By Susan Granger
Special to WestportNow
“Dumbo” (1941) was the fourth animated feature created by Walt Disney — following “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” “Pinocchio” and “Fantasia.” Now, Tim Burton has re-imagined the Disney classic as a live-action film, enhanced with animatronic and digital effects.
Dumbo’s story begins in 1919, when he’s born into a struggling barnstorming circus, owned by Max Medici (Danny DeVito), and soon separated from his protective mother.
Dumbo’s care is turned over to former equestrian star Holt Farrier (Colin Farrell), a World War I veteran who lost an arm in battle and his wife to an influenza epidemic. Farrier’s two kids — Milly (Nico Parker) and Joe (Finley Hobbins) — quickly realize that the baby pachyderm’s oversized ears, which make him look deformed, actually enable him to fly.
Dumbo’s talent soon attracts the attention of nefarious entrepreneur V.A. Vandervere (Michael Keaton), who buys Medici’s entire circus just to acquire Dumbo, pairing him with his French aerialist girlfriend, Colette Marchant (Eva Green) in an ill-fated trapeze act.
Vandervere’s amusement park, called Dreamland, bears an eerie resemblance to Disney World, which was originally inspired by Copenhagen’s Tivoli Gardens. Tim Burton’s demented visuality emerges inside its World of Science, where a “bright future’ shows a cross-dressed couple in an ultramodern kitchen.
Based on the children’s fable by husband-and-wife Helen Aberson and Harold Pearl, Ehren Kruger’s clumsy script doesn’t give its colorful ‘circus’ characters much depth, although the ethical animal-rights issue is deftly handled.
Without doubt, the best parts revolve around the fantasy of a flying elephant, with its big, blue eyes and remarkably expressive face — particularly when fearful Dumbo is hoisted to the top of the circus tent, balancing precariously on a small platform. Yes, it’s computer-generated imagery (CGI) but it looks so remarkably real!
FYI: Nico Parker’s mother is actress Thandie Newton. Burton pays homage to the original film by envisioning gigantic pink elephant-bubbles. And the end-credits feature Arcade Fire’s “Baby Mine.”
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Dumbo” is an endearing 8 — fun for the whole family.
On Nov. 26, 2008, a small band of young jihadists from Lashkar-e-Taiba, armed with automatic weapons and grenades, launched a savage attack on Mumbai, India’s largest city, aiming at 12 separate targets, including the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus train station and the Café Leopold, culminating at the sprawling, ultra-luxurious Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. That’s what’s depicted in “Hotel Mumbai.”
Following explicit telephone directions from “Brother Bull,” based in Pakistan, the Islamic militants were ordered to kill as many “infidels” as possible and take the wealthy ones hostage.
Like David (Armie Hammer), an American architect, and his aristocratic British/Iranian wife Zahra (Nazanin Bonaidi), whose baby is trapped upstairs with their nanny, Sally (Tilda Cobham-Hervey), and Vasili (Jason Isaacs), a vulgar Russian misogynist.
Guided by gallant Head Chef Hermant Oberoi (Anupam Kher), the loyal, hardworking hotel staff is determined to shelter and save as many visitors as possible, repeating the hospitality workers’ mantra, “The guest is god.” As the story evolves, one courageous waiter, Arjun (Dev Patel), rises to heroic status amid the horrific violence.
What’s significant about Arjun is that he’s a Sikh. Over the years, the Sikh community has experienced hate crimes, workplace discrimination, school bullying, along with racial and religious profiling. When empathetic Arjun realizes his turban, known as a “pagri,” scares foreigners into thinking he’s one of ‘them,’ he explains its significance and, ultimately, offers to remove it.
Inspired by the Emmy-nominated documentary “Saving Mumbai,” screenwriter John Collee and director Anthony Maras create a contemporary disaster movie, evoking memories of “The Towering Inferno.”
Much of their dialogue was taken verbatim from transcripts of intercepted mobile phone calls between the callous terrorists and their bloodthirsty handlers, along with actual television footage.
On the Granger Gauge, “Hotel Mumbai” is a suspenseful 7 — a desperate fight for survival.
Let’s not mince words: “The Beach Bum” is the worst picture I’ve seen in a long, long, LONG time. A total wipeout.
Hedonistic Moondog (Matthew McConaughey) is a selfish, middle-aged stoner/poet who sails around Key West, Florida, in a boat named Well-hung, proclaiming, “I’m a bottom feeder. I go low to get high.”
Although Moondog is openly promiscuous, he seems somewhat surprised to discover his very wealthy wife, Minnie (Isla Fisher), is shagging their best-friend, Lingerie (Snoop-Dogg), a musician/drug dealer. When Minnie dies in an automobile accident, Moondog learns that she’s put his multimillion inheritance in escrow until he finishes writing his next book.
Aside from those plot points, the freewheeling narrative consists of disjointed (pardon the pun!) episodes that chronicle Moondog’s decadence and debauchery.
Jonah Hill is his literary agent. Zac Efron plays a preacher whom Moondog befriends in rehab. Accompanied by his coke-addicted parrot, Martin Lawrence escorts dolphin-watchers on an ill-fated boat tour. And Stefania LaVie Owen, as Moondog’s daughter, notes, “He may be a jerk, but he’s a great man.”
Meanwhile, surrounded by bare-breasted babes, Jimmy Buffett views the high jinks with obvious amusement, perhaps content with the royalties he’s banking for the use of his Margaritaville songbook.
Obviously, provocateur writer/director Harmony Korine (“Gummo,” “Kids,” “Spring Breakers”) thinks he’s created a comedy. Problem is: it’s not funny, becoming particularly mean-spirited when Moondog mugs an elderly, wheelchair-bound man to steal his money.
Matthew McConaughey, who turns 50 this year, obviously relishes his slacker persona, recalling his naked Bongo-playing. So no one was surprised when he said that some of the prop marijuana was real. Duh!
On the Granger Gauge, “The Beach Bum” is an existentially awful, tawdry 2. It’s not “all right, all right, all right!”
(Editor’s Note: Westport resident Susan Granger grew up in Hollywood, studied journalism with Pierre Salinger at Mills College, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with highest honors in journalism. In addition to writing for newspapers and magazines, she has been on radio/television as an anchorwoman and movie/drama critic for many years. See her reviews at www.susangranger.com.)
