Watching Disney’s live-action adaptation of its animated classic “Dumbo,” one can truly believe an elephant can fly.
The harder trick, the one moviegoers always hope will happen and rarely does, is that director Tim Burton (“Beetlejuice,” “Sweeney Todd” and others) can stick the landing on one of his visually wondrous but narratively spotty movies.
This time, backed by a script by blockbuster maven Ehren Kruger (who has worked on three “Transformers” movies and “Scream 3”), Burton comes closer than usual to getting it right, but it’s still a mess.
Set in 1919, the story begins in the Medici Brothers Circus, a rundown collection of acts touring the country by train.