Dumbo (2019)

(PG) ★★★

Director: Tim Burton.

Cast: Colin Farrell, Nico Parker, Finley Hobbins, Danny DeVito, Michael Keaton, Eva Green, Roshan Seth, DeObia Oparei, Joseph Gatt, Alan Arkin.

It was the ugliest puppy anyone had ever seen.

Tim Burton and Dumbo - it seems like a match made in heaven, right? Burton specialises in outsider stories drenched in magical realism with a hint of oddball darkness, and a live-action remake of Dumbo has the potential to fit that description to a tee.

On paper it should work, and when Dumbo finds its wings, you really will believe an elephant can fly. But it's what on the paper - ie. the script - that keeps the film regularly stuck on the ground instead of soaring.

The at-times clumsy and over-long screenplay sticks close to the core and heart of the original, although it does away with the anthropomorphised animals and tells the tale from the point of view of the humans. These are primarily the Farrier family - returned soldier and father Holt (Farrell), and his two kids Milly (Parker) and Joe (Hobbins) - who are part of the Medici Brothers' Circus.

Led by Max Medici (DeVito), the circus acquires a new elephant who is in calf and soon delivers a baby that will come to be called Dumbo. Born with overly huge ears, these are initially seen as a handicap, until Dumbo discovers he can use them to fly.

This incredible stunt attracts the attention of theme park owner V. A. Vandevere (Keaton), who sees Dumbo as the key to huge wealth. But all Dumbo wants is to be reunited with his mother.

Disney's much-loved 70-minute original - the shortest of the Disney classics - has been expanded into a two-hour feature, and the core of the story works but unfortunately the script is bloated and contrived in places. It still contains many of the beautiful things and themes that made the original so magical, remaining a touching tale of overcoming adversity, embracing what makes you special, and the importance of family, all wrapped around a cute little pachyderm doing something wondrous.

But it takes a lot of missteps along the way. There are unnecessary characters (Arkin's financier J. Griffin Remington key among them), unrewarding subplots (Milly's passion for science is talked about incessantly but never shown), and contrivances that make the story creak (the way the film reaches its fiery conclusion is one of many plot points set-up in a terribly awkward fashion).

The writing doesn't do some of the cast any favours either. Farrell's Farrier spends much of the film lamenting his lack of parenting skills, but making little effort to improve them, all the while expecting the audience to think things are all good by the end. Arkin gets some of the worst lines that amplify the fact his character is unnecessary. As for Keaton's Barnum-esque villain, it's hard to know if the writing is to blame or whether it's his performance that makes his character so uneven. At times cartoonish, at times not, Keaton (or possibly Burton) seems unable to decide how Vandevere should be portrayed, making Vandevere a wobbly and unconvincing baddie.

It's a shame, because otherwise the film has moments of beauty and magic. Eva Green's Colette is an interesting character, as is DeVito's Medici, and the story elevates when they're around. Same goes for Parker, who doesn't seem like your standard cookie-cutter kid character, and Seth as the Medici circus' resident snake charmer Pramesh, but it would have been nice for both of these characters, especially Pramesh.

In the scheme of Burton's filmography, it's toward the lower end of the scale, down with Planet Of Apes and Dark Shadows. There are occasional flourishes of his best stuff (such as Nightmare Island and the introduction to Medici's circus), but this isn't up there with the classic Burton storytelling of Edward Scissorhands and Big Fish, largely because the script isn't as good or as in tune with Burton's sensibilities as it should have or could have been.

With some judicious editing and a sharper script, Dumbo would have flown more smoothly. At its best, which is when the flying elephant is doing its thing, the film has that same sense of magic and spectacle that the original had. But at its worst it clunks its way to a surprisingly satisfying ending that makes you wonder why it couldn't have all been like that.