Review: The 1941 Dumbo is my favorite animated Disney movie. It is a film I can watch over and over again and love just as much each time. My love for that movie knows no bounds. Sadly I can't say the same for this movie.
This film can be split into two parts. The first is a retelling of the 1941 movie and the second is essentially what would happen after people see an elephant fly. Neither part is honestly very good. The first part seems like a surprisingly rushed version of the 1941 film. This is strange considering that movie's short runtime (64 minutes) and the fact that quite a bit was left out (Timothy Mouse, the crows, most of the songs). However everything here feels like it could have been given much more time to develop. What its clearly missing here because of that is any emotional connection. Even in this versions take on Baby Mine is completely tear free, missing all of what made the original one of the most powerful scenes in Disney history. There is also the fact that too much here is said in dialogue rather than the mostly visual way the first movie was told. Dumbo himself is also a problem here. True he may look more realistic, but he doesn't emote as well as the 1941 version. Under Bill Tytla's animation the original Dumbo was a perfect example of what character animation can be. It is impossible not to emotionally attach to that Dumbo. This Dumbo never feels as real because we don't get the same amount of emotion from him. The first part of this movie just makes one think of how much better the 1941 version is. The second part is even worse. It feels like it comes out of nowhere and belongs in a completely different movie. The second part is also incredibly clichéd and dull. Most of this revolves around the human characters, who are simply boring. They are all just one dimensional stereotypes of movie characters we have seen a million times before. Due to the clichés it is also hard to find anybody who can't guess what is going to happen next. The 1941 movie's charm lied heavily in its simplicity and dedication to telling a very simply story as well as possible. This part is lacking such simplicity. There are too many characters and not enough focus on one thing. It doesn't help that there is a big action scene towards the end of this movie, that could not feel more forced or out of place.
There are still a few good things about this movie but they are far and in-between. Danny Elfman's score is as usual quite good, some of the flying scenes are quite impressive and I like the creative way to put the pink elephants in this movie. Still this is downed out by what doesn't work.
To be honest I didn't hate this movie as much as I thought I would. I still didn't like the movie though and I certainly would never call it a good movie. My recommendation is to stick with the classic 1941 movie.
-Michael J. Ruhland
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