1919. The Medici Brothers circus is ailing. Returning from the war with one arm, equestrian Holt Farrier (Colin Farrell) finds that his wife has died of influenza, his horses have been sold and he is now in charge of the elephants. Max Medici (Danny DeVito) has recently bought a pregnant elephant and is hoping he can make the baby the focal point for his circus resurgence.

Dumbo was Disney’s 4th animated film and is now their 4th live action remake following Cinderella, The Jungle Book and Beauty and the Beast. Unlike those films this one is very much removed from its original film, which only stood at 64 minutes and had a very slight story with elements not acceptable today. Screenwriter Ehren Kruger has had the task of creating a much larger tale that introduces entrepreneur V.A. Vandevere (Michael Keaton) and trapeze artist Colette Marchant (Eva Green) and the commercialism that might follow the discovery of a flying elephant. The main emotional through line here is Dumbo wanting to be reunited with his mother juxtaposed with Holt’s children who have lost theirs. There are nods to the original story at different points. We see mice briefly, champagne is quickly ushered away from the baby and a display with bubbles gives us our pink elephants. Whilst Arcade Fire perform a great cover of “Baby Mine” over the end credits.

At its best it is a great example of Tim Burton’s pastel shaded hyper real worlds. The production design and effects are superb and when we visit Vandevere’s Dreamland theme park and especially Nightmare Island held within it really does feel like a classic Tim Burton world. Returning Burton actors also fare best in this environment. Green and DeVito are at home here and Keaton is he best thing in the whole film.

Dumbo does have a fatal flaw though. It’s dull. Moments of fun and wonder are here but ultimately it doesn’t manage to instil excitement in the story we know or the new one added. And this isn’t just me speaking. My 8 year old started taking his shoes on and off with about 45 minutes left to go and my 4 year old had already started going for walks long before that. And both of my kids love watching films!

It’s a good effort and boy does it look great, but I think Burton needs to return to slightly darker gothic films.