7 Years Ago, Disney Released A Star-Studded Fantasy Movie That Left Much To Be Desired
by Rafael Motamayor · /FilmAdd SlashFilm on Google:
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Live-action Disney movies have taken a huge fall in the last 15 years or so. Where the 2000s saw Disney bet big with blockbuster action-adventure movies both original and based on established IP, like "The Chronicles of Narnia" and "Pirates of the Caribbean," the 2010s saw the studio begin to slow down their live-action output in favor of live-action remakes of animated films.
These live-action remakes of animated Disney movies have been mostly bad (we rank them all right here). For the most part they add nothing to the originals except an inexcusable longer runtime and a bunch of recognizable faces. Of course, because kids are no longer served enough films every year, the release of even a mediocre live-action remake of a decades-long Disney movie can make a whole lot of money, which is why these remakes keep coming.
That being said, there are some Disney live-action remakes that have actually done something right. Jon Favreau's "The Jungle Book" is the best-reviewed of them all on Rotten Tomatoes, for example, thanks to its incredible use of CGI and deepening of the 1967 animated film's themes and characterizations. Likewise, David Lowery's 2016 remake of "Pete's Dragon" introduces enough original ideas to justify its existence.
Then we have Tim Burton's "Dumbo," a live-action remake of the 1941 classic. It stars Colin Farrell as a World War I veteran and former circus performer who works as a caretaker for a circus elephant who gives birth to, you guessed it, Dumbo, an elephant with unusually huge ears. The film also stars Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito, Eva Green, and Alan Arkin. It has a great cast, a true-and-tested director, and some interesting ideas. But it unfortunately failed to make an impact.
Dumbo had some good ideas that went nowhere
Tim Burton's take on "Dumbo" has some ideas that border on great. In expanding the original's story of animal abuse, Burton decides to make the film about corporate con men and a big allegory for Disney itself. Indeed, Michael Keaton's V. A. Vandevere is a greedy entrepreneur and amusement park owner who wants Dumbo for his theme park, called Dreamland. He initially appears very interested in spreading joy and fulfilling dreams, and Dreamland (based on a real-life attraction) looks a bit like Epcot Center.
Indeed, a not-insignificant portion of "Dumbo" deals with the role of capital and corporations in the production of art, with Vandevere also dealing with his own monster in the form of a Wall Street executive who finances Dreamland. At times, the film dares to look at its own existence and the compromises Burton has to make in dealing with a soulless corporation that nevertheless is allowing him to make something that could have worth. Burton himself called Disney a "horrible big circus" at one point and compared himself to Dumbo, after all.
Unfortunately, the film doesn't exactly bite the hand that feeds it, and falls short of actually providing nuanced commentary or deep themes. In the end, it's just a bloated and overstuffed remake of an animated movie. Worse yet, it falls victim to the same issue that the worst Godzilla movies do — they forget audiences care about the creature, not the humans.
Dumbo failed to take flight
Though Tim Burton's "Dumbo" soared to the top of the box office in its first week, it didn't match Disney's expectations. The film grossed $353 million from a $170 million budget, the lowest of all the live-action remakes of animated films Disney released in 2019 (except for "Lady and the Tramp," which never made it to theaters). Compared to the billion-dollar hits that were "Aladdin" and "The Lion King," Burton's "Dumbo" was just an okay hit.
That is unfortunate, because if the film had been more successful we could have potentially got a sequel, one that might have incorporated the wild ideas from the canceled animated "Dumbo II." That film was supposed to introduce Dumbo's father, back when "Dumbo II" was being developed in the early 2000s. The film was to follow Dumbo and other circus animals getting separated from their traveling circus and forced to make it back on their own, journeying through a metropolis.
Even more unfortunate than daddy Dumbo is the fact that the failure of the live-action "Dumbo" didn't stop the live-action remake experiment. Because its release year also saw "Aladdin" and "The Lion King" become monumental hits, Disney has relied heavily on them the past few years, and it doesn't seem like they're stopping — even if it means more atrocities like live-action "Moana," which flopped even harder than "Dumbo."