Dumbo

A true family-film and crowd-pleaser. The first, proper four-quadrant winner of 2019. An absolute delightful mix of Disney nostalgia and Tim Burton aesthetics. Burton's storytelling was a perfect fit for Dumbo and this will surely appeal to children and also their Gen X/Y parents who still remembered the 1941 cartoon and Burton back in his heydays of Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands.

Gorgeously shot with beautiful visuals and a great score, this was Burton and Danny Elfman at their best...finally, again! Kudos to cinematographer Ben Davis who is doing better work here than he did for MCU. Maybe he should work with Burton more.

Dumbo was funny, touching, scary, exciting, tense, exhilarating, and most of all, simple. True, it was a bit too simple (but hey, we do not need to complicate it for children) and the screenplay by Ehren Kruger was the weakest link. Some of the heart and sincerity of the original's story telling got lost by expanding the film to nearly 2 hours. However, the simplicity of the story allowed Burton's visuals to shine through which it does and often eclipsed it. Burton expertly - and unashamedly - manipulate us with Dumbo's big, wide, expressive, fall-in-love-with-me-and-never-leave-me eyes. And those damn children.

Burton's aesthetics was a perfect fit for this retelling. From the gorgeous opening sequence to the nightmarish climax, this film was entirely, 100% pure Burton. He never shied away from tugging at the heart strings, but neither does he flinch from shining a light on darkness. There were so many outstanding sequences which really captured the magic of Disney and the encapsulates the power of film. You do feel like a child again.

That Pink Elephant sequence...outstanding!

Consequently, the acting played second fiddle to style and effects, but Collin Farrell, Eva Green and Danny DeVito more than held their own, with Michael Keaton chewing the scenery and Alan Arkin stealing his scenes. Nico Parker is a carbon copy to her mother, Thandie Newton, and I do hope that if she pursues this career will be as accomplished as her mother.

Elfman's score was the best he has done since 2003's Big Fish. It complemented the story, drove the narrative and punctuated the action but never ever got too distracting. Together with Davis' cinematography, they both brought Burton's vision of Dumbo to live.

But having said all that, Dumbo may not make big money in the end because Burton's style may not be for all. Ultimately, Dumbo was what it was - a simple, fun escape into the world of Burton's Disney.