During the cover of the Venice Film Festival, I wondered why it was strange that, in preview Disney + in the middle of the dates on which the exhibition takes place, the adaptation of Pinocchio by Robert Zemeckis, with Tom Hanks like Geppetto, he could not find a better springboard than in Italy itself where both the character and its author, Carlo Collodi, were born.
Seeing the film, which does not come out in theaters and goes directly to streaming, perhaps you will understand.
Pinocchio is a wooden doll, and the character of Zemeckis, the director of Forrest Gump, Back to the Future and many other good films – because the film lacks a little blood, if not heart, which would be too much.
The film basically follows the 1940 Disney animated classic, which has since marked generations more than Collodi, but has added updates to the central theme (Geppetto mourns the deaths of his young son and wife, and believes the doll is asking di lei alla Stella wish) and others of different nature and caliber, like talking about… influencers.
There is a great wink, which I’m not going to spoil, and which happens in the first and vast scene in Geppetto’s house, when Jiminy Grillo arrives to shelter from the cold. But also alleged gags that don’t actually pay or work, and that scene with which the film opens, which should capture the little ones who don’t know the story of the doll who wanted to be a boy …
Did you see when the guys asked them to change the movie?
intended audience
Maybe, maybe, in one of those Pinocchiowhich is a hybrid where actors, animation and CGI come together, it’s not clear which audience it’s targeting and they’re all missing.
The problems of Pinocchio definitely start from the script, and the desire for integration has nothing to do with this, with a blue fairy of African descent (Cynthia Erivo), or with the inclusion of Fabiana, a character with a prosthetic leg that was not even in the original film and here it is a significant specific weight. What if, since it takes place in Italy, they hire more Italians and force them to speak with a cursive accent? It’s more of a copy than an adaptation.
Not all live-action remakes and hybrids of Disney animated classics work. By a Lion King the good one coexists mulanand if there is a the jungle book there is also a Dumbo.
As for what you see, Pinocchio there is definitely something wrong with integrating the characters with their outlines and / or background, as if the real-life actors appear to be shot on an old-fashioned green screen. And I don’t know how everyone does not wear sunglasses when it’s day because the lighting is so bad it hurts the eyes.
There are more songs than the originals, some sung by Hanks with a mustache and gray hair. Jiminy Cricket wears a hat and umbrella, speaks to himself and the audience. At least Pinocchio is the same. They made an effort not only for his face, but he also keeps the same colors.
At least (or is it wrong?), The scene on the Island of the Games where children become donkeys, which could terrify the little ones, is now … nothing.
Pinocchio wants to become a real child, even if he has the 4 fingers that Disney has already taught us which is the most practical and simple way to animate the characters. He wants to make his “father” feel good. The Fairy tells him that for this he must be “good, sincere and generous”, that “what matters is what he has in his heart, not what he is made of”.
Well, in movies, apart from the heart, it matters how they are made.
“Pinocchio”
Regular
US adventure / comedy drama, 2022. Original title: “Pinocchio”. 105 ‘, over 7 years. Of: Robert Zemeckis. With: Tom Hanks, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, Cynthia Erivo. Available in: Disney +.
Paul O. Scholz
Source: Clarin
