Dumbo is a story that’s close to my heart and while I appreciate and see the potential in Tim Burton’s new take, I think it just missed the mark. I’ll preface this review by saying that you should see Dumbo because it’s an enjoyable film, but for me some of the creative liberties taken are not executed well.
I think that Dumbo is so cute, and you just want to give him a hug throughout the whole film. That’s the biggest strength of the film is Dumbo and he really steals the show – as he should.
One thing I found interesting about this live action version is when I would watch the animation version I would ball like a baby, but I only teared up in this adaptation and it didn’t gut punch me like the animated version did.
That to me comes from Burton’s struggle of having too many main characters beside Dumbo.
Although this movie was amusing I feel that it’s a rare mis-step by Disney with their live action movies. It felt a little flat honestly, and while Dumbo himself was magical I felt that the rest of the movie was missing that magic.
What I really enjoyed about the movie is every time Dumbo was on screen he’s captivating and was able to lift the movie up and really make it fly.
The magic is with Dumbo and if Burton would’ve made Dumbo the full front position it would have lifted the movie up even more. Since there were so many main characters it became hard to really connect with all of them because they didn’t get their individual time to shine.
I will say that the performances are good by all cast members and they do capture your attention, they just become flat after a while and since the story is told from the perspective of the humans instead of the animals that’s a problem.
In the pink elephants scene I found myself nodding and bouncing my head along with Dumbo and was one of the cutest and most memorizing scenes in the movie.
One thing I did really love about the movie were the visuals and all of them were stunning and helped create that magic that I felt was missing at some points in the film.
I respect Burton’s wanting to take these creative risks, but I felt that the risks he took only made the film more crowded and didn’t allow the audience the time to connect with the story.
I really wanted to love this movie, but instead only liked the movie, throughout the film I just felt something was missing, but go see Dumbo and admire the magic that he provides to the film.
I give Dumbo a C+
