by: S. Scott Stanikmas

It’s easy to pick a Tim Burton film out of a police line-up. He has an unmistakable style that he very rarely wavers from (Big Fish and Big Eyes are the most toned down from his usual style) and I’m fine with that. That style has brought us films like Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, and two great Batman Films. He’s certainly fallen off in the last decade since Big Fish, making mostly dreck like Dark Shadows and Alice in Wonderland, though I liked Frankenweenie. With this in mind I’m pretty excited that Disney has decided to go with the visionary filmmaker for their next live-action adaptation of their animated classic, Dumbo.

Disney has been mining their inventory of classic animated films to turn into box office gold for a new generation of fans. Following on the heels of Maleficent, Cinderella and the upcoming Beauty and the Beast and The Jungle Book, it was only a matter of time before the outcast elephant with the big ears was tapped for an update.

Word is that this film will take the same route as Jon Favreau’s Jungle Book adaptation and be a mixture of live-action performances and CGI.

Burton has made a career out of taking the weird and different characters and finding the beautiful side of them. With films like Edward Scissorhands, Big Fish and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Burton has a knack for taking the surreal and making it seem down-to-earth.

This isn’t the director’s first foray into the Magic Kingdom. Burton began his career working for Disney and previously directed the live-action Alice In Wonderland.

There’s no release date yet, but with Beauty and the Beast not set to hit until 2017 and Burton’s schedule already packed with films like Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children and a Beetlejuice sequel, it’s safe to say we’re a ways off from seeing that cute little elephant take up the feather and fly.