Pinocchio Review - Poprika Movie Reviews
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Pinocchio Review

PINOCCHIO

dir. Robert Zemeckis, starring Tom Hanks, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, and Cynthia Erivo

The adventure of a wooden puppet who wishes to become a real boy, Pinocchio is a classic tale of what it means to be human. Carved by Geppetto, who treats Pinocchio as if he were his real-life son, Pinocchio is joined by Jiminy Cricket, Pinocchio’s companion and conscience, as they’re carted away from adventure to adventure while Pinocchio slowly learns the measure of a man.

Since Alice in Wonderland in 2010, Disney has continually released live action adaptations of their classic animated films to varying degrees of success. Aside from standouts like Maleificent and The Jungle Book, the vast majority of these adaptations have been differing shades of decent to unwatchable. Such is the legacy of these spotty attempts as the media giant releases Pinocchio, their fifteenth live action adaptation in this current era. A remake of the 1940’s film (the second Disney produced), which is itself an adaptation of the 1883 Italian book The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi, this 2022 version proves woefully underserved to its source material. The movie has an overall lifelessness to it, moving from one plot point to the next, relying on the audience’s familiarity with the property to coast along to its inevitable conclusion. No risks were taken, nothing new added to update or modernize the storytelling, no fresh ideas are introduced here, resulting in a tepid adaptation that doesn’t hold a candle to any of the previous versions before it. While both The Polar Express and Beowulf were divisive in terms of critical reception, respect was given to director Robert Zemeckis for his attempts at adapting known legends using modern filmmaking technology. Here in Pinocchio, his first animated movie since 2009’s A Christmas Carol, the life and audacity that he brought to those previous features is all but absent.

Starring frequent Zemeckis collaborator Tom Hanks (Forrest Gump, Cast Away, The Polar Express), Pinocchio, sadly, sits at the bottom of that list. Hanks, cemented as one of the greatest actors of his generation, possibly of all generations, totters and stumbles his way through scenes, delivering a performance that reeks of doing a favor for an old friend. While the script doesn’t call for much in the way of heavy emotional work, Hanks still manages to somehow phone it in, and while maybe not the worst performance of his career, it definitely sits near the bottom.

Benjamin Evan Ainsworth takes center stage as the voice of our titular character. Ainsworth proves he’s more than up for the challenge, providing a Pinocchio that warm and heartfelt. One of the few bright spots of an otherwise lackluster movie, Ainsworth imbues the animated character with personality as much as the Blue Fairy imbued the wooden doll with life.

Directed by Robert Zemeckis, Pinocchio is a harsh realization that we’re a far cry from the days of Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, or even Contact. With this film, Zemeckis plays it safe, producing a straight down the middle movie with little flourish, stylistic choice, or visual intrigue. While not his worst movie, Pinocchio’s greatest sin is in its blandness; by the end of the year, it’s possible, even highly likely, that it will have been completely forgotten about. The best thing it has going for it is its animation; unlike the constant computer-generated woes Disney’s cash cow the MCU has been experiencing post-pandemic, Pinocchio is comparatively clean in its use of computer-generated imagery. Pinocchio, Honest John, and John’s Marcel Marceu-like companion Gideon each look digitally crisp, showing that time and care was spent with the film’s visuals.

Overall, Pinocchio continues the downward trend of lackluster live action Disney adaptations. The paint by numbers execution fails to elevate the source material or capture any sense of wonder or inspiration contained within its predecessor. Tom’s Hank’s bumbling, mumbling performance, mixed with the suspect voice work from Joseph Gordon-Levitt clashes with Benjamin Ainsworth’s earnest delivery and Keegan Michael Key’s bombastic hammy shenanigans. Robert Zemeckis’ direction is decent at best, coming nowhere near the quality of his work from decade’s past. At best, this is a decent Saturday afternoon movie for children or hardcore consumers of Disney works. Pinocchio is currently streaming on Disney+.

Review by Darryl Mansel

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