‘DUMBO’—what can I tell you?
It’s a beautifully staged and photographed (i.e. filmed) LIVE-Action, family fantasy movie that should please audiences of ALL ages. Parents and/or grandparents taking the kids to see it will enjoy it as well.
Imagine that.
Because it’s got heart and soul.
Disney’s well oiled revival machine didn’t skimp on anything here.
It’s all up there on the big screen.
In all fairness I must admit to never having seen the original animated ‘DUMBO’ which Disney first released some 78 years ago in 1941. So my expectations were obviously in pretty low gear.
But the Mouse-House’s business plan of re-imagining almost all of the studio’s classic animated hits into new live action adventures should propel ‘DUMBO’ to fly high this weekend at the box office.
The storyline really hasn’t changed that much. It is still basically about a young elephant born with giant-sized ears that enable him to fly and help save a struggling circus in the process, eventually landing at the glitzy Dreamland Amusement Park. (Disneyworld, anyone?)
There is of course, much more to the dramatic story setting under the big top.
But rest assured the film offers enough genuine emotion as well as pure entertainment to make your trip to the theater well worth it.
And let me stress that this is a movie that SHOULD be seen on the big screen!
When it came to casting the production director Tim Burton certainly selected well.
His cast puts the likes of Colin Ferrell, Michael Keaton, Eva Green, Alan Arkin and Danny DeVito as ringmaster and circus owner in the key roles. All that plus a solid musical score courtesy of Danny Elfman.
So am I glowing about Disney’s latest live-action remake? Not quite.
First off I had hoped it to be a bit more edgy with Tim Burton at the helm.
Then I thought that towards the end the film became quite talky. In other words things could have been tightened up a bit.
But maybe that’s just me since our screening audience gave the picture a big round of applause—which doesn’t happen too often these days.
Bottom line, take the family for a visua fantasy time at the movies with ‘DUMBO’.
My grade: B+
