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With Rainy Eyes Write Sorrow
Dumbo proves to be an enjoyable, if lugubrious, live action remake of the 1941 classic
On March 20 the Walt Disney Company finalized its $71.3 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox thereby solidifying its elephantine position over the global entertainment industry. On March 29 it released Dumbo, a film that critiques the soul-crushing and creativity-stifling nature of megacorporations. Irony, it seems, is among the many assets acquired in the Fox deal. Though the film’s anti-corporate messaging is a bit suspect given its production company Dumbo proves to be an enjoyable, if lugubrious, live action remake of the 1941 classic.
The film’s success is due to director Tim Burton who has created another world of wonderment rich in tonal playfulness and imaginative craft. His highest achievement is the creation of the character Dumbo, a CGI masterpiece whose eyes, at times hopeful but mostly heartsick, do all the work in telling the story of his alienation and determination to transform his disabilities into his advantage. In fact, this speechless character emerges with the best acting performance in the movie.
This isn’t to say that the human acting is so bad. Danny DeVito in particular is great as the rowdy carnivalesque circus master Max Medici, proprietor of Medici Brothers’ Circus…