First Australian review: Dumbo remake takes fine flight as Disney’s live-action remake plan leaves runway

Dumbo is the first movie box to roll off Disney’s fast-movie assembly line transforming classic cartoons into live-action blockbusters. But will it please purists who loved the original classic?

DUMBO (PG)

Rating: 3½ stars (out of five)

Director: Tim Burton (Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory)

Starring: Colin Farrell, Eva Green, Danny DeVito, Michael Keaton, Nico Parker.

Humble attitude and humbling altitudes

Disney’s audacious new plan to flood the movie market with blockbuster live-action versions of its most beloved animation properties gets off to a literal flyer with Dumbo.

Tomorrow’s release of a new adaptation of the classic 1941 cartoon about a big-eared little elephant with amazing aerial skills is the first in a series of modern updates arriving in future months.

If the quality of Dumbo is any indication, then coming Disney live-action attractions such as Aladdin (arriving in May) and The Lion King (July) will be on the must-see lists of viewers of all ages.

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Dumbo has been remade by Disney.

When high-flying star Colette Marchant teams up with a baby elephant who can fly, their new act proves a little challenging.

While the new Dumbo does make some significant changes to the original story to accommodate its real-world setting, the superb direction of Tim Burton (Alice in Wonderland) and the acting of a well-cast ensemble both fit the bill perfectly.

More importantly, the special-effects work poured into the portrayal of the heroic title character pulls off the crucial feat of having us believe an elephant can swoop, glide and soar like a falcon.

A quietly involving plot commences shortly after the end of World War I, with the return of one-armed soldier Holt Farrier (Colin Farrell) to the circus where he was once a star horseman.

Former circus star Holt Farrier (Colin Farrell) is charged with taking care of a newborn elephant whose oversized ears make him a laughing stock.

Unable to ride anymore, Holt is given a charity job looking after the troupe’s elephant stable. It is here Holt’s young children Milly (Nico Parker) and Joe (Finley Hobbins) discover a baby pachyderm with huge ears has a secret talent for getting airborne.

Christened Dumbo by the roguish ringmaster and circus proprietor Max Medici (Danny DeVito), the shy little orphan elephant quickly becomes a national sensation.

While Dumbo and his young handlers chase the dream his fame may help reunite him with his lost mother, Medici sells his business to a dodgy entrepreneur (Michael Keaton) with suspicious plans to exploit the Dumbo phenomenon.

Eva Green stars as Colette Marchant, Dreamland’s French-born aerialist and high-flying star.

Paired with the beautiful trapeze artist Colette (Eva Green), Dumbo must figure out a way to fly towards freedom before his new big-top home becomes a prison from which he will never escape.

Though some purists — particularly adults with cherished memories of the original — will bristle at the scripting changes made by the new movie, younger viewers won’t care a jot.

Key messages conveyed to children about how to rise above bullies and also be kind to animals will be received loud, clear and happily.

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Originally published as First Australian review: Dumbo remake takes fine flight as Disney’s live-action remake plan leaves runway