Page 30 - ARUBA TODAY

A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Thursday 28 March 2019
'Dumbo' remake takes flight on its own charms

By JAKE COYLE to the air.
Associated Press Almost eight decades lat-
The original "Dumbo" was er, "Dumbo" is alight again
released in the summer of in Tim Burton's somber and
1941 while Germany was sincere live-action remake
spreading across Europe of the animated classic.
and war was breaking out Burton has refashioned
in the Pacific. Crafted as a "Dumbo" as a sepia-toned
simpler Disney fable after show-business parable tai-
the more extravagant "Fan- lored to more animal rights-
tasia" disappointed at the sensitive times.
box office, "Dumbo" — only "Dumbo" is the latest in a
64 minutes in length — took circus parade of Disney re-
flight just as far more chill- makes ("The Lion King" and
ing creations were taking "Aladdin" are due out later

This image released by Disney shows Colin Farrell, Nico Parker and Finley Hobbins in a scene from
"Dumbo."
Associated Press

this year) that brings clas- a hurricane." Other things in years, the director — so
sic characters into seem- have changed, too. The long an expert at the prox-
ingly more real worlds with traveling circus where the imity of fantasy and horror
the aid of digital wizardry. Farriers make their home — seems at home.
None of them will over- has fallen on hard times. And he steers "Dumbo,"
whelm anyone by their Settling down in Joplin, Mis- from a script by Ehren Kru-
necessity. Movies, after all, souri, the camp is half its ger, toward a grand cor-
aren't smart phones that re- former size. Its owner, Max porate satire as the big-city
quire software updates. Medici (Danny DeVito, conglomerate tries to co-
That said, Burton's "Dumbo," spectacular), has sold off opt the genuine wonder of
while inevitably lacking the horses that Holt rode Dumbo and Medici's trav-
much of the magic of the in his act. Medici sinks all eling band. Greed and ex-
original, has charms and his remaining money into ploitation close in on them
melancholies of its own, an elephant that he hopes as the big-tent gets big-
starting, naturally, with the will revive the circus, only ger. That such a story line
elephant in the room. Of to feel swindled when she should come in the biggest
all the CGI make-overs, produces such a droopy- big-tent of them all, Disney
this Dumbo is the most tex- eared offspring, discov- (whose Disneyland isn't so
tured, sweetest and most ered at birth beneath a dissimilar to Vandevere's
soulful of creatures. Like the heap of hay. Of course, Dreamland) is either an
original, he doesn't speak Dumbo's stock rises once awkward or happy irony,
and trips over his floppy he does, too, and Medici's depending on your level of
ears. Whether cowering suddenly sensational circus cynicism.
at a new height or finding quickly attracts the inter- But it is wondrous when
astonishment as he, with a est of a much more big- Dumbo takes flight. Bur-
sneeze, is sent airborne, the league circus impresario, ton's camera feels genu-
digitally rendered Dumbo is V.A. Vandevere (Michael inely mesmerized at his
one precious pachyderm. Keaton, in a devilishly slick elephant's magic act. The
The film opens in 1919 on performance), who brings filmmaker's recent films
the heels of World War I. Medici's whole circus to his have been well outside his
Holt Farrier (Colin Farrell, Coney Island kingdom as best work; it was his woe-
who has grown into the a means, we immediately ful "Alice in Wonderful" that
most sensitive and consis- grasp, of luring Dumbo kick-started much of the
tent of leading men) re- away and dispensing, like Disney live-action remakes.
turns from war, minus an a vulture capitalist, with the But when Dumbo soars, it's
arm, to his two children, rest. It's a kind of reunion for clear that Burton is a be-
Milly (Nico Parker) and Joe Burton, Keaton and DeVito, liever, still, in the ability of
(Finley Hobbins). Though who 27 years ago came to- a beautiful oddity to tran-
Dumbo endures separa- gether in "Batman Returns." scend.
tion from his mother in The film, starring a bird that "Dumbo," a Walt Disney Co.
Burton's film, the deeper couldn't fly in DeVito's Pen- release, is rated PG by the
grief in "Dumbo" has been guin, was like a wicked Motion Picture Association
transferred to the humans: version of "Dumbo," and of America for peril/action,
The children's mother died similarly full of misfits and some thematic elements,
while Holt was away at war so-called freaks. "Dumbo" and brief mild language.
from an influenza that, as is naturally lighter terrain for Running time: 112 minutes.
one character says, "hit like Burton but for the first time Three stars out of four.q