When you think of Dumbo, of course the first thing that comes to your brain is a flying elephant with massive ears.

Tim Burton’s new Take on Dumbo is another in the long line of Live Action Remakes that Disney is making. They have done two Alice in Wonderland’s (also Timmy B), Maleficent, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Jungle Book, and Christopher Robin. They also have many more coming that everyone should be excited about.

Now I watched the original a week ago and it was a very interesting movie. It is only 64 minutes, there is an extremely simple story, and it is pretty racist and problematic on some level. So I do think it was a very good time for Burton to reinvent this movie in his image.

The new story feels almost like a sequel to the old movie, because the 1941 versions ends with a newspaper saying there is a flying Elephant. The new take is kind of what happens when someone sees that headline. Dumbo is separated from his mom and has to go through many trials and tribulations in order to find his way back to her. He makes many friends along the way and becomes a true hero throughout his journey.

The story of course is relatively basic, but there is so much Burton weirdness and fun that it makes this movie enjoyable, heartwarming, and very exciting to look at. He even threw in his own version of the famous Pink Elephant scene for the Animated version.

You genuinely care for Dumbo and the kids by the end of the movie and that is all you can really ask for here.

Stock Watch

Stock Up – Eva Green plays Colette and she has probably the most pivotal arc in the movie. She is a Tim Burton favorite and showed why in this again. I was remarking to my friends after, that she just has this presence that is really seductive whenever she is on the screen. I really hope she starts getting more interesting roles though and does not become Helena Bonham Carter 2.0.

Stock Neutral – Michael Keaton another Tim Burton Favorite puts on an all time WTF accent in this movie. But he is still doing his thing and this wont affect his career arc in any way good or bad.

Stock Down – Colin Farrell almost felt miscast in that movie. I am a huge Farrell guy (I mean Alexander, Daredevil, Widows) but this was a very weird performance from him. Would love to see him bounce back in a big way.

Stock Neutral – Danny Devito is just Danny Devito at this point.

*A couple other tidbits

• Nico Parker and Finley Hobbins played Colin Farrell’s kids in the movie, and they were the true heart of the story in my opinion. They essentially took Timothy Q’s role from the original as Dumbo’s guides.
• Need more Alan Arkin at all times, when him Keaton and DeVito all sit next to each other it is grumpy old man HEAVEN.
• Michael Buffer coming out and saying “LETS GET READY FOR DUMBOOOOOO” made me legit almost fall out of my chair it was so absurd.

Dumbo is not the best of these remakes so far, but it is a well done and fun movie. I also love the fact it was not just a re-tread of the original and that they gave us new characters and new story lines. Of course, with a Tim Burton movie it has it’s odd moments and shots that will confuse you, but overall this is a good movie to take your kids to for sure.

Juice Rating: 71/100

*all of my movie ratings can be found here.