After successfully producing live-action versions of "Cinderella", "Fantasy Forest" and "Beauty and the Beast", the performance of Disney's live-action fairy tale series in 2018 is very unsatisfactory: whether it is the fantasy style "The Nutcracker and the Four Realms" , The realistic style of "Christopher Robin", for ordinary audiences and fans, is not sufficiently attractive.
And zoom in to the scope of the entire sequel movie, "New Happy Manchuria" and the earlier "Pirates of the Caribbean 5", "Star Wars 8", and even the housekeeper's animated sequel "Cars 3" and "The Incredibles 2" "Invincible Destruction King 2" is also out of standard to varying degrees.
But for the wealthy Disney, this is not a big problem: in 2019 alone, there were four "Dumbo", "Aladdin", "The Lion King" and "Maleficent 2" with investment levels of at least A $150 million live-action fairy tale movie is released-this does not include "Toy Story 4", which is fried with rice.
Compared with the blue Will Smith, Dumbo, who can't sing and dance, can be said to be the most normal CG image in these movies in the future. From a one-hour children's cartoon born nearly 80 years ago to a full-length live-action fantasy movie, the uniquely aesthetic director Tim Burton obviously did a lot of work, and Disney also gave enough face: produced at Disney In a series of live-action movies, this is one of the few that does not have an IP adaptation project involving a Disney producer.
Under such creative freedom, "Dumbo" obviously has a more personal impression of the director than other adaptations: the century-old circus is almost a direct transplant of "Big Fish", and the director is even Danny De. Vito; after "Batman Returns", Michael Keaton appeared again after nearly 30 years; the third collaboration with the new muse Eva Green ("Dark Shadow" and "Miss Pei's Fantasy Castle"), The 16th collaboration with music master Danny Elfman ("Batman" and "Edward Scissorhands")...
However, although Tim Bolton has liked to portray those distorted and kind characters throughout his career, "Dumbo" is not a work above the standard; in a series of Disney live-action animated films, "Dumbo "Nor is it a work that deserves too much attention.
From a certain perspective, "Dumbo" is the most suitable image of Tim Burton in the Disney system: the innocent protagonist who is misunderstood by the world is simply for this eccentric and unstable filmmaker. The same as tailor-made. But like many special effects directors who have transformed from author-oriented directors to major studios, Tim Burton will inevitably “sell” himself. The art style of Dumbo often appears outdated and outdated. Often times, the strong pipeline style revealed in the movie is really frustrating.
For audiences who are familiar with Tim Burton, this result is not surprising. After all, he is a habitual blunder in the field of film remakes: "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" where the bedtime story becomes a childhood nightmare, a science fiction classic Turned into an abnormal relationship between humans and beasts, "Battle of the Apes", broke up with two old lovers, Helena Bonham Carter and Johnny Depp, to make "Dark Shadow." It can be seen that Tim Burton, who is accustomed to original works, is not as adaptable as Guy Ritchie in popcorn blockbusters.
As far as "Dumbo" is concerned, the overly simple plot in the original work also adds difficulty to the adaptation. Wrote "Transformers 2&3&4", and a "Ghost in the Shell" screenwriter Ilan Kruger, retains the core narrative framework of the original animation, but the expansion of the story can only be said to be mixed. When "Dumbo" can really focus on its animal protagonist, the movie can still perform magic. But every time the movie begins to tell about those superficial original human characters, it starts to stand still.
This problem has also appeared in Tim Burton’s other popcorn movies. In "Alice in Wonderland", "Dark Shadow" and "Miss Pei's Magical Castle", the setting and costume have priority over the character portrayal - and the character portrayal is not originally the strong point of Tim Bolton, who is known for "strange".
In this case, performance is not the real shortcoming of Dumbo. There has always been no box office fate, but the serious Colin Farrell has given the same dedication as before; as the incarnation of sex (sense) Eva Green has begun to lose freshness, but still has a little fun; Danny DeVito and Michael Keaton are playing nostalgic cards. Back then, the pros and cons of "Batman Returns" reversed their identities. Although the 75-year-old former has hardly any breakthrough, Michael Keaton is almost Imitating Johnny Depp in Tim Burton's movie-except that he doesn't have to wipe his face into a palette. But what is missing from the movie is the quiet soul of the full CG Xiao Feixiang.
From "Big Eyes" to "Dumbo", Tim Burton seems to be returning to the motif that aroused his interest in "Edwood"-that is, the collision and coexistence between art and commerce. But just as he did in the past, "Dumbo" is distracted by pure visual spectacle and puts the human element in the story second. For Disney, which is ambitious and trying to make a big splash in 2019, "Dumbo" is just an appetizer before the summer break; for Tim Bolton himself, "Dumbo" is a risky one. Adventure. But for Dumbo who has lost the spotlight, "Dumbo" is a dream that failed to set sail.
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