…Tim Burton’s Dumbo may not please its target audience with a feeling for both light and shade, but it provides plenty of evidence of Burton’s genuine acumen and showmanship as a director…

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 3, 2024

Unfortunately, the filmmakers cannot seem to get out of their own way and Dumbo crashes before it takes flight.

| Original Score: D+ | Aug 1, 2024

It’s bad enough that this overbloated, soulless imitation can’t find a reason to exist. But it’s all style and no substance, and even the style isn’t worthy of the Tim Burton name.

| Original Score: 1/5 | Jul 14, 2024

Burton’s usual dark tone is subdued but the creativity and imagination remain, finding messages in various segments of the story everyone can relate to.

| Apr 27, 2024

This remake improves on a lot of aspects of its predecessor. Dumbo is probably the most visually stunning and incredibly realistic live-action character Disney was able to produce so far. This little elephant alone is worth the price of admission.

| Original Score: B | Jul 24, 2023

While this Dumbo only flies so high, it never feels like it lacks for imagination.

| May 27, 2023

The new live-action remake of the Disney animated classic Dumbo is helmed by the darkly eccentric director Tim Burton and his latest film is like nothing I’ve ever seen from the master of juxtaposition: Safe, almost tepid, and it’s monotonously boring.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 18, 2022

It feels hollow and cheap, despite the production values.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Mar 3, 2022

For me, this was a little odd and incredibly sad... I think too sad.

| Sep 30, 2021

Sometimes more is less. The heart of the story is found in Dumbo's character not the layers of CGI action that surround him.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Mar 4, 2021

The new Dumbo is not blatantly bad; rather, it's a mostly bland affair that doesn't justify the effort it took to remake the film. The story moves away from being solely Dumbo's journey, and the emotions that removes can't be replaced.

| Feb 18, 2021

It sputters through its first act, jolts us through its last and, worst of all, reveals Dumbo's special ability too early, leaving little to the imagination and no reprieve from the nagging horrors of reality.

| Jan 29, 2021

Without Timothy Q. Mouse as a Jiminy Cricket-like mentor, and without Dumbo as the emotional core, audiences are left with formulaic human protagonists and human villains.

| Original Score: 3/10 | Dec 7, 2020

I've long ago stated that Danny Elfman should just take up permanent residency with Disney.

| Original Score: 3.0/4.0 | Sep 7, 2020

A cocktail of Burton's delirious vision and the joy-filled ride that is a Disney movie. Dumbo is a truly rare beast indeed.

| Original Score: 4 / 5 | Sep 4, 2020

Thanks to some dazzling effects and a rich visual design, this Dumbo just about flies with a sweet and simple sense of spirit and adventure.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 28, 2020

When he first takes to the skies in front of the baying mob of a circus crowd and Danny Elfman's score soars to a crescendo, you almost want to stand up and punch the air.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 15, 2020

The biggest problem with Disney's live-action remake of its animated classic...is as plain as the trunk on your face: It's just no fun.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 29, 2020

[A]s for Dumbo himself? He's cute if the viewer can get past his total lack of presence. For the rest of us, he's just a victim of creative poaching.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 27, 2020

Tim Burton's new live-action remake of "Dumbo" eliminates too many of the beloved elements of the original classic for a relentlessly gloomy endeavor that's way too sad for its intended child audience.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jul 24, 2020