Heather J. Chin

My biggest takeaway is how adorable CGI Dumbo is. I remain impressed by the animation skill in blending anthropomorphizing and realism for his face and expressions. Overall, the film is a family-friendly film with an undercurrent of darkness — but authentic darkness, commenting on the human condition, parent-child bonds, animal exploitation, bullying, greed, and base violence — yet still somehow managing to feel like a moral fable than a scary tale. It was also predictable wish-fulfillment amidst a world of other films that try hard to defy expectations. For example, when I found myself silently cursing humanity for its treatment of animals and anyone deemed an "other," lo and behold, the sadistic animal trainer got crushed to death. "Dumbo" is a neat feel-good package of good winning out over evil, and nowadays, that's a refreshing escape. It was entertaining to see Michael Keaton as an opportunistic mercenary of a villain, akin to Cruella de Vil, particularly with the henchman wearing elephant skin shoes. And similarly novel to see Colin Farrell play a straight-shooting, responsible male lead and father. Other pop culture callbacks include Keaton's Dreamland Colosseum being reminiscent of a cross between Times Square and Coney Island, and the elephant hijacking hijinks bringing to mind the Mary Poppins Returns foray into the circus on the vase. And the entire Max Medici Family Circus crew resembles Hugh Jackman's "The Greatest Show." The final noteworthy laugh was at Farrell's character's daughter marveling over a science exhibit that looks pulled straight out of a 1960s-meets-1990s catalogue of homemaking, except the film is set in 1919. But even that anachronism seems to fit in the ensemble.