Dumbo (2019)

Dumbo is an American fantasy adventure film that grossed $349 million over a $170 million budget, becoming the 8th-highest-grossing film of 2019.  It’s based on the novel by Helen Aberson and Harold Pearl, and is a remake of Dumbo (1941).  It’s rated PG for mild themes, some scenes may scare young children (in Australia).  The following are the 10 most recent IMDb reviews for the film.

8/10

Beauty and the Beast gets a pass, but this doesn’t?

LBarlane2430 May 2019

Warning: Spoilers

Dumbo stars Colin Farrell, Michael Keaton, Eva Green, Alan Arkin, and Danny DeVito. It was directed by “you know who” and was written by Ehren Kruger who is apparently infamous for his work on the Transformers films.

I’m gonna continue by saying that I went into the film with expectations as low as you can possibly imagine. And after having seen it, I will be honest and say that I enjoyed it. While far from great, I still found myself enjoying it for the most part.

PROS: 1. The direction – Tim burton has gotten a ton of backlash, which is nothing new. I’ve seen few critics go out of their way by trashing films of his such as Batman Returns and, of course, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Now, Alice in Wonderland, on the other hand, I understand, to be honest, as it was the least faithful to its source material. But come on, this, and the other two I mention, are perfectly fine, by direction stand-point. I mean, the way it was shot, the costume designs, and even the set designs looked spot on.

2. The cgi- Unlike some people, I thought that the cgi was on point. Dumbo, the titular character, looked pretty genuine from my view-point, that is except when he flew. Not only that, watching him (spoiler) react to his mom being taken away was, honestly, pretty hard to watch.

3. And last, but not least, Danny DeVito. What can I say other than he basically stole the show; no pun intended. I don’t know how, I really can’t put my finger on it, he just stood out for me.

CONS: 1. The acting – Yes, I will admit that the acting, while not bad per say, it was not very good, especially from the two child actors. In addition, Eva Green carries an accent throughout the majority of the film. Specifically, it’s a French one. And I don’t know, is it even her natural accent? Because it sounded pretty unconvincing to me; which is pretty ironic, considering that the actress is, in fact, French.

2. The writing – This is, quite obviously, the main issue that critics and the mass majority had with the film. Yes, the pacing isn’t (very) well-handled and the first two acts are quite subpar. But on top of that, the third act is where things finally start to pick up. And last, but certainly not least, I will agree that most (if not, all) of the “characters”, with the exception of the titular one, were not all that interesting. I mean, the only one that I found to be the most interesting was the one-armed dad. But other than that, the other few did not have as many layers as they could have.

So yeah, those are pretty much my only gripes with the film. With all that said, Dumbo is not a shot-for-shot remake, like Beauty and the Beast, it is, instead a (like it or not) re-imagining of the 1941 animated film. So don’t go in expecting a mouse named Timothy (except maybe a brief cameo) and do not, do not expect any of the crows to appear. Not that I didn’t like them in the original. But come on, do to the reputation they’ve gotten over the years, and the era we’re living in now, I doubt that it would’ve been possible to have them in this.

All in all, this film isn’t technically Oscar worthy, but it is still a good film, despite its flaws, and I give it an A-.

7/10

Dind’t need this remake

puenntesandra30 May 2019

The whole movie starts to take its toll about an hour and a half in, at which point it feels like its going on longer than it needs to. This is the same problem I felt about the new Marry Poppins.

7/10

No! I’m not drunk & seeing pink elephants. I’m serious. I like this remake. It’s a Guilty Pleasure.

ironhorse_iv29 May 2019

Warning: Spoilers

From all the recent Walt Disney live action remakes of their classic animation films as of this writing; this one directed by Tim Burton is perhaps my favorite. I really did enjoyed this motion picture loosely based upon the storyline written by Helen Aberson. This flick was not a shot for shot remake of the 1941 animation film of the same name at all. It gave us something new with the story. Instead of slow burn focusing only on Dumbo’s conflict of being an outcast within the circus because of his big ears. This motion picture written by Ehren Kruger solve that quickly by tighten the pace revealing Dumbo ability to fly early in the first act. It’s in the second part that the film’s true conflicts center on cruel people trying to exploit Dumbo’s talent. Because of that, it made watching this movie a unique and interesting watch. The plot wasn’t simpleton. It had some complex subplots that I kinda dig such as World War I amputee & ex-equestrian performer Holt Farrier (Colin Farrell) having to deal with the loss of his circus job, his wife & his working arm, while managing a social family connection with his children, Milly (Nico Parker) and Joe (Finley Hobbins). Colin was fine actor in this. You really do see the depth and struggles his character has to go through. The kids not so much. They were a bit wooden and dull in their performances. Despite that I like how at least in this version, there is more genuinely kind circus workers like them. Nearly all the human characters in the original were awful avaricious antagonistic creatures. As for the villains in this remake. Rufus Sorghum played by Phil Zimmerman was somewhat stereotypical weak. However, I did like was the cryptic jab from Burton and Kruger on their employer. Like the clowns in the original movie representing the picketers during the 1941 animator strike. In this film, fictional theme park businessman V.A Vandevere (Michael Keaton) could be seen as the dark side of Walt Disney, a greedy cold entrepreneur who indifferent to the wellbeing of his workers. Keaton did a hell of a job showing that. By far, the sequences in Dreamland and him are the best thing about this movie. Eva Green as V.A’s love interest, French trapeze Colette Marchant was not. The over the top snobby French accent was too much. Sadly, also Colin and Eva don’t share much chemistry whenever they are put together nor with the kids. Because of that, the whole heel to face turn toward the end didn’t seem believable. The love story between them felt kinda rushed. I also didn’t like how her character treat Dumbo for most of the film by kicking and jumping on him kinda rough. There was barely any sign of care for the elephant. . I really wanted Colette to fall to her death. Such an unlikeable character. Despite that, I do like the social commentary about the issues of using wild animals in entertainment. Maybe they do belong in the wild. The new ending involving Dumbo going back to Asia is such a better climax than the original movie which had the elephant continue to work for people exploiting his talent. Nevertheless, one thing that this remake doesn’t do a good job on is comedy. Jokes involving a circus monkey bothering supporting character, Max Medici (Danny DeVito) came across as frightening rather than funny. Regardless DeVito does do a good scrappy performance as the ringmaster. Much better than Michael Buffer appearing as the ringmaster at Dreamland. That cameo was jarring. Still, I would had rather have Timothy the mouse in this rather than that awful monkey. As for the CGI, it works even if some of the background atmospherically visuals are highly dark & creepy for younger audiences like the Pink Elephants on Parade. This movie still had enough cute and bright stuff to look at. I love how Dumbo’s expressions are expressed through body language & facial. Without any talking animal dialogue, it still easy to pick up on Dumbo’s emotions especially during putting out the fire scene. Another thing due to the elimination of original talking animal characters like the highly offensive controversial racially insensitive Sambo like black crows that taught Dumbo how to fly from the first movie; catchy songs like ‘When I see an Elephant Fly’ were omitted until the end of the closing credits. Regardless of that, I still like Arcade Fire & Sharon Rooney cover of ‘Baby of Mine’ throughout the film. Even Aurora’s version from the trailer was fine as well. As for the other songs from the 1941 version like ‘Casey Junior is back’ and ‘Look Out for Mr. Stork’, they weren’t really needed due to the realistic tone. In its place of, Danny Elfman’s score was well done. It was magically. Overall: While live action Dumbo fails to reach the lofty heights of its animated predecessor. I still believe the film is watchable for those willing to shell the expensive high movie theater ticket price. For me, it pass with flying colors. So do yourself a favor and check it out. Hopefully, you will enjoy it as much as my family and I did.

7/10

Very good

franklfrost28 May 2019

I remember watching the animated version when I was a kid, but I don’t recall the contents of the film. I went in with zero preconceptions or judgements.

I really liked how they brought Dumbo and mother’s characters alive, and made me feel sadness at their separation and treatment. Obviously, the idea of a flying elephant is plain silly, but they managed to pull it off without making it look too silly.

10/10

Such a beautiful film

staceyht-0955527 May 2019

Beautiful remake of the original by Tim Burton. Although it’s a sad film in parts it’s utterly beautiful. How can you not fall in love with dumbo!

8/10

DeVito Is A Joy As Always

slightlymad2226 May 2019

A remake of the 1941 classic.

I love the original and it used to make my cry when I was younger, so I was not keen on watching the remake.

The CGI is mostly great, barring the odd moment here and there, but the animals look great.

Of the human cast Colin Farrell is touching, Danny DeVito is an actor I simply adore, and he is a joy here, I always love to see Alan Arkin on screen, Eva Green is as gorgeous as always whilst Nico Parker really stands out in her first movie. Surprisingly Michael Keaton (an actor I like) misses the mark, as he hams it up too much, under a silver wig.

8/10

M review.

morrislindholm23 May 2019

Warning: Spoilers

Why are all the reviews either 10 stars or 1 stars wtf

1/10

Disappointing

genxsp-6165223 May 2019

An animated remake would have been better than this nonsense.

9/10

I ugly cried!

mppapach-31-70844422 May 2019

Okay so the movie is different from the original, and a character should have had more development but it is still a family movie with a powerful message! Dumbo is still adorable, and it just made me sob throughout the movie.

6/10

No salt and no magic

eagandersongil21 May 2019

The dumbo animation of 1941 I find a work far ahead of its time, a habitual story, that mixes a melodrama with a problem to be solved but with touches of surrealism and psychedelic, a test to the young cinema of the time that until today impresses , even almost 80 years later, this is the power of the cinema, but Tim Burton’s adaptation will be forgotten between Disney’s half productions and simple and formulated cinema, even with such an authorial director as Tim Burton.

With a script that brings several changes in relation to the original work, but all are for the worse, neither the charisma of Colin Farrell, the quality Michael Keaton or the touch of Eva Green are enough to leverage the work.

Even with a beautiful cast, the performances are weak and the actors so out of the roles they normally play, but the aesthetics of the film is very cool, gray photography and existential sadness of the circus are present and work well, besides that , the capture of Dumbo’s image is beautiful, the visual aspect is the great strength of the film.

A frustrated attempt and a tangle of ideas that do not work and contribute to another weak tim burton movie, without salt and without magic. But it’s fun.

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