Abby Rae

I have made the decision to stay away from the majority (all) of the Disney live-action remakes. But, I caved and watched it. It's free, and it's on Disney Plus, why not? As with all of the Disney live-action remakes, the bad more often than not outweighs the good. I think the cons of this movie mainly come from the wasted ideas that could have been better explored. For instance, one of the things that I did not enjoy one bit about the movie was the children's performances. Colin Farrell's (Holt) children in this film are about as interesting as a wet paper bag. The daughter's connection so science doesn't add anything to the story as far as I remember. I would have enjoyed seeing her love of science carry her character to discover more about Dumbo or add an arc to her character. This is also a big problem with the film, I remember less and less as each day goes by. It's just a big forgettable film. One thing that I think could have worked for this film is this. Have Dumbo discover he can fly around the same time in this film, which I actually enjoyed about this film, but replace the child actors with Timothy Mouse. When Vandemere (Michael Keaton) comes to the circus to talk to Danny Devito, the mouse comes along, meeting Dumbo in the process. It would work because Timothy has a New York accent and Dreamland is in NY. One thing that I thought Disney was doing with Dreamland is ripping on themselves. I thought Dreamland was a sort of nod to the futuristic style of Epcot and how Disney is constantly advancing and trying to make dreams come alive. I thought that would have a bigger play in the film. But, there are a few things I liked. I liked the visuals, I thought some of them were creative and some of the actors I thought were doing okay. Eva Green was good, Danny Devito is good (of course) and I thought Dumbo was pretty cute as well. But all I can really sum up the film with is this. A child isn't going to be entertained by a 25-minute long climax and a supposed "villain." Vandemere was a villain, not an antagonist, and that's not something kids can relate to. Please stop remaking what is already beautiful and simple.