I just come back to watch in theater Tim Burton's "Dumbo" and, personally, i liked it a lot. If you haven't watched it yet i recommend it to you. First, Tim Burton is in my opinion a perfect choice to direct this live adaptation as the universe of early last century's circus fits well with Tim Burton universe, so esthetically speaking it's a delight.
There is one thing you need to know ( no major spoilers ) if you've not yet watched the movie: Tim Burton's "Dumbo" has two parts, the first hour or so is the live adaptation of Disney's 1941 animated film story, and it follows quite accurately the original storyline - without the start with the stork delivering baby Dumbo and some comical scenes that can work only in a cartoon. The second part is in a certain way the sequel of the animated film, what happen after Disney's 1941 Dumbo ended. It's a brand new story which was written for the film and it's in that part that the characters of entertainment entrepreneur V.A Vandevere played by Michael Keaton and his girl friend trapeze artist Colette Marchand played by Eva Green appear, both playing very well as usual. Although Tim Burton obviously enjoyed recreating in the first part the small circus of Max Medici - played by Danny De Vito - it's also in this second part that we find the most elements belonging to Tim Burton's mental universe. There is also nods to Disney attractions - like the Carousel of Progress - and the world of Dreamland is visually stunning.
Above, the arrival to Dreamland sequence, below a production design concept-art.
It seems that some reviews have said that the film lack of heart and i couldn't disagree more with this, so don't believe them. The film has perfectly heart at the needed moments and we can't applause enough the CGI wizards who were in charge of creating the animals as they did an amazing job, starting of course by Dumbo himself. They did it so well that you forget in less than five minutes that Dumbo is a CGI creature.
I wouldn't say that it's Tim Burton most major film but it's certainly a good one from Tim. All the others actors are excellent, starting by Colin Farrell and his two children. The production design, again, looks great and Tim also had the intelligence to don't make out of this live adaptation a bigger film than it should be. Disney's animated film was rather a simple story of a small circus and here, even if the second part has a bigger scope - because of Vandevede megalomaniac dreams - the whole film keep an intimate universe and don't try to be most epic than it should be.
And, yes, there is a happy ending and even two with a sympathetic scene at the very end so make sure to stay till the end!
Pictures: copyright Disney
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