Tim Burton's 'Dumbo' soars visually, but never takes off as an emotional journey

<b>"Dumbo" - ★ ★ ½</b>

If Tim Burton's visually spellbinding "re-imagining" of Walt Disney's 1941 hand-drawn animation classic "Dumbo" possesses magic, it must be in its ability to make things disappear.

Things like sheer amazement. And strong emotions.

Early on, Burton's spectacular (as in "highly visual") remake telegraphs how emotionally constipated it can get.

When young siblings Millie and Joe Farrier (Nico Parker and Finley Hobbins) first see cute, newborn pachyderm Dumbo flap his floppy ears and lift off the floor, do they display awe-struck astonishment at this miraculous sight?

Nope.

Placid Millie barely reacts. Joe fares marginally better.

Later when audiences witness Dumbo soar through the air under the big top, they merely clap and cheer as if they'd just seen some routine circus act, like clowns cramming themselves into a car.

Burton, a former Disney animator before he became a quirky filmmaker with a taste for the macabre, re-creates "Dumbo" not so much as an outcast elephant who discovers that his difference constitutes his greatest asset, but as a generic, cautionary tale about corrupt capitalists.

"Dumbo" begins on a promising note, with luxuriously saturated, cotton-candy-colored skies hovering over crisp, eye-popping scenes of the Medici Bros. Circus setting up shop.

Holt Farrier (Colin Farrell) returns home from World War I, missing his left arm.

He seeks to reclaim his career as a horse-riding cowboy at the circus, run by craggy old Max Medici (Danny DeVito), so pressed for staff that Rongo the Strongo (Deobia Oparei) works as an accountant and a one-man band in addition to being the resident strong man.

Holt reunites with his daughter and son, Millie and Joe (who don't appear to be all that joyous to see Pop, especially without his arm).

His wife has died from the flu, and several personality-challenged circus performers took care of their kids.

Things are tough in 1919, and the only job Max has for Holt is taking care of the elephants, including the very pregnant Mrs. Jumbo.

When little Dumbo arrives, his parachute-like ears mark him for ridicule and rejection.

Then the little guy starts making like a B-52 bomber and attracts the attention of circus czar V.A. Vandevere (Michael Keaton in a TV game show host's wig).

He buys Max's entire circus and relocates it to his own Dreamland, a mega-circus town resembling an early Disney World, right down to its own Carousel of Progress.

Here, Holt meets Colette (Eva Green), Vandevere's Parisian trapeze artist girlfriend, who supplies no hint of the expected romantic interest for Millie and Joe's dad.

The original "Dumbo" ran a scant 64 minutes (this one is 107) and included the highly influential, hallucinogenic musical sequence "Pink Elephants On Parade," recreated here as engaging visual filler in which giant soap-bubble elephants dance in the air.

The 1941 scene in which baby Dumbo is forcibly separated from his ferociously protective mother became the most traumatic movie moment in baby boomer history ­- until Bambi's mother met up with a hunter in 1942.

The same scene in Burton's "Dumbo"? Mildly ineffective.

During a climactic goodbye, the kids can't muster a single misty eye even as Danny Elfman's score desperately plucks our heartstrings.

Contrast that with Elliot's sob-a-thon goodbye to "E.T."

Where's Steven Spielberg when Disney needs him?

<b>Starring:</b> Colin Farrell, Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito, Eva Green, Alan Arkin, Nico Parker, Finley Hobbins

<b>Directed by:</b> Tim Burton

<b>Other:</b> A Walt Disney Pictures release. Rated PG. 107 minutes