Live Action 'Dumbo'

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

The initial reviews I read were all quite positive, not glowing, but positive.

Burton will always have an uphill battle with critics these days. I'll be going in with an open mind and hoping for the best. I have an inkling I will like it though.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Who are these horrible people. The original is a masterpiece.

I know quite a few people who don't like it because of the racist scene with the crows. Now, I wouldn't say that scene ruins the whole movie but I could totally understand if it did for someone.

 

[Drizzle]

Burton needs to do something original again, these adaptations need to stop.

The last good adaptation he did was Sweeney Todd. Even before that his non-original films that were actually good were few and far between. There’s the Batman movies, Sleepy Hollow and maybe Mars Attacks depending on who you ask. Given how shockingly boring his Alice in Wonderland was, I’m not really surprised Dumbo is getting mixed reviews.

 

[DarkKnight88]

Frankenweenie was great, Big Eyes and Miss Peregrine were good.

I don’t really buy these reviews until I see myself. People usually get these Burton movies wrong IMO. Storytelling is in the visuals.

 

[Drizzle]

Frankenweenie was great, Big Eyes and Miss Peregrine were good.

Frankenweenie and Big Eyes aren’t adaptations. Well, Frankenweenie is but it’s still Burton’s original story.

 

[Web-Head]

I never expected this to be a huge hit for Disney anyway. I'm sure it'll still do well enough, but not as well as Aladdin will

 

[psylockolussus]

That 50% is just not good to look at. I didn't like the original Dumbo and still don't see what the big deal was. And this, I feel like I watch almost every Disney movie and since this is an adaptation of a Disney classic, I need to see it.

 

[TheVileOne]

I thought the movie was nothing more than a passable family film. It's inoffensive, but also very bland.

It's a lame and goofy performance by Michael Keaton where he's mumbling and grunting all of his lines.

Also, the movie does sort of glorify the traveling circus and circus folk whether you think that's good or bad. It's because the circus is the only place where they can really belong and have a home of their own. That's more in Burton's wheelhouse of being more sympathetic to the quirky offbeat people of the world.

It's really the money grubbing industrial types who are bad.

 

[scarlet-witch]

Who are these horrible people. The original is a masterpiece.

I can see people who were living or born soon after it maybe thinking that but that does not age well at all. To each is own of course.

 

[sueb1863]

I think this movie never would have happened if it hadn't been for "The Greatest Showman".

It's not like Dumbo was ever one of Disney's hugely popular movies, but TGS made a ton of money so Disney's looking to cash in.

 

[DarkKnight88]

I think people who don’t think Dumbo is popular or that it hasn’t aged well, haven’t seen it in a very long time or at all.

As for the crows, remember, they were one of the few characters to be sympathetic to Dumbo. As well as being intelligent and free from the cages that the other characters are locked in. For all their caricature, they are very positive characters. They also have one of the best songs in the movie.

 

[dark_b]

 

[Spider-Fan]

52%
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dumbo_2019#
Average Rating: 5.63/10
Reviews Count: 89
Fresh: 46
Rotten: 43

 

[Spider-Fan]

Frankenweenie was great, Big Eyes and Miss Peregrine were good.

I don’t really buy these reviews until I see myself. People usually get these Burton movies wrong IMO. Storytelling is in the visuals.

Hated Miss Peregrine. I laughed at most of it. Burton's been a disappointment to me basically after Sweeney Todd. I have not seen Frankenweenie, though. That one I do want to give a shot.

 

[Deck Rickard]

I didn't even think Sweeney Todd was that good. It looked amazing, but it was another case of casting an actor who can't sing as the lead in a musical. Depp's acting was fine, but he talked his way through most of the musical numbers and probably would never have been cast in the role if 1. he didn't already have a longstanding relationship with Burton and 2. was a huge star. It wasn't as bad as Gerard "OH GOD GOUGE MY EARDRUMS OUT NOW" Butler in Phantom of the Opera, but he was still pretty terrible. I guess it's because I have a background in musical theatre and I've seen many people whose voices SUCK land lead roles due to theatre politics that it really bugs me when I see it in movies.

 

[DarkKnight88]

Fine? He was nominated for Best Actor that year.

And even Sondheim himself, the man who wrote the music, approved of Depp.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Yeah, I know he was nominated. I don't care. He couldn't sing, even if Sondheim gave him his stamp of approval.

 

[scarlet-witch]

Neither Depp nor Helena could sing. They could carry tunes, but were not strong singers. That being said I think they fit the tone and did a good job.

 

[TheVileOne]

I didn't even think Sweeney Todd was that good. It looked amazing, but it was another case of casting an actor who can't sing as the lead in a musical. Depp's acting was fine, but he talked his way through most of the musical numbers and probably would never have been cast in the role if 1. he didn't already have a longstanding relationship with Burton and 2. was a huge star. It wasn't as bad as Gerard "OH GOD GOUGE MY EARDRUMS OUT NOW" Butler in Phantom of the Opera, but he was still pretty terrible. I guess it's because I have a background in musical theatre and I've seen many people whose voices SUCK land lead roles due to theatre politics that it really bugs me when I see it in movies.

Agree with this. I like Depp as an actor as well, but he was totally miscast as Sweeney Todd.

Also, if the actor can't sing, just get another actor to sing their lines. Isn't that what they did for Greatest Showman? Pretty sure I read Rebecca Ferguson doesn't sing any of her lines.

 

[Schlosser85]

Agree with this. I like Depp as an actor as well, but he was totally miscast as Sweeney Todd.

Also, if the actor can't sing, just get another actor to sing their lines. Isn't that what they did for Greatest Showman? Pretty sure I read Rebecca Ferguson doesn't sing any of her lines.

Yep. Ferguson is the only one who didn’t do her own singing, it was Loren Allred.

 

[Web-Head]

Agree with this. I like Depp as an actor as well, but he was totally miscast as Sweeney Todd.

Also, if the actor can't sing, just get another actor to sing their lines. Isn't that what they did for Greatest Showman? Pretty sure I read Rebecca Ferguson doesn't sing any of her lines.

Ferguson didn't sing, but not because she's incapable. She's a fairly good singer, but they needed it sound like they were one of the best singers in the country.

 

[Naglfar]

From LA Times:

“Dumbo,” which cost an estimated $170 million to make...

 

[Deck Rickard]

From LA Times:

Good luck making that back.

 

[Naglfar]

Good luck making that back.

Whoever is in charge of approving those budgets must come to his senses asap. You'd think they would have learned a thing or two from the AWIT/The Nutcracker fiascos and the underperformance of MPR but here we are...

 

[terry78]

Disney don't care, they got that Marvel and lucasfilm paper rolling in.