Dumbo (2019): New Classic?

You may have heard that Disney has updated another of its old animated classics, following its (mostly) successful (mostly) live action recent remakes of Alice in Wonderland (2010), Maleficent [formerly Sleeping Beauty] (2014), Cinderella (2015), The Jungle Book (2016) and Beauty and the Beast (2017). This time it is Dumbo - a remake of the 1941 classic, which was just the fourth Disney animated feature, following Snow White and the Seven Dwarves from 1937, Pinocchio from 1940 and Fantasia also from 1940.  The first Dumbo was not as expensive or as ambitious as its predecessors, but it struck a chord with movie goers – adults and children alike. In fact, it was the most beloved and the most profitable of the early Disney features.

I believe the original Dumbo was the first movie I ever saw in a movie theater as a child. This would have been in 1959, when it was re-released for the second time. I was nine or ten then, so it is possible I’m mistaken about this being my very first movie. But who cares – what matters is it feels that way and thus has a special place in my heart.  When I saw this classic with my kids in the 1990s (on VHS tape), it touched me again.

So I was curious to see what Disney and director Tim Burton would do with the new version. Unlike some folks, who feel that it verges on sacrilege to remake a classic film, it’s my view that after fifty or sixty years, there’s nothing wrong with trying – and here we’re talking seventy-eight years. I was also curious to see how something like Dumbo would go over with the small fry of today.

I chose to attend a Sunday afternoon matinee, on the new Dumbo’s first weekend. I arrived about ten minutes early for the 2:00 pm screening, anticipating a line for tickets and a throng of little girls and boys with parents in tow. But I was wrong – or maybe just out of date. There was no line. And when I entered the theater itself (another surprise: it was one of the smaller spaces in the multiplex), there were just a couple of elderly folks there seated near the back. Are movies becoming passé?  But then, at the last minute, a modest crowd of youngsters did show up, so by the time the lights went down the place was maybe half full – mostly children.  To my relief, they really seemed to enjoy the picture. There were no signs of restlessness or boredom, and in fact some telling signs of true engagement. Directly in front of me, for example, the six-year-old who started out sitting next to her mother wound up entwined with her, half sitting on her lap, face raptly glued to the screen.  I enjoyed it too.

The story is generally the same as the original: cute baby elephant born to Mrs Jumbo, a circus   All kinds of worrisome stuff happens along the way which is a little scary if you’re a kid, yet ultimately exciting and redeeming for kids and adults alike.  While the original was all animation, and rather simple animation at that, the 2019 edition is mostly live action (with some special effects to enhance the look), except that little Dumbo is totally a CGI creation; he is quite adorable and blends in exceptionally well - for the most part.

elephant; but lo, the tyke has humongous flappy ears and gets teased a lot for being a freak – until, that is, he learns to use those ears as wings and fly!

There are some changes from the original, mostly for the better in my opinion. For one thing, none of the animals talk. Even in the original, Dumbo didn’t speak, but others sure did.  There were those talking crows, for example, supposedly meant to be racially progressive, but now seen (appropriately) as racist stereotypes. And plenty of chatter from a bunch of snickering and gossiping circus animals. Our narrator was Mr. Stork, voiced by the great Sterling Holloway.  And you may recall the little circus rodent that became Dumbo’s best friend, Timothy Q. Mouse.  For the 2019 version, the crows are gone, the stork is gone, the other animals don’t speak, and even Timothy is gone – although homage is paid, in cameo fashion, by a few actual mice dressed up in cute little circus outfits much like Timothy’s.

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Timothy is replaced by two cute children, Joe and Milly, who are supposed to be about eleven or twelve, I’d guess. Milly, the alpha child, is played by lovely Nico Parker with her large, wideset, intelligent eyes resembling a pre-teen, multiracial Emma Stone or more precisely, like a young Thandie Newton (who just happens to be her mother). Anyway, the children have been raised in the circus, and for the last year or so BY the circus. In the tradition of most Disney children’s movies, motherlessness is a theme, so we learn that Mom was a casualty of the great flu pandemic of 1918.  As the film opens, it’s 1919 and the kids are at the train station welcoming home their dad, Holt (Colin Farrell), formerly a star equestrian performer. He’s back from the war, minus his left arm. How is he going to perform now? Or support and care for his kids?

The gruff, beleaguered yet warmhearted circus owner, Max Medici (a terrific Danny DeVito) offers Holt the job of elephant caretaker (neat, huh?) and just in time too, for Dumbo is about to be born. He has big beautiful blue eyes and is, I must say, quite adorable.  In circumstances that will be familiar to fans of the 1941 movie, the baby pachyderm is separated from his mother. Eventually, with the support of the kids and the help of a feather, Dumbo (along with everyone else) discovers he can use his big leathery ears to fly – certainly a big boon for the little circus. It’s also a boon for the movie, which up until now has mostly been concerned with creating atmosphere, introducing characters and laying the narrative groundwork, but not what you’d call exciting. Now it starts to soar.

Tim Burton deserves a lot of the credit for this. The story is more creative than the original, and the production as a whole is far more exciting visually. Then there’s a terrific cast knocking themselves out to get it right. In addition to DeVito, there’s Michael Keaton at the top of his form as Mr. Vandevere, an impresario with big dreams, big talk, big ego, big money - thanks to his banker-backer, J G Remingon (Alan Arkin) - and zero morals. Vandevere wants to buy up Medici’s little circus, mainly to get control of Dumbo – the new sensation - for his mega-circus/amusement park, Dreamland. Several reviewers have likened Dreamland to Disneyland and written admiringly of Burton’s willingness to skewer the Disney legend within a Disney-produced film.  That’s neither here nor there. Dreamland is, however, a marvelous cinematic concoction, and the setting for the little elephant’s biggest challenges and grandest flying swoops as well as most of picture’s wonderful kiddie-sized thrills and chills.

Vandevere initially appears with the garishly alluring trapeze artist Colette Marchand (Eva Green) decorating his arm, and it’s unclear for awhile if she’s a sinister character too. After Colette gets the assignment to work with Dumbo (and Holt and the kids) to add some pizazz to the act, we soon remember that this is a Disney film.  Farrell does a nice sympathetic job as Holt, who manages to be both a warm-hearted dad and a credible adventure hero by the climactic end, even with not a lot to work with.  Phil Zimmerman has a nice turn as a truly nasty, hateful circus hand called Rufus Sorghum.

Then there’s Michael Buffer, in a small but terrific role as the announcer “Baritone Bates” at Vandevere’s circus. Buffer is best known in real life as a ring announcer famous for his great boxing intro: “Let’s get ready to Ruummmble!”  Here it’s transposed to “Let’s get ready for Duummboooo!” with equal effect on the crowd.

The film looks great. The period look of 1919, the faded, peeling paint of Max Medici’s struggling circus and its little circus train, frankly modelled on the animated train “Casey Junior”, who famously chugged up hills puffing “I think I can” in the 1941 movie, all are beautifully rendered. The gargantuan attempt at “moderne” in Vandevere’s Dreamland park is also terrific.

The new Dumbo will never replace my nostalgia for the 1941 film, but frankly, it’s a fine upgrade for the twenty-first century. I had no trouble suspending my grown-up disbelief, and allowing the movie to hook me.  I saw it in the standard 2-dimensional version. It’s also playing in a 3-D version and an IMAX rendition.

And whether you like the idea or not, there are plenty more live action (or super-realistic CGI) remakes coming down the pike. Next up is a new Aladdin, with Will Smith as the Genie (good luck trying to replace Robin Williams, Will). Followed by a new Lion King, directed by Jon Favreau in July.

1 hour 52 minutes                               Rated PG

Grade B+

In general release.