Dumbo's fun peculiarities overshadowed by poor storytelling

Dumbo in his film, Dumbo. Image courtesy Disney.

It's been awhile since Tim Burton has made an interesting movie. His recent slate of films have been either incomplete efforts – inklings of his old aspirations that never quite land – or yeoman work for Disney. Dumbo, Burton's interpretation of classic (and wicked racist) Disney film, fits more in the former category than the latter. It has a few moments of zaniness befitting Beetlejuice or Pee-wee's Big Adventure, but the result is often frustrating and ultimately slight.

Dumbo stars Colin Farrell as Holt Farrier, a cowboy returning home to circus life following his service in World War I. His transition back to being a performer is rocky at best; his wife died of influenza, leaving him alone with daughter Milly (Nico Parker) and son Joe (Finley Hobbins). Ringmaster Max Medici (Danny DeVito) has demoted him to elephant handler, and his chances of getting his old job back are stymied by the arm he lost in the war. But things start to turn with the addition of Jumbo the elephant, who soon gives birth to the eponymous large-eared creature. Once Dumbo starts to fly, he draws the attention of V.A. Vandevere (Michael Keaton), who runs the wondrous Dreamland in the big city. Vandevere wants to pair Dumbo with the high-flying Colette (Eva Green) to create the most magnetic act in town, but the Farriers soon learn Dreamland is little more than a facade.

 

The funny thing about Dumbo is the movie isn't about its titular character, but about the struggles of the Farrier family. It's a pragmatic script choice, as it's difficult to center the movie around a CGI elephant that doesn't speak, but it causes the film to lose a lot of its luster. The Farrier family troubles are far less interesting than the issues Dumbo and Jumbo face, or, rather, the film does a poor job selling the emotional complexities between Holt, Milly, and Joe. It's surprising considering how many hurdles screenwriter Ehren Kruger threw at the Farriers – a barely employed father returning from war without an arm to two children who recently lost their mother is kind of a cheat. Somehow, the film doesn't take advantage of the cheat it gave itself; the relationships are never given the time needed to grow from that problematic baseline. Things are awkward until they're not, and few bumps or troubles are depicted.

Even though the story is about the Farriers, the movie's heart belongs to Dumbo and Jumbo. Their connection is what should own the story, at least given the amount of heft Burton and Kruger put into the silent tale of mourning elephants. Yet the story balance is completely off; by dividing the narrative between the Farriers and the elephants, the film never gives enough time to either family unit to grow. . Making the movie live action effectively necessitates the addition of human characters to drive the story, but the human family is the worst part of this movie.

There's a lot to be frustrated with about Dumbo. The story is wonky and littered with holes – the flying elephant is the most realistic aspect of the movie. The dialog is uninspired, leaving the actors with little buffer to fail. The performances, aside from Keaton and Green, are spotty to weak. The filmmakers effectively doubled the run time of the original to add more story and didn't have much of a story to tell.

Except for the existence of Dreamland and Vandevere. This is about as close as viewers get to the old Burton, an oddly fascinating place that doesn't try too hard to be quirky. Dreamland contains a lot of potential as a setting, given the electric wonders and how poorly the lights hide the park's dark soul. It's a place where dreams come true, but the price is unfathomable, not too far removed from Pinocchio's Pleasure Island. Dreamland though is underutilized as a location; there's far more to the place than the film allows viewers to see because the first act is spent in the middle of nowhere. Perhaps Burton would have been better served setting the entire film in Dreamland, allowing the place's inherent creepiness to sell the inevitable feel-good ending. Dreamland is about as close as it gets to old-school Burton, making it so cruel how close Dumbo is to being the fantastically strange film its meant to be.

Review: Two out of Five Stars

Click here to see the trailer.

Rating: PG

Run time: 112 minutes

Genre: Fantasy

tl;dr

What Worked: Michael Keaton, Eva Green, Dumbo and Jumbo

What Fell Short: CGI, Inconsistent Acting, Script Issues

What To Watch Instead: Dumbo