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Review of Dumbo (Danny Elfman)

FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:

Buy it... if there is no limit to your affection for Danny Elfman's standard methodology for wholesome children's genre fantasy, this score very firmly anchored within the composer's comfort zone.

Avoid it... if you've never been able to tolerate Elfman's instincts towards carnival music, his source-like production here as much a weakness as his rather diluted secondary themes for the story's human characters.

FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:

Dumbo: (Danny Elfman) Efforts by Walt Disney Studios to revitalize their classic animated properties with live-action versions hit a speed bump in early 2019, yielding multiple critical flops and disappointing box office returns. Failing to resonate at all was Tim Burton's adaptation of the classic 1941 animated tale Dumbo, never the most popular Disney concept but one worthy of better treatment than Burton's visually dazzling but otherwise surprisingly heartless reprise. The concept was otherwise perfect for Burton's sensibilities, the dirty and sometimes wicked, vintage carnival atmosphere appealing to his knack for glorifying disabilities in oddball fantasy circumstances. The story of 2019's Dumbo drops some of the more controversial elements of the original screenplay, including the controversial crows, and extends new plotlines to fill a feature's length. Realizing the human roles is a familiar collection of favorite Burton players, and foremost in extending the spirit of the director's persona is his continued collaboration with composer Danny Elfman. After more than two dozen films together, it's not challenging to imagine what type of music Elfman would produce for Dumbo. Just as the film existed dead-center in the wheelhouse of Burton, it occupied the same place for Elfman, who has confessed on many occasions to his affection for bizarre circus music. With the titular character once again maintaining no speaking lines, Elfman's score serves as his voice, representing all the sadness and, eventually, joy experienced by the deformed elephant. The assignment for the veteran composer was complicated by the extent to which he would interpolate musical themes by Frank Churchill and Oliver Wallace from the 1941 picture into his own work. The two men won an Academy Award for their Dumbo score, and one of the film's songs, "Baby Mine" (with lyricist Ned Washington), was widely recognized as well. That song was the basis for the new film's trailer and inspired several covers, one of which by Canadian rock band Arcade Fire featured over the film's end credits. An in-character rendition of "Baby Mine" punctuates an important moment in the narrative, too. The songs "Casey Junior" and "Pink Elephants on Parade" are recognized with one major moment a piece in Elfman's score as well, the former a notable highlight in the boisterous cue, "Train's a Comin'."

Elfman's score for Dumbo can be divided into three parts: the lushly pretty material for Dumbo and his relationship with his mother, the outright source and source-like carnival music, and the collection of other Elfman standard techniques that round out everything else, from secondary character themes to limited action. Generally, there is nothing of any surprise here for the learned Elfman collector, everything heard in this score referencing techniques dating back to Batman Returns, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Alice in Wonderland, and several of the composer's more recent, arguably anonymous entries in the children's genre. The composer makes absolutely no effort to extend himself into new territory, the infectiously optimistic, percussively rich adaptation of Churchill in "Train's a Comin'" the only cue that truly stands apart from Elfman's standard methodology. Some of the self-referencing, such as "Jack's Obsession" from The Nightmare Before Christmas in "Holt in Action" here, is somewhat distracting. The composer's utilization of tortured high strings, solo boy's voice, harsh lower brass, and maddening calliope are all predictably applied in Dumbo, a comfort for the ears but intellectually disappointing. The voices utilized include an adult choir along with the boys, and the deeper contributions of the former can be quite attractive in the marginally scarier portions of the score. The melodic structures combine very familiar lines from Edward Scissorhands (for the circus family) and Alice in Wonderland (for Dumbo), the latter's resurrection of a repeating series of three ascending notes in different chords cementing the resolving phrase as a favorite for the composer. Dumbo's theme, which Elfman wrote for the concept a year before filming commenced and eventually recorded without much alteration, is genuinely sweet, introduced in "The Homecoming" and formalized in "Dumbo's Theme" before transforming into its flying variation in "Dumbo Soars" (with some "Casey Junior" spirit) and "Soaring Suite" (featuring some of Elfman's best brass counterpoint in recent memory, if not his entire career). The melody is present throughout the score, speaking for Dumbo in a variety of circumstances but nearly all of them wholesome in character. Its soft interludes sometimes extend into exoticism for the character's Indian destiny, as in "Goodbye Mrs. Jumbo." The themes for other concepts in the story are comparatively weak, failing to enunciate themselves satisfactorily.

Hailing from the suburban quirkiness of Edward Scissorhands is a theme for the Medici Circus, bumbling along in "Meet the Family" and eventually shining in the more upbeat "Medici Circus - Miracles Can Happen." The trapeze artist Colette receives her own solo-voiced idea in "Colette's Theme" that fails to generate subsequent interest outside of "Rescuing the Farriers." Elfman's theme for the Dreamland villain, Vandevere, is ineffective in its understated suspense. All of these secondary ideas required far more love than Elfman supplied them, Dumbo's identity instead dominating as the score's only memorable force. By the end of "Medici Circus - Miracles Can Happen," this devotion to the one theme is complete, as the composer returns to the woodwind exoticism for the idea as it builds to a momentous symphonic statement of resolution to close out the movie. This conclusion contains some of the score's best instrumental applications, reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland in the spread of base elements. By comparison, much of the prior action material is unfortunately rather sparse, the composer's knack for tuba and trombone muscularity confined to a moment like "Nightmare Island." The bevy of carnival cues, many of which utilized as source in the film, has proven that whatever amusement such music generated back in the 1980's has long worn out its welcome by the 2010's. These cues serve their purpose, but they are largely unlistenable and extend the psychedelic personality of "Pink Elephants on Parade" into other parts of the soundtrack. On album, these carnival tracks are spread throughout, making for an uneven overall listening experience that absolutely requires custom programming. Of the two "Baby Mine" recordings, the in-character one fits well enough with the score, while the Arcade Fire version tries a little too hard to force retro whimsy into its demeanor. The whole package is a very mixed experience, all of it so saturated with Elfman's mannerisms that you really need to be an enthusiast of his persistent style to appreciate his approach to this topic. The soundtrack has fantastic highlights in "Train's a Comin'," "Dumbo Soars," the second half of "Medici Circus - Miracles Can Happen," and "Soaring Suite" that combine for upwards of ten minutes of music not to be missed. But the rest of it ranges from the mundane to the outright obnoxious, Elfman hitting all the necessary notes without really tying it all together outside of the main theme. Still, those highlights take a workmanlike three-star score and nudge it up a level. Elfman has written more spirited and emotionally impactful music than Dumbo on many occasions, leaving this entry as a moderately pleasant afterthought.  ****

TRACK LISTINGS:

Total Time: 60:55

• 1. Logos - Intro (0:59) • 2. Train's a Comin'* (2:05) • 3. The Homecoming (2:40) • 4. Meet the Family (2:29) • 5. Stampede! (3:35) • 6. Baby Mine* - performed by Sharon Rooney (1:44) • 7. Dumbo's Theme (2:31) • 8. Clowns 1 (1:01) • 9. Vandevere's Arrival (1:25) • 10. Dumbo Soars (1:25) • 11. Happy Days (1:00) • 12. Goodbye Mrs. Jumbo (1:40) • 13. Photographs - First Flight (2:25) • 14. Colosseum (0:21) • 15. Pink Elephants on Parade* (1:48) • 16. Colette's Theme (1:06) • 17. First Rehearsal (2:55) • 18. Clowns 2 (0:39) • 19. Nightmare Island (3:46) • 20. Dumbo in Hell (1:10) • 21. Holt in Action (0:52) • 22. Searching for Milly (2:29) • 23. The Breakout (3:08) • 24. Rescuing the Farriers (1:40) • 25. The Final Confrontation (4:58) • 26. Medici Circus - Miracles Can Happen (4:21) • 27. Baby Mine* - performed by Arcade Fire (2:57) • 28. Soaring Suite (Bonus Track) (2:41) • 29. Carnival Music (Bonus Track) (1:06)

NOTES & QUOTES:

The insert includes no extra information about the score or film.

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