What’s It About
A live-action adaptation of Disney’s ‘Pinocchio’: When the woodworker Geppetto sees a falling star, he wishes that the puppet he just finished, Pinocchio, could become a real boy. In the night, the Blue Fairy grants Geppetto’s wish and asks Jiminy Cricket to serve as the wooden boy’s conscience. But the naive and trusting Pinocchio falls into the clutches of the wicked Honest John, who leads him astray to the sinful Pleasure Island.
MOVIESinMO REVIEW
This movie was boring from beginning to end. Pinocchio is not an action-filled movie, nor is it one of the favorite tales to make into a feature. So why did Disney think it would be a good idea to produce a live-action version? This version is slow. The narration is dull, and the characters are uninteresting. I love Tom Hanks, but this had to be strictly for the paycheck. The movie starts with an interesting voice-over by Jiminy Cricket. Ten minutes later, that interest has become an annoyance. Tom Hanks’ horrible accent was cringeworthy, and even the scenery was annoying. Now for the story. Where do I start? A majority of this movie focuses on Geppetto. You learn why he’s single, why he’s making a boy and his obsession with clocks. In other words, I didn’t care, don’t care, and so what, in that order. Once Pinocchio finally came to life, it was so anti-climatic that the film could have ended at that point, and no one would have cared. The rest of the movie should have centered around Pinocchio, but they had to expand on the other characters with more lines, more screen time, or unnecessary backstories. Meanwhile, our wooden protagonist was more of a background player, helping to move the story along. When the adventures started, I honestly thought it was going to get better. They were able to take what little excitement there should have been completely out. When he came to life, he danced with Geppetto, which was the most awkward scene in the film. He gets captured, forced to perform, and put in a cage. Once again, another emotionless scene. Pleasure Island and being swallowed by a whale both lacked entertainment value. If you compare this version to Disney’s 1940 version, this new rendition is very wooden (pun intended). At least the CGI was great.
OUR RATING – A PINOCCHI-NO 2