A young elephant, whose oversized ears enable him to fly, helps save a struggling circus, but when the circus plans a new venture, Dumbo and his friends discover dark secrets beneath its shiny veneer.
That something as small and insignificant as a feather can inspire one to conquer their innermost fears has resonated with me ever since I first watched the original “Dumbo.” Made in 1941 and running just a notch over an hour, the animated feature – allegedly Walt’s favorite – unflinchingly portrayed familial separation and societal exclusion, counterbalancing the grimness with a heavy dose of humor, cuteness and its finale’s radiant sense of freedom. In his remake, Tim Burton retains the “feather” theme. Problem is, he drowns it in a dozen others, along with fireworks, hammy acting and as much passionless razzle-dazzle as celluloid can handle.
While the original was told from the perspective of anthropomorphic animals, Burton avoids “Jungle Book”-style celebrity animal voiceovers. Instead, he chooses three bland human protagonists as the “heroes” of the circus-set story: little Mille Farrier (Nico Parker), her brother Joe (Finley Robbins) and their father, Holt (Colin Farrell), who has just returned from war, missing an arm and determined to get back in the saddle. When an elephant gives birth to a baby with abnormally large ears and a penchant for aerial pirouettes, the circus owner, Max Medici (Danny DeVito), painfully separates baby from momma and quickly cashes in on the miracle.
Dumbo’s flying act brings in crowds – among them, the vile millionaire V. A. Vandevere (Michael Keaton) and acrobat Colette (Eva Green), who, I assume, is V. A.’s protégé/girlfriend. Next thing Dumbo, Holt and his two little twerps know, they – along with the entire troupe of wacky circus characters – are relocated to Vandevere’s gargantuan amusement park, where Dumbo is further exploited and harassed, until together they achieve independence.
Obviously, Dumbo doesn’t even come close to the hand-painted, adorable OG of the animated classic. Here’s, he’s “cute,” as much as well-interwoven pixels can be categorized as such. The scenes where Colette rides Dumbo through the dark depths of the uncanny valley particularly tarnish whatever goodwill the film’s built up.
“Dumbo” represents a studio product through and through, albeit with some reminders of the auteur’s warped mind scattered here and there. One would think that the circus setting would unleash the madness, but Burton, along with his once-formidably-off-kilter companion, composer Danny Elfman, keeps it tightly reigned in with by-the-numbers direction and a forgettable, sappy score. Once driven by his dark, belligerent imagination in films like “Beetlejuice,” Burton coasts, relying on good ol’ SFX to get him by.
Ehren Kruger’s script spells everything out, the children voicing sentiments that are already made abundantly clear. The “Baby Mine” scene, one of the original’s centerpieces, is oddly replicated almost shot-by-shot, losing most of its poignancy in the process. And of course, nothing comes close to the sheer brilliance of the original’s acid… sorry booze-induced, hallucinatory sequence – especially the flimsy homage Burton inserts, which literally amounts to air bubbles.
Farrell slumps through the film, looking somewhat lost and miserable. In a jarring contrast, Keaton turns in a scenery-chewing performance, while Eva Green does her best maintaining her standard poise and magnificence amidst all the clichés. She and DeVito’s hapless Medici are two of the film’s saving graces.
Instead of tightly focusing on its titular subject, the once-great auteur, now a cloned version of himself, goes through the motions, piling on crowd-pleasing, applause-worthy moments of forced grandeur. (His remake does function superbly as a prolonged, multimillion-dollar animal rights infomercial.) The original “Dumbo” did not talk down to children. It acknowledged pain, loss, and prejudice; it portrayed unadulterated sorrow and earned its searing redemption. All that within a trim 64 minutes. At twice the length, Burton’s remake says half as much.
In theaters Friday, March 29th