Dumbo (2019) review

When one-armed war vet Holt (Colin Farrell) returns home and goes back to work in the circus, his boss Medici (Danny DeVito) makes him take care of the elephants, but specifically one newborn named Dumbo with gigantic ears who can fly - later, a capitalist named V. A. Vandevere (Michael Keaton) offers Medici a contract so Dumbo can be a part of his massive theme park called Dreamland.  There may be purists who balk at the idea of a live-action Dumbo, but this one took me by surprise: the animals can't talk, but they're still very cute, and Burton's assembled adult cast (including Eva Green as an acrobat) is solid (the two kid leads are a little too stoic) and the effects are very good: it's a nice children's movie.  It's strange, too, how this is a Disney production ... and yet the Walt-type 'showman' Keaton is actually the unethical bad guy and the Epcot-like Dreamland ends up incinerated.  Subversive move, Mr. Burton.