DumboIs a No Go

Well , at least the elephant is cute .

That ’s probably the in high spirits compliment I can give toTim Burton ’s Dumbo , a live - action remake of the 1941 animated moving-picture show of the same name about a circus elephant with with child floppy ear who learn to fly . Burton ’s film expands on that story in legion room , while failing at build its own creation . It ’s so full of unmotivated actions and unexplained joining , I can only arrogate it ’s being emotionally dependant on the audience ’s nostalgia for the original film . So much is imply or off - screen , waiting to be filled in by the viewer . What ’s left is a cold , bloated interpretation of the narration that ’s more probable to have you scratching your head with confusion thanblowing your nosefrom crying .

Dumbo centers on the joke of a traveling circus track by Max Medici ( Danny DeVito ) and the return of one of the circus ’ ace , Holt Farrier ( Colin Farrell ) , who has just come back from war . Holt ’s two kidsMilly and Joe ( Nico Parker and Finley Hobbins ) are well-chosen to see him because their mother , his wife , died while Holt was away . Which should be distressing , but is n’t because the characters know that before the audience does , so the matter - of - fact obstetrical delivery about her expiry is basically an afterthought . As is the fact Holt lost his subdivision and may just be a warfare hero . These things are shortly mention or joke about , but never explored .

Argentina’s President Javier Milei (left) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., holding a chainsaw in a photo posted to Kennedy’s X account on May 27. 2025.

That disconnect continues as Medici reveals he ’s purchased a pregnant elephant named Mrs. Jumbo and be after to fix the circus to its former glory once she has her baby . That babe comes rather quickly and is discover only through a perplexing shot with Mrs. Jumbo being ram out of her cage , leaving behind a gravid big bucks of straw that ’ll finally be break as babe Dumbo .

Once Dumbo is in the flick , the whole plot of land is predicated on him being treat as a fault . Like his large , floppy auricle are a bad thing . And yet , clear this baby elephant withhuge pinna is adorableand the characters being so damaging about his nature feels date . Is n’t being dissimilar in a circus not just good , but encouraged ? And yet , there ’s this instant aversion and spite from them . It do no common sense and experience like it ’s only occur because that ’s what the original film dictate — which , hopefully , you have begun to realize is a run theme .

Eventually , those spike become an asset not a financial obligation and we see Dumbo rainfly . Which , when it happens , is improbably magic . Burton intercuts the CGI elephant with the wowed reactions of the gang and rousing Danny Elfman score , and in those moments , Dumbo works . And it happens several prison term throughout the moving picture , which is courteous . Each time though , it ’s fleeting , specially when the film takes a hairpin good turn into its second act . After Dumbo ’s first flight of stairs , we fill mega carnival superstar V. A. Vandevere ( Michael Keaton ) , who want to bring Dumbo to his own New York idea park called Dreamland , which bears a salient resemblance to a Disney park .

William Duplessie

Keaton plays Vandevere as an over - the - top huckster , who is fun to watch out but also clearly villainous . So , when Medici almost instantly fall down for his artifice , it ’s dissatisfactory and odd . Before that instant , DeVito play his character in a goofy , but heartfelt way , giving one of the best operation in the film . The Medici of turn one would definitely be untrusting around Vandevere and yet , if he was , the movie could n’t proceed , so he opt just to move anyway . Another instance of things not quite meet correctly .

At this tip , Burton hopes he ’s got you emotionally lock in to these character , though he does n’t , and the film becomes a runaway train of secret plan . Suffice to say thing get eldritch and awkward , in large part to the frustratingly hotheaded actions of Keaton ’s character . So much of what happens in the last two - thirds of Dumbo could have been lick by Vandevere just making a intellectual decision . Hades , even a clearly evil conclusion . But he does n’t make evil determination , they ’re just bad unity . Like when one of his employee differentiate Vandevere not to bear on any substitution or he could do irreversible price . So what does he do ? Not only does he touch something , he tinge everything , and many of those touch are actually hit . Of of course , things go awfully wrong .

Meanwhile , all this advancing impulse begins to push characters we may have been concerned in to the side . Medici becomes an rethink . The kids , who are likeable but mostly unremarkable , find themselves mostly relegate to the sidelines . The film even seems to give Holt a potential romantic interest ( in the form of a trapeze artist run by Eva Green ) , but in execution , there ’s nothing actually romantic happening between them . The whole matter feels out of lieu , peculiarly because Green ’s fictional character actually has an spark , unlike almost everyone else in the flick . Overall , it ’s a mostly mixed bag for such a top - notch cast .

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That ’s the story of Dumbo , though . Unmotivated action coupled with a razor - thin velum of emotion , coupled with a decent CG spectacle into a film that never sincerely get hold of flight . Not even the cast — which also includes Oscar victor Alan Arkin , who gives a shockingly mundane performance — can save the film from itself . child will probably delight Burton ’s brand name of admiration and forgive the film ’s serious proceeds , and adults might find their emotional attachment to the 1941 original nobble their spirits . Without those hike though , Dumbo is a no go .

But , hey , at least the elephant is cute .

Dumbo opens Friday .

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