This is a movie that I watched with my wife along with our niece and nephew while they were visiting. Something that is funny, I've never seen the original cartoon all the way through. They wanted to watch this to wind down for the night so we gave it a go. Since I saw that this was co-written/directed by Robert Zemeckis, figured it was worth a watch.
We are getting the old tale involving Geppetto (Tom Hanks), who looks to have lost his son. He is all alone with his cat, Figaro, his goldfish Cleo and the items he crafted from wood. This old man makes a wish upon a star and the blue fairy (Cynthia Erivo) appears while he is asleep. She brings to life a puppet he named Pinocchio. Geppetto wakes up to his amazement to see what she's done.
Geppetto then goes about teaching the boy right from wrong. The blue fairy gave him a conscious in the form of Jiminy Cricket (voiced by Joseph Gordon-Levitt). Pinocchio is voiced by Benjamin Evan Ainsworth. When he thinks he's ready, Geppetto sends Pinocchio off to school. On the way he runs into Honest John (Keegan-Michael Key) along with his cat friend. This begins the adventure that will land Pinocchio in a puppet show, Pleasure Island and even inside the beast known as Monstro.
If I haven't established yet, this is another take from Disney to make a live-action version of their classic movies. They mix in CGI in it with things like Pinocchio, Jiminy, Figaro, Cleo and even parts of the blue fairy. I'll give them credit that it looks fine. There are times that I can tell it is fake and don't hold up, but I've also seen worse. The cinematography is also good. They also bring back the songs that I remember from the cartoon which is good as well. I feel like there's an updated one in there as well. That was good.
What I don't know if we needed was a re-adaptation of the story. It is interesting is that my niece and nephew seem to love these movies. They already say this one and wanted to see it again. We hit all the major parts of the story with minor changes from what I could tell. I was a fan of Pinocchio's time on Pleasure Island. Going along with that, I enjoy the social commentary there along with his run-in with Stromboli (Giuseppe Battiston). This seems to be exploring the dangers of capitalism and I can respect that.
The last thing I want to go into would be with acting. They disguise Gordon-Levitt's voice so well as Jiminy that I didn't realize it until looking up. He brings a quirky nature to the character. Hanks was good as Geppetto. There's a sadness there that I liked. Ainsworth was fine as Pinocchio. Erivo, Lorraine Bracco, Key and the rest of the cast are also good in their roles.
In conclusion, I'll bring up a point I've already made. I'm not sure we needed an update to this story, but I get why they did it. There's a good cast. There's a lot of money to mix the live action with CGI. The cinematography and soundtrack are good. I also like the social commentary that can be pulled from this story. I just think that this is a solid re-imaging of a classic.
My Rating: 6 out of 10.
We are getting the old tale involving Geppetto (Tom Hanks), who looks to have lost his son. He is all alone with his cat, Figaro, his goldfish Cleo and the items he crafted from wood. This old man makes a wish upon a star and the blue fairy (Cynthia Erivo) appears while he is asleep. She brings to life a puppet he named Pinocchio. Geppetto wakes up to his amazement to see what she's done.
Geppetto then goes about teaching the boy right from wrong. The blue fairy gave him a conscious in the form of Jiminy Cricket (voiced by Joseph Gordon-Levitt). Pinocchio is voiced by Benjamin Evan Ainsworth. When he thinks he's ready, Geppetto sends Pinocchio off to school. On the way he runs into Honest John (Keegan-Michael Key) along with his cat friend. This begins the adventure that will land Pinocchio in a puppet show, Pleasure Island and even inside the beast known as Monstro.
If I haven't established yet, this is another take from Disney to make a live-action version of their classic movies. They mix in CGI in it with things like Pinocchio, Jiminy, Figaro, Cleo and even parts of the blue fairy. I'll give them credit that it looks fine. There are times that I can tell it is fake and don't hold up, but I've also seen worse. The cinematography is also good. They also bring back the songs that I remember from the cartoon which is good as well. I feel like there's an updated one in there as well. That was good.
What I don't know if we needed was a re-adaptation of the story. It is interesting is that my niece and nephew seem to love these movies. They already say this one and wanted to see it again. We hit all the major parts of the story with minor changes from what I could tell. I was a fan of Pinocchio's time on Pleasure Island. Going along with that, I enjoy the social commentary there along with his run-in with Stromboli (Giuseppe Battiston). This seems to be exploring the dangers of capitalism and I can respect that.
The last thing I want to go into would be with acting. They disguise Gordon-Levitt's voice so well as Jiminy that I didn't realize it until looking up. He brings a quirky nature to the character. Hanks was good as Geppetto. There's a sadness there that I liked. Ainsworth was fine as Pinocchio. Erivo, Lorraine Bracco, Key and the rest of the cast are also good in their roles.
In conclusion, I'll bring up a point I've already made. I'm not sure we needed an update to this story, but I get why they did it. There's a good cast. There's a lot of money to mix the live action with CGI. The cinematography and soundtrack are good. I also like the social commentary that can be pulled from this story. I just think that this is a solid re-imaging of a classic.
My Rating: 6 out of 10.