Dumbo (Dir. Tim Burton, 1h 52 m)

It's my honest belief that you can blame Tim Burton for the oncoming legion of live-action Disney adaptions-without his Hot Topic pandering "dark" re imagining of the 1951 Disney classic (which remains a darker and weirder film a decade on) grossing a cool $1 billion plus at the box office, I doubt the folks at Disney would have sat up, realised they can essentially make the same films again, and, nine years on, present Tim with the chance to remake Dumbo. What results is a two hour, needlessly dark, needlessly complex, needlessly weird but at least visually arresting adaption where most of the Burton-staple cast mill about a large-eared elephant, from a director whose career has been waning for over a decade, with his tried and tested formula now running on flat empty. It's a mess, and not a very interesting one.

The very idea of Burton adapting Dumbo is a weird venture-at 66 minutes, Dumbo, released in 1941,  is one of Disney's shortest films, made on a small budget, in an economical style, after Fantasia (1940), nearly blew the bank. Its tale of a big-eared elephant bullied by others, whose ears eventually prove to give him the power of flight is small-scale, charming and emotionally resonant, and its message of "believing in yourself" is the one thing Burton unmistakably gets down perfectly. What Burton does, however, is fillet the film down to the simplest concept-Dumbo can fly but is scared to do so, he beats his fear, and flies-and attaches it to the front of a needlessly complex story, with too much darkness for a young audience, and too much schmaltz for an older one.

If one is to be entirely blunt, Dumbo does not suit Burton's style-another film, from Pinocchio to the much maligned and truly frightening Dark Cauldron would have been perfect in Burton's Gothic-steeped style. Though Burton gets down the peeled paint and faded grandeur of the circus, and, despite it being shoehorned in harder than Keaton, Devito et al have been into the cast, the "Pink Elephants on Parade" sequence catches the enjoyable weirdness of the original film, nothing else matches. What we get instead of a short, sweet film that runs on emotion, self-belief and the love between a mother and her child, is plot. Lots and lots of needlessly dark, needlessly complex, needless plot.

Taking place in a post World War I America, Colin Farrell's war-wounded soldier, Holt Farrier returns to the circus he used to be a trick rider for, to find it dilapidated, his wife dead from influenza, his children distant, and the future of the circus fading fast. Quickly put in charge of the elephants by ringmaster Max Medici (Devito), his lot, and that of the entire circus, begin to change when a newly born baby elephant, mocked for its long ears, and quickly dubbed "Dumbo", is able to fly with the help of Farrier's children, scientific Milly (Nico Parker) and free-spirited Joe (Finley Hobbins).

News of Dumbo's ability spreads fast, and comes to the attention of entrepreneur V. A. Vandevere (Keaton), who buys the entire circus to add Dumbo to his new themepark, Dreamland. However, with Dumbo's mother missing, eventually found to be part of Vandevere plotting, and Dumbo's act with French acrobat, Colette (Eva Green) carrying the fortunes of Dreamland with them, so the film sets up a striking finale, only to shrug and add an equally needlessly revisionist, hand-wringingly 21st century ending to the tale that's among the worst single additions to any of these live action adaptions so far.

At parts, the old Burton magic comes through-weaker, and a little faded, but unmistakable. The scene in which Dumbo first flies in front of an audience is equal parts nailbiting and exhilarating, echoed at the other end of the film with the impressively large-scale finale in which every member of the circus plays their part. Dumbo himself is an impressively realistic looking effect, and the degree of emotion that Burton is able to pull out of what is, after all, a computer-generated elephants is itself a feat. The two chief locations of the film, in the Medici circus and at the Disneyland-esque Dreamland, are also beautifully rendered locations, and the whole look and feel of the film is Burton at his typical best, whilst Burton stalwart, Danny Elfman mixes familiar (including a sweetly sparse "Baby Mine") and new elements on his score (which also, bizarrely features indie darlings Arcade Fire doing their best at an oddly unnecessary additional cover of "Baby Mine")

For all their familiarity, Keaton and Devito bring excellent performances-Devito is at once a warm and friendly figure, the father of the circus family, and a cunning and quick-witted business man, whilst beneath Keaton's charming veneer is a vicious, cruel and calculating villain-it's surprising quite how close, in depicting the creator of a surprisingly Disneyland-coded amusement park, complete with early 20th century Epcot, how close to the bone Burton gets. Farrell, and both of the child actors, are, together with Dumbo, the emotional centre of this film, and all three of their performances are excellent-if there's one complaint I have in terms of the cast, it is with Eva Green's Collete who flip-flops from side to side before joining the circus in a oddly tacked on romance with Farrier.

What this film lacks is heart. What was once the emotional highpoint, the catharsis of Dumbo, as he takes to the air, now marks the end of its first act, although the film pulls the message of the feather out to the denouement for no other reason than to make this film longer than it has any need to be-this is the second longest of the live action Disney remakes to date, nearly double its original length. Burton captures some of the heart of the original, mostly in scenes plucked straight from the original, most notably with the "Baby Mine" sequence, in which Dumbo and his caged mother try simply to see each other. Around it, though, is all too many sideplots and overcomplexity.

This is not to say everything that Burton has added is bad-some charming moments make up the difference. The Farrier children, largely taking the mentor/protector role of Timothy, who only now makes a non-speaking cameo appearance as, well, a mouse, have a nice story arc, the loss of their mother to influenza echoing the loss of Dumbo's mother. Elsewhere the disability of their war-wounded father, having lost his arm, neatly compares to Dumbo being held back and mocked for his ears, and his return to the saddle at the end of the film echoes Dumbo's own growth. Elsewhere however, the film stumbles-none of the circus performers are fleshed out, and at points even Devito and Keaton tread water until more interesting moments appear over the horizon, until the contrived, moralistic and cringeworthy ending bobs into view, Arcade Fire and all.

Dumbo is not a good film. Nor, to be fair, is it a bad one. It is, however, a mess of plots, uneven emotional moments, uninspiring acting, and impressive visuals that don't really belong to a film as small scale, as emotionally driven, as personal as Dumbo-it is a disservice to the original film. The idea that this will kill either Burton's career or the live action Disney remakes is laughable, but this is a new low for both.

Rating: Neutral