Dumbo (2019)

Dumbo is the latest live action remake from Disney's pool of animation classics. This was one of my childhood favourite cartoons and I was hyped with excitement with its impressive cast headed by Colin Farrell, Danny DeVito, Michael Keaton and Eva Green, plus an ace director, the visionary Tim Burton on the helm. Heck, I even made the rare effort to catch this at a midnight screening on its premiere night albeit in a empty hall! Apparently nobody shared my enthusiasm! Still, being the veteran movie goer I am, I tried managing my own expectations seeing how badly recent big budget fantasy movies turned out ...

Happily, I could honestly say that this Dumbo was magical, although not perfect. The colourful and exaggerated splendour of the circus comes alive spectacularly under Tim Burton's vision. Not surprisingly the set designs were a sight to behold. The majestic Dreamland circus  that appears in the second half of the movie had some elements of classic Burton style subtly present in a fun filled theme park atmosphere.This was deliberately exaggerated to create a mark contrast to the humble and simple circus where our story began. It was overall, a pleasant departure from Burton's usual dark gothic and horror style.

The true star of the movie was of course Dumbo, who manages to steal the scenes each time he takes flight! Never thought the simple combination of a loud WHOOSH and imagery of a flying baby elephant can capture the heart and imagination of an audience so much more effectively than the complex special effects seen in mindless noisy mass destruction that have become the norm in most of the effects laden fantasy movies today. The rest of the adult cast were also a pleasure to watch especially Michael Keaton enjoying himself with his villain role, and the lovely Eva Green playing a trapeze artist with a heart. My only complaint was the casting of the two young actors playing the pivotal roles of the children of Colin Farrell's character, who befriend Dumbo. These two looked positively wooden in many of the scenes and any emotional resonance or even comic relief in the lighter moments, just come across as flat. Sadly because their roles were so major in the story, the impact was not unnoticeable and contributed to the overall less than perfect final product. Still, there are much to enjoy and savour with the rest of the movie so I would recommend this without any hesitation.