And musically, legendary composer Alan Silvestri is responsible for the lush score that’s the highlight of the film. She’s given her own marionette, Sabina (voiced by Jaquita Ta’le), who gets her own song, “I Will Always Dance,” that is bouncy with a semi-Samba vibe. There’s the addition of a talking seagull, Sofia (Lorraine Bracco), and the young puppeteer Fabiana (Kyanne Lamaya), who works for Stromboli (Giuseppe Battiston) and befriends puppet Pinocchio when he’s kidnapped by her boss. It makes for some underwhelming scenes that certainly don’t support the “CGI is better than 2D animation” argument.įor those looking for what might be new in this Pinocchio, it’s pretty minimal. The integration of human actors into crashing waves or riding in boats is a major downgrade from what Zemeckis usually does in the medium, which hopefully implies a suddenly tightened budget and not taste. There are also some major sequences involving water that are undercooked visually. He’s like a modern character shoehorned into the piece to be cool for today’s kids. He’s also got a meta mouth on him that never quits, which doesn’t help the overall issues of us bonding with the chronically calamity-prone cricket. And narrator Jiminy Cricket is designed to be longer and less cherubic than his 2D-animated counterpart, so he’s more shiny and plastic looking, which translates to coming off as less endearing. The digital fur on Honest John (Keegan-Michael Key) and his silent cat pal, Gideon, is far from realistic in a distracting way, which means the uncanny valley problem is strong with them. #Original pinocchio story summary fullBut the film relies on a full cast of entirely computer-generated characters that vary wildly in their success. In some places it works well, like the ethereal interpretation of The Blue Fairy with her delicate wings and blue glow, or the dappled lit streets and buildings of Gepetto’s charming Italian town. Everything from Gepetto’s tiny pet companions, Cleo and Figaro, to the majority of the hedonistic Pleasure Island are part of the expansive digital canvas of zeros and ones. The rest is all computer animation which has been a comfort medium for the director since 2004’s The Polar Express. The only material changes here come from Zemeckis’ decision to have some actors give live-action performances, like Hanks’ Gepetto and Luke Evans’ Coachman, and placing some scenes in real standing sets like Gepetto’s workshop shop interior and the wrecked ships inside Monstro, the sea monster’s, belly. Deputized as his temporary conscience, the earnest Jiminy Cricket (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) promises to help Pinocchio achieve all those things despite lurking temptations.Ĭo-screenwriters Zemeckis and Chris Weitz ( Cinderella) adhere to the same structure, sequences, and original songs from Disney’s 1940 animated film. Through the magic of The Blue Fairy (Cynthia Erivo), Pinocchio is brought to life with the caveat that for him to become a real boy, he must prove himself to be brave, unselfish, and true. Mourning the loss of his own young son, Gepetto wishes upon a star that his creation might become real. It’s still about a little boy puppet, Pinocchio (voiced by Ben Ainsworth), carved by the kind and lonely woodcarver, Gepetto (played by Tom Hanks). If you’re familiar with either Carlo Collodi’s classic children’s novel, The Adventures of Pinocchio, or Walt Disney’s 1940 animated Pinocchio, the script for this adaptation is going to feel very familiar. #Original pinocchio story summary movieThe result is a schizophrenic, bland watch that feels like a big-budget movie made only for 6- to 12-year-olds. Creatively, it clearly wrestles with adhering too closely to the superior 1940 version while awkwardly trying to force the old-fashioned story to dip into a jarring, modern voice that is incongruous with how it firmly embraces a 19th century setting and aesthetics. Despite having the incredibly talented Robert Zemeckis directing this one, Pinocchio lands firmly in the middle of that mediocre pack. None have ever exceeded what the 2D originals accomplished in terms of originality, visuals, or pure creativity, and only a handful have even tried to distance themselves just a little from their source material. Pinocchio is Walt Disney Pictures’ 18th go at revisiting one of their beloved classics into what’s become their signature live-action/computer animation hybrid adaptation style.
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