Movies: Production Underway For Tim Burton’s “Dumbo”

Live-Action Reimagining of Walt Disney’s 1941 Classic Animated Film 

Stars Colin Farrell, Danny DeVito, Eva Green and Michael Keaton

London, England (July 15, 2017) -- Production is underway for the live-action reimagining of Disney’s 1941 animated classic “Dumbo.” Directed by visionary filmmaker Tim Burton (“Alice in Wonderland,” “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”), the film stars Golden Globe® winner Colin Farrell (“In Bruges,” “The Lobster”), Golden Globe winner Michael Keaton (“Birdman,” “Beetlejuice”), Emmy® and Golden Globe winner Danny DeVito (“Batman Returns,” “Big Fish”), BAFTA Award winner and Golden Globe nominee Eva Green (“Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children,” “Dark Shadows”), and introduces Nico Parker and Finley Hobbins in their first film roles. The cast also includes Roshan Seth, DeObia Oparei, Sharon Rooney and Douglas Reith. Katterli Frauenfelder (“Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children,” “Big Eyes”), Derek Frey (“Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children,” “Frankenweenie”), Ehren Kruger (“Ophelia,” “Dream House”) and Justin Springer (“TRON: Legacy”) are producing from a screenplay by Kruger. Nigel Gostelow (“Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children,” “Dark Shadows”) is the executive producer. “Dumbo” is slated for release on March 29, 2019.

Disney’s new live-action feature film “Dumbo” introduces Holt Farrier (Farrell), a former circus star who finds his life turned upside down when he returns from the war. Circus owner Max Medici (DeVito) enlists Holt to care for a newborn elephant whose oversized ears make him a laughingstock in an already struggling circus. But when Holt’s children (Parker and Hobbins) discover that Dumbo can fly, persuasive entrepreneur V.A. Vandevere (Keaton) and an aerial artist named Colette Marchant (Green) swoop in to make the peculiar pachyderm a star.    

Walt Disney’s classic animated tale “Dumbo,” which opened Oct. 23, 1941, won an Oscar® for best scoring of a musical picture and was nominated for best original song for “Baby Mine.”

The creative team includes cinematographer Ben Davis, BSC (“Doctor Strange,” “Guardians of the Galaxy”), Oscar® winning production designer Rick Heinrichs (“Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” “Dark Shadows”), four-time Oscar®-winning costume designer Colleen Atwood (“Alice in Wonderland,” “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”), editor Chris Lebenzon, ACE (“Alice in Wonderland,” “Maleficent”) and BAFTA Award-winning make-up designer Paul Gooch (“Alice in Wonderland,” “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children”).

Utilizing state-of-the-art visual effects to portray Dumbo and many of his four-legged counterparts, “Dumbo” will be filmed entirely in England, both at Pinewood Studios and Cardington Studios.

Movie Review: Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children

You must be advised dear reader that I am writing this review through the perspective of an individual who has read Ransom Rigg's New York Time's Best Selling "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" with that being said I can already state that: 

1) In my opinion, the movie was better than the book.

2) There are A LOT of changes in the movie. 

-And we are simply not talking about interchanging the "skills" of Olive and Emma but a lot of earth-shattering changed that are not at all found in the first book. Mind you, I haven't read any of the succeeding books, so perhaps they borrowed material from those. 

Other critics may say that the film may be a little a cliched Young Adult book to movie adaptation but I think it had it's own feel and look. For one thing, it's not a heroine who leads the film but a reluctant, socially awkward and possibly depressed teenager in Asa Butterfield's "Jake".

Asa Butterfield as Jake and the lovely Ella Purnell as Emma. 

Now I already mentioned this before but unfortunately I wasn't too happy about Butterfield's performance. He looks the part-yes, his light blue eyes against his dark hair makes him captivating to watch on screen. Yet, I felt that his performance lacked strength. One of my favorite parts about the book is his strong and close relationship with his grandfather, which I felt was not captured on screen. That scene with the telephone call could have crushed hearts and left viewers crying but alasm it didn't. 

I think getting Tim Burton to direct was a wise and crucial choice as he was able to bring his unique brand of the dark and macabre to the story. That scene with Enoch's "toys" were fighting in classic stop-motion animation is just signature Burton. 

The visionary director was also able to add a dark twist to the mythology of the "peculiar children" -hallowgast a and ymbrines included and I thought that it was actually better than it was in the book. 

The intentions and drive of the villain "Barron" as portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson (I can tell he had fun in the role) was more belie all and frankly a lot creepier in the movie.

Eva Green as Miss Peregrine. 

Burton also made the decision to shoot in an actual location (the house) as opposed to using a green screen and CGI and I think that this also helped "ground" the film and make it more real for both actors and viewers. 

Before wrapping up this review, I must recommend Eva Green as the titular Miss Peregrine, I think the whole "dark Mary Poppins" feel, which Burton envisioned was. It's effective and simply a delight to see on the screen. Eva's transformation, complete with eyeliner and long nails to emulate bird talons was just impressive. Of course her "badass" persona as evidenced by her cross bow skills and the way she shushed Jackson completed the package. 

Way to go Miss P.! 

8 out of 10, delightfully dark and a refreshing take on Young Adult themes, "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" is a thrilling adventure that makes us reflect and appreciate family, whether by blood or by being "peculiar" together. As well as embracing each of our own quirks and celebrating the peculiar in all of us. 

"Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" is NOW SHOWING! 

*Wrote this review in the jeep (Hey! When inspiration strikes right?) from Eastwood and even finished writing it even before reaching IPI, yes traffic was  that bad. 

Took out my "handy dandy" notebook and pen and just wrote away. #IcaWrites 

Movies: EVA GREEN: PROTECTOR IN “MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN”

Director Tim Burton, visioned Miss Peregrine as kind of a 'dark Mary Poppins" -which probably explains the crossbow and the eyeliner. What do you think of Miss P's upgrade? 

Also - Miss P. got her eyebrow game on! 

Enigmatic actress Eva Green who starred in blockbuster testosterone-filled movies such as “Kingdom of Heaven,” “300: Rise of an Empire” and “Casino Royale” takes lead role in “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.”

                “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” is based upon the debut novel by Ransom Riggs, published in 2011,  an instant global hit and topped The New York Times best-seller list selling more than 3.1 million copies. A sequel, “Hollow City,” was published in 2014, followed by the final book in the trilogy, “Library of Souls.” 

                The book and movie’s heroine, Miss Peregrine is the protector of the Peculiars. Green, on her titular role calls her character “a kind of dark Mary Poppins-like figure who is rather eccentric and fearless, and who wields a deadly crossbow to protect her Peculiars.  Her peculiarity is being an ymbrine, meaning she can manipulate time and take the form of a bird.  Miss Peregrine, along with other ymbrines, uses this ability to create a time “loop,” in which she and the children live within a single day that repeats over and over again. This protects them from the evils of the world that exist outside the loop.

                Miss Peregrine is an intriguing and sometimes mysterious character, capable of being a maternal figure to her young charges, as well as a fearsome opponent to those who threaten them.  Her children are her life, and Miss Peregrine will do anything for them.  She’s a ballsy character and a warrior. 

                “Miss Peregrine runs the home for the peculiar children, and she protects them from the outside world, from those monsters that eat children – they’re called Hollowgasts in the movie – and she will do anything to protect them,” explains Eva Green. 

                “She will risk her life and she will kill. And she is peculiar herself. She can transform herself into a bird. It’s quite complicated! She has this peculiarity as well, to manipulate time, so that the last 24 hours can be lived again. So every night she has that ritual of resetting the time,” adds Green.

                Eva further says that at the heart of the film is a very powerful message. “I think in the outside world, these abilities would be seen as a handicap and these children would be persecuted because of that.   But on this island, they’re kind of celebrated for being so unique, and the message in the film, for children as well as adults, it’s just, ‘be yourself, no matter how strange you are.’”

                And Burton, she adds, is the perfect director to deliver that message in a stunningly original cinematic way. “That’s what Tim does best. I feel like he understands the hearts of outcasts, and he celebrates them. It’s beautiful.”

                For the director himself, the ‘peculiars’ are outcasts because of who they are – is a theme that he related to instantly. “Obviously the superhero genre is alive and well, but with this I never quite saw it that way. I always felt this was a more human version of that kind of thing, and I always saw it as less of a superpower and more of an affliction,” he says. “It was a much more down-to-earth human level to me that I was attracted to.

                “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” will open September 28 in cinemas nationwide (also in 3D) from 20^th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.