Dumbo (2019)

Dumbo – When a pregnant elephant is bought by a circus, word gets out that it’s cute little baby will be born any day. Unfortunately, when the baby arrives, it’s abnormally large and unappealing ears threaten to ruin the company. However, two children take special care of him and when he accidentally breathes in a feather his sneeze causes him to fly. Now, the flying elephant, given the name Dumbo, is a huge draw and the circus joins forces with the massive ‘Dreamland’ amusement park. But all is not what it seems and Dumbo’s apparent sweet life may not be all it’s cracked up to be.

Dumbo (2019) – Director: Tim Burton

Rating: PG

Running Length: 112 mins

Starring: Colin Farrell, Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito

Genre: Comedy, Action / Adventure

REVIEW: DUMBO

Disney’s 1941 animated classic tale about an elephant who could fly has remained a firm favourite ever since its release. The story was told from Dumbo’s perspective with all his allies being other animals; humans were simply in the background and this give the movie a wonderful depth of emotion. The movie contained plenty of gags but who can forget the heart-wrenching ‘Baby Mine’ scene and the surreal/somewhat frightening ‘Pink Elephants on Parade’? So, 78 years later, can Tim Burton’s take on ‘Dumbo’ live up to its predecessor? Unfortunately, no it can’t.

While Burton is known for his unique Gothic style which would work perfectly in this setting, he opts for a very generic look and focuses almost entirely on the human characters which makes the eponymous pachyderm a plot device rather than an actual character.

Colin Farrell is great as Holt, the former circus star turned lowly elephant handler after his return from war with one less arm than before. The pride he once had in himself and his act bubbles under the surface of a good but broken man who does his best to keep things together for his children. Unfortunately, the two children who take it upon themselves to adopt Dumbo are incredibly bland. Milly, Holt’s daughter (played by Niko Parker) takes centre stage but her inability to express any emotion drags the whole movie down and her brother Joe (Finley Hobbins) fades into the background despite being in almost every scene with her. The previously mentioned famous scenes are badly handled and despite Dumbo also not speaking in the original movie, this time around his expressions barely show his thoughts and feelings meaning that the situations he is put in have to do the talking instead making it a very clinical affair.

Sadly, despite Burton having the skills to breathe life into an old but loved story, he seems to have taken the easy road and rested on the laurels of the original’s beloved status, assuming it will make his own popular. His cast of professionals do their best and the CGI of the animals is fantastic but these ‘by numbers’ elements don’t do enough to inject the sparkle it needs to rival a movie made almost eight decades before.

CONTENT: IS ‘DUMBO’ SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN?

Children excitedly await their father at a train station. When they do see him they quickly notice that he has lost an arm. The father’s shirt is pinned up at the elbow so nothing graphic is seen (this is the case throughout the whole movie also).

When walking through the living section of a circus, one character asks where other people are. He is told that ‘influenza hit us like a hurricane’ and he lists the names of past friends who have died.

The father complains about “a pile of shi-” before being cut off by a chastising yell of “Daddy!” from his daughter.

There is a jump scare when the circus ringmaster goes to his caravan and a loud screeching monkey jumps up right against the glass.

One mean animal handler whips the elephants and say “don’t make me incentivize you.” One elephant doesn’t want to leave and is threatened by the handler although he is punched and knocked to the ground by someone defending it.

Dumbo’s first performance in the big top is marred by being mocked by the audience. They throw popcorn at him. An accident takes place and the ‘mean handler’ from before is crushed under collapsing bleachers.

Dumbo is separated from his mother and sad music plays while he stretches out his trunk to try to touch hers. This scene lasts around two minutes. Shortly after the mother is loaded into a truck to be taken away. As Dumbo realises he trumpets and runs after her.

A fire breaks out during Dumbo’s first performance at his new venue. A girl risks her life to climb up a ladder to him despite the fire risk.

A bald character who is second in command character is implied to have elephant skin shoes.

Part of the theme park is ‘Nightmare Island’ where scary ‘creatures’ are kept. These are normal animals with painted or strapped on parts but the music is ominous and the lighting is dark and foreboding.

One character is told to take a large elephant to “you know where,” and to get himself “some new shoes”.

We go back to Nightmare Land which has mist, howls, and scary silhouettes. It is clear after around a minute that the scene has been exaggerated for effect.

Several characters are trapped by a huge fire in the last Act of the movie.

CAN I SEE A CLIP?

VERDICT: IS ‘DUMBO’ FOR KIDS?

A disappointing pale imitation of the original, this version is bound to pique the imaginations of youngsters but may prove to be too drawn out to hold their attention until the end. We feel this movie is appropriate for kids aged 5 and over.

• Violence: 1/5
• Emotional Distress: 2/5 (Dumbo and his mother are distraught when they are separated)
• Fear Factor: 1/5 (Dumbo is sometimes put in situations he is frightened of)
• Sexual Content: 0/5
• Bad Language: 1/5 (some infrequent mild blasphemy and one moderate word is cut short)
• Dialogue: 1/5 (some hecklers in the audience say mean things to Dumbo)
• Other notes: Deals with themes of circus life, animal exploitation and abuse, returning from war, family, having a moral compass and working to your strengths.

Words by Michael Record and Laura Record