Premiering on Disney Plus, Zemeckis’s Pinocchio is a reasonably faithful translation of the original. It’s still a story about growth and transformation, but with a glossy new coat of admittedly impressive CGI. However, as much as it gains from modern filmmaking sensibilities and technology, it loses quite a bit of the magic that the animated original holds.
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The story of Pinocchio remains very much the same. Jiminy Cricket (voiced by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) comes across the home of lonely carpenter Geppetto (Tom Hanks). Geppetto has carved a marionette, which is brought to life by the blue fairy (Cynthia Erivo) and given the objective of proving himself brave, truthful, and unselfish. Jiminy is given the task of being Pinocchio’s conscience, and the wooden boy sets off on a wayward adventure, encountering villains and monsters, and eventually finding his way back home.
Robert Zemeckis proves himself the right choice for the story. Having experimented numerous times with the possibilities and limitations of CGI characters (years later, his Polar Express is still the textbook example of the uncanny valley), the director finds himself right at home rendering a boy made of wood and bringing him to life. Here, Pinocchio avoids the pitfalls of computer-generated characters, blending relatively seamlessly with the live-action performers around him. There are some really nice touches to the character design, such as his eyes being painted on even as they come alive, and the woodgrain on his face.
Much like the “live-action” Lion King adaptation, though, Pinocchio by and large is still an animated movie. There are entire sequences where both the characters and settings are computer-generated. This doesn’t necessarily take the viewer out of the moment, as Zemeckis has a firm handle on the look of the movie. However, these moments do sometimes clash with the live-action performers. When the movie goes full CGI is when its look really shines. Characters like Honest John (voiced with appropriate bombast by Keegan Michael Key) and his feline sidekick Gideon are realistically rendered, but still cartoonish enough to emote and provide some slapstick goofiness. The same goes for Jiminy Cricket, who is just as finicky and eager to please as the original. Joseph Gordon-Levitt does well in providing his own unique take on the character’s voice, rather than trying to recreate the voice of Cliff Edwards.
On top of the CGI creations, the live-action performers are really giving it their all in this movie as well. Tom Hanks may not be able to reliably nail down his accent, but he exudes the same warmth and kindness that he has brought to so many other roles. He and Zemeckis have worked together many times before, and they clearly bring out the best in each other. The choice to give Geppetto a sad backstory (even if it is somewhat glossed over in the beginning) allows Hanks to really convey a strong love for Pinocchio right away. Likewise, Cynthia Erivo’s blue fairy is as ethereal and magical as the original.
This version also adds a new character in Jaquita Ta’le’s Sabina, a dancer/puppeteer Pinocchio meets in Stromboli’s troupe. Ta’le does endearing work with what she is given, though it’s not entirely clear what purpose the character serves in the grander story. Giuseppe Battiston and Luke Evans are both mustache-twirlingly sinister as Stromboli and the Coachman, respectively. Their big performances might have been too much in another context, but they work well in this live-action cartoon.
Where this version of Pinocchio begins to fall apart, however, is in the story. The screenplay, penned by Zemeckis and Chris Weitz, makes some questionable changes to the tale, which was already fairly tight and well constructed in the 1940 original. Pinocchio suffers the most from these alterations, becoming more of a passive character than actively finding his own path. There’s also a distinct lack of growth in his character. In his ill-fated journey to Pleasure Island, this version of Pinocchio seems to already know everything around him is bad, and he feels wrong for being there. By contrast, the Pinocchio in the original movie finds some fun in the debauchery before becoming aware of the island’s more nefarious purpose.
That’s a bigger issue with this version of the story. It rounds off some of the original’s more rough edges, which may be appropriate given the time of its release (Disney definitely can’t have a movie that depicts children getting drunk or smoking cigars), but this softening of the story goes even further. The legendary Monstro scene in the original is a thrilling piece of animation, with the giant whale dominating the scene. The Monstro Robert Zemeckis delivers is still of the appropriate scale, but is missing that particular fear factor that made the original so effective. Following this, the story just kind of peters out, rather than coming to its well-known fairy tale conclusion. It almost feels like the ending was truncated late in production, being as abrupt as it is.
Like the other live-action adaptations Disney has churned out over the last few years, Pinocchio neither feels bad nor terribly necessary. It’s a perfectly serviceable update of a movie whose 1940 sensibilities may not play as well with kids in 2022. However, in updating the story and giving it a modern sensibility, Zemeckis and company have made something that feels just a little less special than the original. It certainly looks nice, and Hanks can always be counted on for a solid performance. There are also some fun albeit short musical numbers throughout. The live-action Pinocchio doesn’t quite hold a candle to its predecessor, but it’s a close-enough facsimile.
Pinocchio is now streaming on Disney Plus.
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