Tim Burton's live-action Dumbo

[Ben]

I didn't think Magic Kingdom was still in development. Didn't Favreau jump for Chef and then Jungle Book because MK wasn't happening? If JB works, then I can see MK coming alive again, but I think it's back on the shelf, and not even with another director, at the moment.

That said, there's word the Enchanted sequel is back on, though no word on Amy Adams or Kevin Lima reprising their roles. Lima's interestingly attached to the troubled Adam Sandler "comedy" Candy Land, which is having copyright issues which I don't understand given that Disney trod the same ground - or at least questionably so given the concerns over Lima's proposed flick - in their Wreck-It Ralph characters and locales...

[EricJ]

Think Magic Kingdom was "unofficially" the Kingdom Keepers movie, but which plot Disney had to disguise and make up from scratch, because the book series wasn't allowed to use the classic movie characters (can't have that!).
If so, then at this point, it's too much trouble, and there's little hope they'll ever get back together again.

[LotsoA113]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnddddd...Tim Burton is officially onboard to direct this one, which will likely come out in 2017.

[Dacey]

Johnny Depp will be cast as Timothy!!!

Okay, now that we've gotten that joke out of the way...

[Ben]

Nah...Depp as Dumbo, surely?


And now we've got THAT joke out of the way...!

[Vernadyn]

Well, if Burton's directing, at least we'll get a good musical score out of this….

[Ben]

Although I do remember Big Top Pee Wee...

[EricJ]

Although I do remember Big Top Pee Wee...

Do you remember Randall "Grease" Kleiser directed it?

[Ben]

Yes, and Danny Elfman did the CIRCUS MUSIC score.

Hence the (appropriate) mention, dumbo.

[Vernadyn]

Hey! I actually like the love theme from Big Top Pee-Wee!

I do think that Elfman's put that style behind him, though (and I'll admit the circus stuff from Batman Returns is the only part of that score I don't really like). I wouldn't mind at all if the score ended up resembling the music for that Cirque du Soleil show he did a few years ago.

Burton should be taking more risks rather than rebooting or remaking old properties; he can certainly afford to. (I did like Big Eyes, even if it's not the most substantial film ever made.)

[Ben]

I like Big Top's atmosphere, but there are huge moments that now feel like all the things people who don't know what they're talking about complain about Danny Elfman scores. And in many ways they're right, since it was only still an early score for him. There are similarities to the original Dumbo score (by Churchill and Wallace) that are nice but I agree he'd probably go in a slightly different direction now.

Still haven't caught Big Eyes yet...will probably just buy the Blu-ray since its exposure here was very limited to say the least. It does seem that Tim is at that stage where he's searching and stretching for projects, a bit like Spielberg. Best days are behind them and they're just coasting now between odds and ends. I mean, I get that Dumbo is the ultimate Burton outsider, and that he will bring something new to it (probably a tragic Mr Jumbo subplot) rather than a straight remake, but it does seem that he's better than just being attached to these things.

Dumbo is a great, great film. It was done in animation for a reason! And just like the new Jungle Book, these new versions - however enjoyable they may be in the end - are not true live action movies but hybrids...and very animated ones at that. Dumbo more than anything seems unwarranted to me. With all the animals it's going to end up basically being a Charlotte's Web style animated film anyway, so what's the point?

Better, I think, for Tim to finish what he started with Charlie And The Chocolate Factory and make that book's proper sequel, which I always thought was the reason they remade that in the first place, as it was otherwise pretty redundant. I love, love, love Tim's stuff, but he's going to have to up his game a lot more if he wants to break out of this cycle he's in, and maybe finally get rewarded with an Oscar...something I'd very much like for him (even if I think he'll ultimately just walk away with an honorary award in twenty years or so).

[EricJ]

It does seem that Tim is at that stage where he's searching and stretching for projects, a bit like Spielberg.

Spielberg at least has a sense of his own identity and love of pet projects--While his 80's-sentimental audience still wants him to do wide-eyed science fiction, he goes out and makes Lincoln, Saving Private Ryan and Catch Me If You Can. That's called "growing up", when you can speak for yourself and know you're not the same person you were twenty years ago.

Tim is the exact opposite: He believes all his own fan-cult praise like gospel, and every third film or so, goes out to see if he can make Nightmare Before Christmas happen again, just like he did twenty years earlier. Even though he didn't direct it.

Best days are behind them and they're just coasting now between odds and ends. I mean, I get that Dumbo is the ultimate Burton outsider, and that he will bring something new to it (probably a tragic Mr Jumbo subplot) rather than a straight remake, but it does seem that he's better than just being attached to these things.

Outsider, yes, "new", no--I'm guessing he beats the mean-elephants thing into the ground. Ever since Scissorhands, this guy can milk the "Sensitive misunderstood victim" thing farther than a dozen Pride Day parades.
That, and totally twist the idea of the striking-clowns plot around, and make them bizarre and twisted because...they're clowns, get it? (Is the guy the corniest would-be hipster in the world, or what? )

[Dacey]

Outsider, yes, "new", no--I'm guessing he beats the mean-elephants thing into the ground. Ever since Scissorhands, this guy can milk the "Sensitive misunderstood victim" thing farther than a dozen Pride Day parades.

Play nice.

[Vernadyn]

Still haven't caught Big Eyes yet...will probably just buy the Blu-ray since its exposure here was very limited to say the least.

I did catch Big Eyes in the approximately three weeks it was out in theaters. If you expect nothing more than a pleasant, offbeat comedy/drama (as opposed to say, the next Ed Wood), you might enjoy it. Christoph Waltz is as charismatic as ever, though he does seem to take very similar approaches to most of the characters he's played (that I've seen.)

As for a Charlie sequel, I wonder how much that hypothetical film would take from Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. The thing is, that book's really two stories in one. There's the space stuff with the very cinematic Vermicious Knid action (and political satire--I still love how ridiculous the US President's flytrap design is), and then there's the youth/aging plot back in the factory. I imagine it would be difficult to find a thread connecting those two elements that wouldn't feel overly contrived.

[Ben]

It's been so many years since I read it that I don't remember there being a disconnect between the story threads, but I'm sure "contrived" is not something that would worry most filmmakers these days!