Los Angeles — He has never liked the Big Top, mainly due to the caged animals and freaky clowns, but for legendary director Tim Burton there is no denying the romance of running away to join the circus.

And even more so if the adventure involves a flying elephant, says the 61-year-old Californian, who is hitting red carpets with his 26th feature, a remake of the 1941 Disney classic "Dumbo."

"The thing I liked about 'Dumbo' was just the idea -- the image of a flying elephant and a misfit -- and all that sort of stuff is very appealing to me," he told AFP.

The visionary behind a slew of hits spanning four decades, from Gothic animation to screwball comedy, Burton recalls being something of a misfit himself -- the other kids at school called him "weirdo."

But like "Dumbo," Burton's Achilles heel was his superpower. The outsider persona gave him space to grow into one of Hollywood's most sought-after creatives when he might just have been part of the crowd.

The theme of alienation or disability as a source of strength runs through much of his oeuvre, and his most recognizable characters, from Beetlejuice and Batman at the start of his career through Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood and Sweeny Todd, have been outsiders.

"You can have a misfit perceived as something and they use that as a positive thing," says Burton, pointing to Dumbo's big, floppy ears -- a source of shame that becomes an advantage.

The live action update follows the 1941 animated Disney fable in some aspects -- as in the original, Burton's pachyderm protagonist is mute -- but the human characters get a bigger role.

And while Jon Favreau's 2017 "Beauty and the Beast" hewed close to the 1991 animated version -- notwithstanding some extraneous backstory -- "Dumbo" is a very different creature from its wartime progenitor.

"I felt liberated that I didn't have to follow too much, because it's not really a story, it's a very simple fable," Burton told AFP.

Among the new stuff, the movie manages to retain some of the elements which gave the original its charm, such as the heartbreaking scene in which Dumbo visits his caged mother.