Disney’s little elephant with the big ears is next up for the live-action adaptation treatment when Dumbo hits theaters on Friday. Directed by Tim Burton (don’t worry, this is more Big Fish and less Dark Shadows), this retelling isn’t quite the paint-by-numbers adaptation of some previous live-action Disney remakes, but smartly updated for a new era.

2019’s Dumbo follows the adventures of the members of the Medici Bros. Circus., particularly Holt Farrier (Colin Farrell) and his two children, Milly (Nico Parker) and Joe (Finley Hobbins). When Holt returns from WWI, it’s after having lost his arm to war and his wife to influenza. He must learn to adjust to life again as an estranged father to two grieving children and a fall from grace as the former star of Max Medici’s (Danny DeVito) circus. When a tiny elephant named Dumbo comes into their lives, Holt’s family – and the rest of the motley crew of Medici’s circus – must rally to save the little pachyderm from the wiles of businessman V.A. Vandevere (Michael Keaton), with the help of their new friend and trapeze artist, Colette Marchant (Eva Green).

 

So does Dumbo entertain? Is it a good time for the whole family? Here are three reasons to see Dumbo when it hits theaters.

1. Colin Farrell Needs To Be In Everything

Colin Farrell is a true treasure. He’s a chameleon of an actor, playing everything from the dashing hero to the butt of the joke, in sweeping romance fantasies, gritty heist movies, and cult dark comedies, and yet he’s never not good. Even when the material around him stumbles, Farrell rarely does, and the result is that he’s become one of our finest actors working today. I won’t lie, some of the dialogue in Dumbo is, well, awkward, especially as Irishman Farrell is delivering them with a cowpoke Southern drawl. But as the laconic, emotionally repressed Holt, Farrell is sympathetic in triplicate: as a man struggling to regain his sense of self-worth after (literally) losing a part of himself, as a husband coming to terms with his beloved wife’s death during his time fighting on the front lines, and lastly as a father desperately trying reconnect with his kids after his return home. The movie may ostensibly be about the baby elephant learning how to fly, but it’s really about Holt learning to adjust to his new reality. Farrell’s performance holds the entire movie together; he’s an actor you always want to root for, no matter the role. Sure, the baby Dumbo is heartbreakingly adorable and firmly in the category of “Protect him at all costs!” but Holt is the star of the show and none of it would work nearly as well if Farrell weren’t as good at evoking sympathy from us.

2. A Gorgeous Fantasy World Only Tim Burton Could Imagine

 

Say what you will about Tim Burton, the man has a specific look; when you’re watching a Tim Burton movie, you know it, whether it’s the black-and-white gothic end of Burton’s visual design or the soft-lit, color-saturated fantasy end. Design-wise, Dumbo is a throwback to Burton’s Big Fish (2003), with his brand of weird-tinged fantasy spilling across the screen. Burton has always been sympathetic to the freaks and the outcasts, and here, he makes them beautiful. An amphibious woman is dressed in sparkling turquoise greens and aqua blues; the stoic strongman is the glue that holds the entire circus together. Medici’s circus itself is a colorful, turn-of-the-century big top carnival whereas Vandevere’s Dreamland is a masterpiece of Art Deco set design. There’s a particular sequence in which the drunken “Pink Elephants on Parade” segment from the original Dumbo is reinterpreted as giant, airy pink bubble elephants cast by lithe acrobats in glittering leotards and it’s a clever visual twist on an outdated scene from the original. Even when Burton’s storytelling has gone sideways, his deftness with building lush, fully-realized fantasy worlds never wavers. His imagination is as alive as ever in Dumbo.

3. Kids Will Absolutely Love It

My screening was a mix of journalists and friends and family, including a bunch of kids – and the kids, they were delighted the entire way through. It helps that the tiny Dumbo is impossible not to love, all big eyes and big ears and possibly the cutest CGI creation ever put on screen. There are a few slightly darker, sadder moments in the movie – this is Tim Burton, after all – but they are few and far between and Dumbo as an adorable anchor keeps kids firmly on board. Throughout my screening, the 10-and-unders were laughing the entire time, particularly at Danny DeVito hamming it up as Max Medici. Overacting? Definitely. Clunky lines? Yeah. But Burton, like Medici himself, isn’t here to impress snobs but to entertain the masses, and the masses in my audience were hugely delighted by what they saw on screen. You root for baby Dumbo, you sympathize with Holt and the rest of the circus, you shed some heartfelt tears, and you cheer at the end. What more do you need from a family movie?

In all, Dumbo might not be the most memorable of remakes. But it’s sweet and charming and a great time at the movies for a family.

Dumbo is in theaters on Friday, March 29. Get your tickets here! 

 

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