathy card then he is a character with more then one side. As we see him get verbally abused and psychically taken advantage of too but we never really see any positive aspects of him besides the fact he can fly that’s it and it’s very limiting to what we see and can’t help but feel underwhelmed with Dumbo’s spotlight in the film as he feels like a side note to his own film. 

Overall, Dumbo is but a side note to his own film that can’t help but feel underwhelming from its poorly executed story to the lengthy runtime Dumbo falls more then it soars. 

This film is a retelling of the classic story of Dumbo and his very large ears that gives him the ability to fly 

Rated PG : for peril/action, some thematic elements, and brief mild language

Danny DeVito : DeVito is one of the few enjoyable aspects of this film as he gives a fun charismatic performance that is great fun to watch. He isn’t on the big screen that much anymore which is a shame as he’s a very entertaining and comedically talented actor. He really shows great dramatic range here not Oscar caliber but strong emotion we haven’t seen from him in sometime. He plays it very serious which is a change of pace for Danny as it’s usually the opposite where he’s always the funny man and here he has to manage a circus trope while also trying to keep his head above water and he dose it in such a natural way that is so well shown onscreen by him. He has moments of sheer joy and also moments of sorrow and he’s able to be incredibly emotive and expressive through his eyes he just delivers a performance with incredible captivating emotional drive that is fantastically presented onscreen he can show the hardship and also the comedic wit as well Danny really shines in this film giving one of his strongest and most memorable performances in recent time. 

Tim Burton : Tim what the he’ll happened! This filmmaker is one of my all time favourite directors due to his visionary he shows onscreen. His best work all came out in the late 80’s and the 90’s and since then has had a hard time replicating his great work from the past as here he misses the target this isn’t the first remake he’s done as he’s done it with Charlie and the chocolate factory, Alice in wonderland and planet of the apes but I’m sorry Tim I respect you but this is your worst film I’ve seen I’m sorry it became overdone with to many characters with little context to them as well the film felt more like a visual spectacle then an actual well structured narrative as it has so many side plots that detracts the film from its original story it should be telling it just seems that Tim can’t make every remake magic as it’s sadly shown here I know he can do better I’ve seen it in just let down Tim also made it incredibly darker then I intended him to I know he’s known for doing that but here it just felt Tone wise out of place and the film just felt like a misguided Hollow mess with unneeded characters and side story’s with an overlong runtime that could of been shorter their were things I liked he brought to it like Dumbo was cute and all but that’s not enough to save the film sadly overall Tim missteps with this film and never can quite find his footing.