Dumbo

Wonder, Mystique and Magic indeed! - 7.5/10

by Francesco Bakhos - 365 Movies Lebanon

Wonder, Mystique and Magic indeed! Dumbo is everything (kinda) you could ask for in a live action feature.

Struggling circus owner Max Medici enlists a former star and his two children to care for Dumbo, a baby elephant born with oversized ears. When the family discovers that the animal can fly, it soon becomes the main attraction - - bringing in huge audiences and revitalizing the run-down circus. The elephant's magical ability also draws the attention of V.A. Vandevere, an entrepreneur who wants to showcase Dumbo in his latest larger-than-life entertainment venture.

I have to admit that I was wishing for Dumbo to be flawlessly executed but unfortunately it seems that my wishes weren't quite fulfilled. And that's why I will be, once again, dividing my review into 2 main categories :the positives and the negatives.

Starting with the positives : first of all, what attracted me the most about Dumbo is that it contained alot of interesting and powerful metaphors regarding numerous subjects such as animal rights (which I found totally amazing), family bonds, dreams and most importantly Bullying. You see, Dumbo was bullied because he was born different, because he was unique and one of a kind. And this made me think, how many people out there are in fact real life Dumbos?

According to STC's (Save The Children) research on Bullying in Lebanon, 50% of Lebanese children are being bullied or have been at some point in their lives. That means 1 out of 2. Can you even believe this? 41% of these children also reported to being physically bullied, verbally bullied... And the list goes on. What I'm trying to say is that it doesn't matter what type of Bullying it is because at the end of the day it is still considered immoral and extremely harmful.

Such malevolent actions have some serious consequences such as skipping out/dropping out of school, declining grades, feeling upset, withdrawing from social activities, anxiety and could eventually lead to depression and unfortunately suicide. Parents, teachers and anyone who's in care of children please pay attention because only one in five children report the incident. I cant stress this enough BULLYING IS NOT ACCEPTABLE AND SHOULD NOT BE TOLERATED.

I know i lost track a bit but i believe this is something everyone should hear/read/listen to.

To continue with my review, Tim Burton's magical touch was undeniably present in Dumbo. His unique directing skills are one of the few astonishing aspects about this film. Totally worth of a nod.

In addition, all the colors, details, sets and CGI work were phenomenal. Dumbo was the most perfect CGI elephant you could possibly imagine. Truly, a spectacle of colors and special effects that has the ability to make you dream and wonder.

And let's not forget about the extremely amazing set of performers that absolutely killed it and gave us one hell of a show such as Colin Ferrel, the wonderful Eva Green whom managed to steal every scene with her charming good looks and captivating acting techniques and the hilarious Danny DeVito. But im most impressed with the young Nico Parker, a raw talent of which im sure we'll be seeing alot in the near future.

I also really liked how, in a way, this film payed tribute to the original animated movie while still having an identity of its own.

But unfortunately and to my dismay, this movie had a rather decent amount of flaws. 

Let me start with the characters, which were to say the least absolutely superficial. They lacked proper development and background study as well as depth, both protagonists and antagonists. In other words, Dumbo's characters were all one dimensional. Ye3ne, aside from being properly performed, these characters failed at being anything more than ink on paper.

In addition, the storyline contained alot of plot holes and unanswered questions. But thats not the only problem, the first part of the movie was perfect, it had a nice decent pace with some informations about the storyline but suddenly in part 2 and 3, everything changed, the pace was all over the place and the storyline felt extremely rushed to a point where you don't have enough time to properly examine whats going on. Ye3ne, C'mon Tim, this is not you. What happened?

But in the end, i wont deny that dumbo didnt have all the wonder, mystique and magic i was looking for. This film is an amazingly inspiring tear-jerker that both kids and adults will enjoy.

Highly recommended.

 

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