Credit: Dumbo
Tim Burton is back with the Netflix mini-series, Wednesday, which follows the popular Addams Family character whose trying to master her psychic ability, all while trying to navigate a killing spree that’s haunting the town and the legacy of her parents. Though no reviews have hit for the Netflix exclusive, the trailer shows a promising return to form for the Edward Scissorhands filmmaker. Burton’s last feature didn’t particularly do so hot at the box office, as Dumbo was a surprisingly flat release that made less than $350 million worldwide. Despite Burton’s name attached to the live-action remake, Dumbo never captured Burton’s unique and darkly eccentric style.
M.N. Miller from Ready Steady Cut summarizes the 2019 film the best: “The new live-action remake of the Disney animated classic Dumbo is helmed by the darkly eccentric director Tim Burton and his latest is like nothing I’ve ever seen from the master of juxtaposition: safe, almost tepid, and it’s monotonously boring.”
Credit: Dumbo
This isn’t particularly surprising as it’s clear Disney wants their live-action adaptations to follow a certain model. While some do deviate from the tone of their animated counterparts a bit, filmmakers like Guy Ritchie and Robert Zemeckis notably had their unique brand of style subdued when creating their live-action features. Dumbo wasn’t the first time that Burton has worked with Disney and in fact, the Oscar nominee has been able to greatly show his style in films such as Alice in Wonderland. However, it does sound as if Burton is done working with Disney at the moment as he just wasn’t happy working under the House of Mouse:
“My history is that I started out there,” Burton said to Deadline. “I was hired and fired like several times throughout my career there. The Thing about Dumbo, is that’s why I think my days with Disney are done, I realized that I was Dumbo, that I was working in this horrible big circus and I needed to escape. The movie is quite autobiographical at a certain level.”
Credit: Dumbo
Burton even says that if he was offered a role in MCU that he likely wouldn’t take it. Disney clearly has a certain model when it comes to its films and the filmmaker felt homogenized when crafting his latest feature for the studio, “It’s gotten to be very homogenized, very consolidated,” Burton said of Disney. “There’s less room for different types of things.” Of course, this is a never say never situation and Burton could end up working with Disney in the future, it’s just a shame that Disney didn’t let him use his unique style to elevate a flat film. It’s understandable why Disney doesn’t particularly want to stray too much from the original source material. Fans love the original classics and the studio is simply trying to recapture that magic in live-action form, but animation and live-action films are a different beast and the latter is able to make the energy and magic of the former. What’s the point of hiring Tim Burton if you’re not going to let him be Tim Burton?
Say what you will about Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but the divisive feature certainly stands out on its own because it allowed Burton to bring his sense of creativity to the remake. However, if Disney is adamant about keeping their films in a certain style, then it feels pointless to hire directors that are known for a certain style and get them to conform to what they want. With Tim Burton’s name, audiences expected to see what he could do with the Dumbo feature but ultimately walked out disappointed by the end result. Burton is currently doing media rounds for Wednesday, which is set to premiere on November 23.Dumbo
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