Pinocchio (2022) User Reviews

Del Toro, Please Save Our Soul

[yusufpiskin · 4/10 · 8 September 2022]

Even if a movie was made by Disney 20 years ago, it would have meant +1 point for many people.

Then Disney grew up and lost his soul.

The Pinocchio movie is not a successful production, despite all the successful actors and actresses in its cast, despite a lot of effort. Because there is no soul in the movie.

The only thing that comes to my mind after watching this movie is; was to watch the Blu-ray of the 1940 version, again made by Disney.

I hope the Netflix/Del Toro version is better.

I'm tired of big companies destroying my childhood memories.

Still, I can't pass without bowing, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth is also very talented in dubbing.

Narratively, emotionally, and thematically hollow, Pinocchio may be the weakest Disney live-action remake I've seen yet.

[IonicBreezeMachine · 4/10 · 8 September 2022]

In a small village, a lonely woodworker named Geppetto (Tom Hanks) makes a wish upon a star for his wooden puppet to be a real boy. A kind Blue Fairy (Cynthia Erivo) answers his wish and gives life to Pinocchio (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) but says to him if he wishes to be a real boy he'll have to do it himself by proving himself truthful, unselfish, and brave. A cricket named Jiminy Cricket (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is assigned by the Blue Fairy to be Pinocchio's conscience with the approval of the Blue Fairy, and Geppetto is ecstatic to find his wish has come true. It isn't long before Pinocchio while good natured does eventually find himself drawn to the allure of taking shortcuts and partaking in vices while Jiminy tries to keep him on the right track. While Pinocchio is drawn into a world of sinister characters, Jiminy tries to keep him on the straight and narrow. Geppetto sets off to find Pinocchio and eventually Pinocchio must try to rescue his father.

Pinocchio is the latest live-action remake of one of Disney's animated films that has become a major staple of the company as they continue mining the nostalgic value of their time-tested assets. The film is the latest in the Twin Film phenomenon wherein two competing studios release similar projects in a similar period of time and the fact that this is coming out the same year as Guillermo del Toro's long gestating stop-motion adaptation of Pinocchio due out on Netflix later this year makes this film seem less like any creatively driven endeavor and more like strategic brand protection on the part of the Walt Disney Company. Now I don't want to throw every live-action Disney remake under the bus as there have been some good ones such as Cinderella, Jungle Book, Christopher Robin and Pete's Dragon that try to take a unique direction with the material, but more often than not you'll get something like Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, or The Lion King which are only trying to recapture the animated films down to pretty much being animated themselves with all the heavy CGI that often goes into making these films. Pinocchio is unquestionably an example of the latter as Robert Zemeckis continues his slump and follows up his underwhelming The Witches remake with a remake that may be even worse.

I will say one good thing about Pinocchio in that Tom Hanks is trying to give a good performance as Geppetto and upon initial introduction there was an attempt to expand on Geppetto's character and give him more weight as a character in comparison to the original where he was a kindhearted bumbler, and they try to add something for Hanks to tap into by making him a widower as well as having lost his own son. On the one hand the performance is good (at least in parts) but on the other the fact that Geppetto previously had his own family and lost them opens up some uncomfortable thematic subtext that of course the movie isn't interested in addressing, and when your Disney fairy tale is reminding me of turns taken by Steven Spielberg/Stanley Kubrick's A. I. or Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy/Mighty Atom that actually did try to tap into similar territory except done better (less so in A. I.'s case) it's already a pretty clumsy introduction. Once we're past that we pretty much go through the exact same plot you remember from the original 1940 film with the wide eyed innocent Pinocchio going on a series of misadventures with eccentric characters but even in that respect the movie gets it wrong.

Unlike in other versions of the story where Pinocchio has some level of agency and every misfortune that befalls him is the result of a decision he made ignoring his conscience, Pinocchio has little to no agency in this story as the narrative pushes him towards these misadventures rather than letting him pursue them himself and it makes the episodes Pinocchio encounters far less character based because the misfortunes are no longer in service of teaching Pinocchio a lesson and have lost their original intended purpose. When Pinocchio is sent to Stromboli's for instance, he does initially refuse the temptation, but it's only after being kicked out of school for "being a puppet" that Pinocchio decides to accompany Honest John. A similar thing happens with the Pleasure Island episode where instead of him wanting to go to a land of no rules and excessive vice, he's swiped up from the street against his will and browbeaten into going and even when he does get there he looks pretty revolted by the display of misbehavior and there are long stretches of the movie where Jiminy isn't even with him so why even have Jiminy in this movie if Pinocchio can already tell right and wrong for himself?

Even the nuts and bolts of the movie don't work. Pleasure Island for instance has been scrubbed relatively clean so instead of kids smoking cigars and drinking beer their misbehavior is now drinking root beer and eating mountains of candy but the wanton vandalism is still there so it's now a "genlter" sort of misbehavior....which Pinocchio takes little to no part in. Aesthetically the film feels lifeless and inert. Despite Pinocchio allegedly being made of pine, the overall feeling I got from watching this film was of Rubber and Plastic, something that was both artificial and safe to a fault with absolutely no risk taken and just an excuse for money to be burnt copying a movie that's both widely available and most people already know by heart. While I don't know the budget of this film, given what we know about other Disney remakes this is most likely a very expensive movie but there's a cheapness to the production design because of how over rendered the environments are and despite now being live-action, the film still treats itself as though it were fully animated with Pinocchio, Jiminy Cricket, Cleo the goldfish, and even Figaro the kitten rendered in CGI that either looks unconvincing or falls into the uncanny valley as is the case with Cleo and Jiminy who look unnerving with their human like faces that mixed with rubbery CGI just look wrong. Pinocchio himself just looks like he's poorly integrated into the scenery and with as much CGI as there is in this movie this is probably the closest these Disney live-action remakes have come to going "full cartoon".

The movie is also a musical, and not a very good one. Robert Zemeckis shows no flair for directing the musical numbers in the film with the renditions of original songs from the original film ranging from mediocre to okay, but the new songs are just unappealing to listen to and they're often awkwardly staged and directed with the Coachman's song in particular just being unappealing on both a visual and auditory level.

Pinocchio is a massive creative failure from Disney. While films such as Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin were also banal and soulless, I could at least appreciate some of the technical craft that went into them. Pinocchio on the other hand not only bungles its lead character and story, but it's also unappealing in both sound and visuals. Both Robert Zemeckis and Disney can do better than this and we know they can do better than this.

Worst Disney Remake (so far)

[TheMysteriousReviewer · 4/10 · 8 September 2022]

I'm gonna be honest, I do try my best to tolerate most of the live action remakes. We only got Jungle Book as the only one worth watching, everything else are either decent or just okay. Now the movie is released, I can already see a good reason people will debate this and the 2019 Lion King. The 2022 Pinocchio remake may not be the worst Disney Plus film, but this could be the worst live action Disney remake to date. There are Pinocchio movies out there that do try to find a way to tell the story of the character well. But this is more of a recycled film from the original 1940 one. Despite it does have some of the performances that's fateful to the original film, it had a weak execution with a poorly written story, mediocre characters, overly dark setups, and awful looking visuals. The one thing I'll say the visuals got right is with Pinocchio himself. But for the most part, they can be out of place and most of the designs try way too hard to make animal characters realistic. I mean, we already gotten Ugly Sonic in Chip and Dale. What more do you want to do all that in, Disney Plus? Of course as a painfully pointless live action Disney remake, I recommend to skip this one and stick with the original film. But you know what, let's all be thankful at least we're getting the one by Del Toro at the end of the year. When that gets released, I can guarantee it will be the one you'd want to watch instead. I think Disney should take a break from remaking their classic animated films before they embarrass themselves the more that are made.

Takes all the wrong notes from the classic original

[benjaminskylerhill · 2/10 · 8 September 2022]

Robert Zemeckis is a filmmaker responsible for some of the most colorful, ambitious, and uniquely fanciful films of all time. While his Pinocchio remake is certainly not entirely without its effective moments of visual splendor, it pains me to say that he has continued the trend of live-action Disney remakes that somehow manage to take everything about the original and make it significantly worse.

Every character and setting in this is less expressive and vibrant than it was in 1940, completely draining them of the personality and emotional resonance that once made them so memorable and beautiful.

The voice performances are lacklustre, to say the least. Every line of dialogue from Jiminy and Pinocchio is delivered with the exact same tone of voice. There is no variety to emotions, so the stakes are never clear.

Monstro the whale is not built up at all in this version, so any sense that he is a feared, menacing presence is gone. The tension is nonexistent in the finale. The story's other villainous characters are equally disappointing, coming across as goofy and incompetent rather than calculating and manipulative.

Worst of all, there are some narrative changes made in this version, and all of them make the themes of consequence and repentance lose their meaning and weight.

In this film, Pinocchio never has any moments when he learns the negative consequences of lying, stealing, and self-indulgence like he did in the original. He seems to know these things from the get-go, and he only finds himself in the marionette show and on pleasure island because of circumstance rather than by deliberate choice.

Outside of a couple of visually creative scenes, this is a shallow, soulless copy of a once-profound story. Not to mention that it comes across as insultingly disingenuous, as we all know quite well that Disney executives today don't actually know or care about the difference between right and wrong.

Wasted two hours to watch a 90 minute movie.

[lojitsu · 6/10 · 8 February 2023]

Here's The 4K Lowedown on "Pinocchio" (PG - 2022 - Disney+) Genre: Drama/Musical

My Score: 5.5 Cast=8 Acting=4 Plot=6 Ending=5 Story=4 Interest=5 Script=5 Cinema=7 Pace=5 Music=6

A puppet is brought to life by a fairy, who assigns him to lead a virtuous life in order to become a real boy.

"Pinocchio is running around loose without a conscience! Can you imagine the trouble he's gonna get into?" Worst movie I have seen thus far this year. This steaming pile didn't appeal to me in any way, and it wasn't because of the fact that it's a musical (ok it wasn't only because it was a musical). Considering the cast and the director, this is 2 hours I won't get back...at it was only 90 minutes long.

Where's the magic?

[TheLittleSongbird · 3/10 · 23 November 2023]

'Pinocchio' (2022)

Opening thoughts: Will admit to not being a fan on the whole of the Disney live action remakes/re-imaginings. The only ones for me that were above good were 'The Jungle Book' and 'Cinderella', while 'Aladdin' and 'Lady and the Tramp' were especially underwhelming. There were quite a few reasons for seeing this 2022 'Pinocchio'. One was my love for Disney. Two was for the cast, with a particularly high opinion of Tom Hanks. The 1940 Disney film is one of their best and one of the best animated films ever made in my view. And Carlo Collodi's source material is a classic.

Despite the potential that it had (though my expectations were mixed due to not being a fan of the Disney remakes as said), to me the film was well below average and a big disappointment. There are a few good things here, but the worst of the many bad things are very poor indeed and it loses so much of what made the 1940 film so brilliant. It is a failure as a remake, but this viewer has always a film etc on its own terms but the film fails in this regard as well. Actually love much of the work of Robert Zemeckis, with 'Back to the Future' and 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit' being major personal favourites, but had a very hard time believing that this came from him.

Good things: There are good things. There is some nice, handsome photography and production design. Absolutely loved the cuckoo clocks, which were very imaginatively designed and magical.

Hanks gives the best performance, his Geopetto having a good deal of warmth and sincerity. Very close behind is Keegan Michael Key, giving his absolute all to Honest John and he is fun to watch.

Bad things: On the other hand, there is a lot that doesn't work. The rest of the acting doesn't work. Benjamin Evans Ainsworth is very bland and does little to make Pinocchio endearing or interesting, while Joseph Gordon Levitt comes over as far too hammy and mean spirited as Jiminy. Cynthia Erivo does her best but is underused and the Blue Fairy doesn't really do an awful lot, and Luke Evans is pretty much wasted as a character that doesn't have anywhere near enough of the nightmarish menace he had in the 1940 film.

Moreover, the CGI is very poor. It looks very cheap, the early 90s video game like look sticks out too much like a sore thumb and looks significantly lower-budgeted. Monstro fares worst, looking like something out of a SyFy original. Pinocchio's expressions are lifeless, have no nuance and almost unintentionally creepy, making the expressions in the 'Lion King' remake look more expressive and nuanced in comparison. Only Geopetto and to a lesser extent Honest John make much of an impression as characters, Pinocchio is too much of a brat, is too perfect and doesn't learn anything which makes his journey near pointless. Jiminy is annoying while the villains are underwritten plot devices, especially the Coachman.

Zemeckis' direction has no life or inspiration, very by the numbers, and it looked as if he was not that interested in the project or liked the source material that much. That may not be the case in real life but this viewer got that sense here. Especially in the climax, which has no tension whatsoever, no emotion and is rushed, not helped by Monstro's cheap design and complete lack of menace. A complete watering down of one of Disney's greatest ever climaxes. The lack of resolution at the end was a mistake and made the journey and the film feel incomplete. The songs are forgettable at best and cringe-worthy at worst, the the Coachman's also came over as out of place and wastes Evans' fine singing. The script is very stilted and the story has no charm, fun, emotion or atmosphere of any kind. It is just bland, dully paced and going through the motions storytelling that has nothing to it or any point.

Closing thoughts: Concluding, hugely disappointing. Of all the Disney remakes, this is a contender for the worst.

3/10.

An Insult To The 1940 Classic

[johnnyhbtvs27 · 2/10 · 8 September 2022]

"Oh, i just hit my boy of wood with a piece of wood"

Robert Zemeckis' Pinocchio is dire. Most of the CGI characters are hard to look at with Pinocchio being the worst offender. I couldn't imagine buying a toy of this version of Pinocchio, it's rather creepy looking.

The worst part of the movie is the fantasy island part. In the 1940 version, the donkey scenes to this day are terrifying, it really is a trip. Here it's just....nothing. That's probably the best way to describe the movie, a total waste of everyone's time.

Tom Hanks sleepwalks his way throughout the movie, almost as if he's only doing it as a favour to Zemeckis. I had to put the subtitles on for Geppetto as the performance consists mostly of just mutters and grunts. Joseph Gordon-Levitt's Jiminy Cricket doesn't have the originals warmth and humour and grates for most of the running time.

Robert Zemeckis has fallen off big time. He used to create original work such as Back To The Future, Forrest Gump, Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Now he directs remakes of The Witches, A Christmas Carol and Pinocchio. Such a waste.

This may be the worst Disney live-action movie. They really need to stop cashing in on their classics with tripe such as this.

On this viewing, Guillermo Del Toro doesn't have much to worry about with his version of Pinocchio. It can't be any worse than this.

It's okay... but why did this need to be made?

[BenW1999 · 6/10 · 8 September 2022]

Pinocchio 2022 is the first of two Pinocchio 2022 films to come out, but leaves you asking, why did this even get made? The film isn't exactly bad, but it's not amazing, and will most likely be forgotten about by the vast majority of viewers fairly quickly after watching this. The pacing seemed off, the first hour scenes tended to drag on far too long, and in the second hour the plot sped up massively as if they were trying to cram in everything they wanted to. Also, this is a 'musical' but there's a grand total of three songs, two of which are just a few lines and are over quite quickly. Tom Hanks was good but we didn't really get much of him. Pinocchio looked like he was an early 2000s PS2 cutscene at times, and the CGI & Green Screen wasn't great.

Still A Touching Story

[JayDeeezy · 8/10 · 9 September 2022]

This was such a pleasant watch. I remember seeing the original as a boy. I largely remember focusing on the fantastical elements and scary parts which stuck mainly in my mind until today. Seeing this story again, I was reminded of the very simple but important message to young children to strive to be honest, selfless and brave. Now in my 30s and hoping to start a family soon, it's what I would teach my children and I have an all new perspective and appreciation for this story. Sounds corny, I'm sure...but sometimes I think we can all use a little corny and that's when Disney is at its best.

As for the new stuff, it was all nice and welcome new developments that made a familiar story a little bit fresher. They certainly didn't pull any punches with some of the scary and heavy parts but I think it's almost necessary to drive the point home of how nasty the world can be. All in all, it did what I could hope any remake does - preserve the heart of the original and add some freshness and twists to it.

I also didn't realize it was Robert Zemeckis who directed this until the credits - seeing him and Tom Hanks in a project again was a cherry on top.

Lastly, I know we hear it during every Disney movie intro, but hearing "When You Wish Upon a Star" in full form again...man that hit me hard. Beautiful.

All in all, wonderful family film with something for every generation.

They Don't Quite Have Their Nose On This One

[rgkarim · 7/10 · 9 September 2022]

LIKES:

The Voice Acting/Acting: For many of the cast, the voice acting was very welcome for me in the characters they portrayed, alongside the acting as well. Ainsworth as the puppet was very good, capturing the joy and innocence of the aspiring boy and really selling it for the whole film. This Pinocchio may be more innocent and perfect, but the whole time I felt we were back in the kind puppet we are looking to have. Hanks, well you hear on later, so let's go to Levitt. The master actor did a great job as the cricket, finding the traditional personage for the character and adding his little style to the mix without breaking the bug. He was great in this role and I feel he was perfect for the part and my favorite actor. The rest of the group did fine, with a shout out to Keegan-Michael Key for a very entertaining and robust Honest Jon portrayal, though I would have liked to see more.

Some of the New Angles: Like many things in the modern era, Disney+ had to take new twists and directions to make a timeless classic fresh and new. Some of these things were just fine, like adding a puppeteer character to the first act of trouble, who was very sweet and a nice plot point they introduced. Another was helping elevate the performance of the puppet show and giving it a little more fun and pizazz. Even adding a few connecting scenes and a few little nods to the political moments I could appreciate when they naturally integrated were fine additions. This movie tried to connect a lot of the vague background pieces in the long run, helping to smooth out the jumps from scene to scene.

Kept Somewhat to Story: And though the movie did take some nuances to be its own thing, it still kept to the storyline pretty well. Fans of the old school should have the timeline that guides you through his journey and appreciate Zemeckis honoring the timeless tale for about 70-75% of the story. At least in terms of the historical context of Pinocchio, the movie honors by putting in a scene from the movie from every major point. So, at least there is a general context and not completely putting the tale in the blender for no apparent reason.

The Setting Is Very Nice: Disney's budget and imagineer team really get props for the designing of the world for this film. The town is adorable, really feeling like the Italian fairy tale villa where crooked streets and cramped spaces form a quaint maze. They made the setting feel very old timey, and that helps with the atmosphere of the movie. I also loved the stage they performed the show on, very reminiscent of the classic setting from the cartoon, but again, nicely optimized to real life to have fun and feel like the classic art of the puppeteering, including a nice backstage that felt very technical of the stage that entertained so many. Of course, the theme park of madness on Pleasure Island succeeded in so many endeavors for bringing the land to life. All the kids had a spectacle to play in, and we got more details and some creativity, alongside puns and imagery, that really brings the nightmare of the lawless land to life in all its glory and fear. These moments may have been the best involvement in the changes and the use of the budget outside of one other thing you'll see below.

The Look Of The Characters: Disney has been on a kick of making everyone look realistic in order to I guess accomplish the new direction. This often gets rid of the magic of the Disney cartoons and takes away the fun and energy of the classics. For this film though, that wasn't the case. While the realism is a bit robbed in the grand scheme of things, the cartoony hybridization on this movie worked for me to keep to the spirit of the character. Jiminy hops and skips like a cricket, but then adds the human qualities to be the clumsy and spastic conscience you love to see. Cleo swims beautifully, but still has the emotional portrayal of the little flirt she often acts as. And as for Figaro, this little guy was my favorite with Pinocchio as they scampered, moved, and reenacted the famous moments from the movies to a level that really felt like the source material. While there are times this failed, never seen root beer disappear so quickly, or got a little too cartoony/fake, overall, it still kept the feel of Disney toon well for me.

DISLIKES:

The Songs Kind Of Sucked And Not Needed: Disney are the masters of making songs for people to listen to one thousand times over, leading to annoying moments of tearing your hair out. As such, this was not a win for me, and most of the songs were kind of not needed for me, feeling smushed into the moment as if checking a box for one type of fan. These covers were kind lame and short sighted, many auto tuned to cringe worthy levels that might have been fun and funny, but they just weren't needed. I would have liked either more time to make this work, or just not included and put the money somewhere else.

The Limitations of Many Characters: Oh dear lord the characters were limited and felt very scarce at times. This Pinocchio, like most, focused on the cricket and the puppet primarily, as expected, which wasn't horrible. However, the movie tried to put so many new characters and spins on it, that I had hoped for more of their inclusion and incorporation to maximize the relationships. Almost everyone does get a finale, but it feels very bland and so many promising moments are very lackluster in the grand scheme of things that it again lacks the fire of the original. Even the cat and the fish don't feel used as well, even though I'm sure they had the same screen time. I can't say much more without ruining stuff, but I just really feel it was missing that full connection.

A Bit Boring And Kiddy: No surprise here, modern age have managed to blunt the emotional and darker moments the cartoon did much more. I won't say it's devoid of all themes that were creepy and hard to watch. But I also can't say that these moments had the full on punch they might have been going for, and instead let Pinocchio's innocence bleed over to the scene and lighten it up. While I'm glad they did not go fully dark to induce nightmares, again, there was something needed to spice up things for parents who would be watching this with their kids.

The Pace Of Everything Being So Fast: Much of what the film seemed to struggle with for me was the pacing. I'll have to rewatch the original, but it felt more complete in regards to the journey and keeping things running smoothly. This one tried to add these new touches and respect the material, but it didn't maximize things to the level I felt it could of and sort of breezed through things very quickly. All the set up and world building was over in an instant, and it was frustrating to see such hasty tie offs and conclusions that again don't have the full push that I thought it would. It seems like it was trying to do too much again in a short amount of time and again needed more time to handle the changes better.

Tom Hanks: Above all, Tom Hanks was kind of a waste for me in Pinocchio. The legendary actor knows how to take roles and make it work, but Geppetto was not the strongest role for me to utilize his talents. Who decided to do the sound editing or make him mumble was stupid in how low it came off, and make him sound depressed. Sure, the acting conveyed the sadness, but then he goes into sounding like a boob with forced lines and a song that does not work. Some scenes he does well and accomplishes much, but other scenes are a bit cheesy and eccentric and not in the way that makes sense. It's not that I hated him at all, but I feel Hanks name was a tag to pull people into, rather than actually utilizing him to the full degree.

The Verdict:

Pinocchio is a mixed quality movie for this reviewer, finding a lot of confusion and less clarity than they seemed to go for. On the plus side, the movie is charming, fun, cute, and captured the cartoon energy well in look and feel with the design of the movie. The visuals are not the most realistic, but it worked for me, a meeting of Disney energy and real world that did okay acknowledging both worlds. Some of the changes worked well for me, and I did enjoy the acting for many in this movie, I really did. Yet, the movie is very flustered in finding the directions that it wanted to bring and struggled to blend old and new in consistent quality. Many characters are not optimized, the transitions are there, but feel clunky and forced at times, alongside the edge factor being lost to a blunted kid factor. Overall, I did not hate the movie, but I also cant' say it's a masterpiece like some might say, with the new wave of kids being the optimum audience for this movie. My scores are:

Adventure/Comedy/Drama: 7.5 Movie Overall: 6.5.

I was very disappointed that there's not an option for a negative star rating.

[kyle-stauffer21 · 28 September 2022]

Where do you even begin? You have to wonder why some Disney exec hasn't come right out and said the quiet part out loud, that they are on a quest to destroy everything that was great about Disney and completely make that legacy unrecognizable. Pinocchio doesn't seem to be an active participant in the movie he's more a victim of circumstance. He doesn't make any decisions, he's just kind of along for the ride and he really didn't have to suffer any consequences for choices. The original movie actually taught kids something valuable, and in this one they've watered down every single one of those elements. Apparently the lesson that they want to teach kids in this one is that there is no personal responsibility there's always somebody else to blame. Lying is no longer something that is to be avoided if it can be used as a superpower to get you your own way and it's a benefit to you. What an absolute disappointment.

Review for Pinocchio

[Reviews_of_the_Dead · 6/10 · 25 September 2022]

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.

Not the worst from Disney's live action films........

[owenpont-70803 · 6/10 · 15 October 2022]

Now I am not saying this film is perfect. Because it is definitely not, but it wasn't awful. So many people are saying this is the worst live action reboot Disney has done and I don't agree. I think it has its moments where it is fun, and moments where it can be kind of charming. Now this film holds zero light to the original film and it was a disappointment seeing the talent they got to make the film. But I think the film in general is just perfectly mediocre. It was disappointing but it never did anything I thought was down right horrendous. Now the whole Pinocchio escaping the whale scene was pretty stupid but I think thad was the worst scene. Overall its not a downright awful film, just not a good one either.

Pinocci-NO

[becinreallife · 2/10 · 29 September 2022]

Not the best Disney movie made. Was quite long and boring. The casting didn't quite add up either. Italian father, American accent for a son and English accent people throughout the movie. Not sure which country we were in tbh? Could have been better or not made at all. Disappointing considering Tom Hanks is one of the best.

I would give it a miss, save your watching for something a bit more worthy and engaging. Disney should quit while they're ahead and stop remaking the classics. Keep what's good, good no need to make remakes I say ! Probably one of the worst remakes this far.

Anyways maybe next time. .

Tom Hanks Needs to Retire

[canterburybella-680 · 6/10 · 1 November 2022]

Hanks' wooden acting is the weight that pulls this film down like the strings of a marionette The makers of this film appear to have left him to come up with his own personality for Geppetto. That was the lowest point in the film for me.

The actor, Lewin Lloyd, who plays Lampwick made me cringe with his attempt at being a street-wise juvenile delinquent; which should have been fun and entertaining. An wise-cracking accent does not a personality make.

Performances by Luke Evans as The Coachman, Giuseppe Battiston as Stromboli and Joseph Gordon-Levitt were believable and close to the original 1940's classic.

Visually the film is beautiful, and worth watching for the set design and art direction, along with a few good songs. Let's give good credit where credit is due. Too many picky people these days who want everything custom made to their liking just isn't going to ever happen, so enjoy this film for what it is, not what it isn't.

It was..okay??

[anieghapattersonnumber · 5/10 · 11 September 2022]

I watched the film and it was not that bad but it wasn't that good either. Some of it was cringe to be honest. I didn't like Honest John and Gideon in this version. Honest John sounds nothing like the 1940 version. The Coachman song was fine and so was the other songs. I found the song the Blue Fairy sang good and the part where Pinocchio tells his father that he loves him was wholesome too. But there's another thing I don't like..I don't like how they changed it to hint that Geppetto had another son before Pinocchio and a wife. I don't know, it's cool to think that Geppetto had a wife but the son thing is just very not realistic. It sounds like a fanfiction. That wasn't in the 1940 version and I think it shouldn't have been there. I think one of the points of the 1940 version was that Geppetto was happy to have a son for the FIRST TIME. Also, the lesson is kinda a bit blurred now because Pinocchio didn't really make bad choices besides going to the puppet theater and lying. The lesson was not to make bad choices, and Pinocchio seems more wise in this version. I also liked the idea of the story changing a bit, but it shouldn't have been changed too much. They also should've at least got a real boy for Pinocchio turning into a real boy. This was also a bit boring. This is just my opinion, I recommend watching so you could see if you like it or not. I don't think this is absolutely horrible, but I can see why people hate this.

Not great, but watchable

[DanTheButler · 15 December 2022]

Someone needs to tell Tom Hanks that there's no crying in Pinocchio. At least not from me this time. He is "cast away" as Gepetto and while there was a reference to his Toy Story character, it felt like there were missed opportunities to call to his other movies. Though that might have been over the top.

It started out hitting all the right feels, but the final 20 minutes just felt too surreal for a live action remake from Disney. Keegan Michael Key is the standout of the film though the rest of the cast was pretty decent too. I really expected to get emotional watching it, and I didn't. It was still a fun watch, but the finale was just too humorous from what I remember of the original. 3.5/5 nonetheless.

Some life please

[kosmasp · 7/10 · 13 September 2022]

No pun intended - I am known (well to those who do know - sorry no pun intended here either) to rate higher than the average. Most of the time that is - obviously that does not happen always. In this case right here - well I watched it with family members and maybe they helped me or rather the movie - and I while I do know the story itself it did have some tweaks that were nice.

But first the positive things to note: or the major positive thing - the graphics! The movie looks amazing! The CGI mixed with real people and stuff works wonders. Of course if you know the director or his previous work, that will not really surprise you. The story itself is quite rich - the added characters and tweaks give this some edge. On the other hand ... well there are things that one could perceive as negative.

The movie is dragging. Maybe not so much for people who may not be familiar with the story itself and cling onto everything that happens. Because the big story beats - well we do know them and we have seen them way better done in other movies. Not just the Disney classic. A few nods to other classics (when it comes to clocks and the figurines being used - nice inside jokes there).

I understand if you feel that the movie is not fast enough, that it lacks ... well life for the lack of a better term. Again depending on how you are able to watch it (or with whom) and how much suspend of disbelief is in the realm of ... well your own making ... all these things play a major role.

Still I am looking forward and expect the Del Toro adaptation to be way more to my liking ... not long until we/I can tell ...

Like always, the modern generations have the fault.

[sebastianali123 · 3/10 · 10 September 2022]

Like any other Disney remake (except perhaps arguably Beauty and The Beast), a disaster that does not respect the essence of the original in the slightest, and of all the remakes, this is probably the worst alongside Dumbo and The Lion King. The Uncanny Valley effect whipping through the roof, unnecessary filler and replacement of iconic situations, flanderized characters and dark situations made more "light", two new characters horribly generic and without any charm, old characters without charm, the fairy inexplicably changed and references to the popular culture at a time when it would make no sense.

The original is a masterpiece, one of the best animated movies of all time and like many others it didn't need a remake, at most a well done 2d remake taking advantage of current animation and widescreen format and that's it.

It amuses me that some defend it saying "but it has some situations that explain things that the original doesn't" and that kind of garbage. I remind you that the original came out in 1940. If they couldn't do something better it would be absurd. But everything should be better! The new generations ruin all these animated movies and I'm sick of it. It also happens with many video game remakes unfortunately. But hey, if people continue to allow it, let them take it.

Walt Disney would be very disappointed.

Unfairly treated

[jamescollins-93104 · 7/10 · 25 September 2022]

I thoroughly enjoyed this remake of Pinocchio. I rarely review on here but had to given the unfair terrible reviews it has received.

It was fun, made me laugh and tugged on the heart strings (excuse the pun).

I can only think that the negative reviews have come from those who aren't keen on these recent Disney remakes.

Yes it has it's flaws, for example I don't ever think the film has time to settle as it speeds along fairly quickly, cramming as much as it possibly can into 2 hours. I'd have liked to of seen more of the relationship between Pinocchio and Geppetto, as I feel that would have given the ending more of an emotional punch.

But with the exception of a few flaws it really was an enjoyable 2 hours.

Went in with the expectation that this would flop - which ironically made the viewing more tolerable

[changguoen · 5/10 · 11 September 2022]

I have set myself certain expectations with regard to Disney productions these days. Disney seems to be on this trajectory that many of us do not like, yet we cannot avert our eyes from what's coming.

The moment Pinocchio was released, I knew this film would be "Disney-fied" (in the modern sense). I suppose certain elements from the 1940 film would need a modern take to appeal to younger audiences, an with that, I note some positive points from the film:

1. The character designs were good. The designs captured the look of the original film, whilst giving them the modern look that modern films demand. In general, the CGI I thought was immaculate and gorgeous.

2. Certain parts of the dialogue made me chuckle. Naturally, dialogue would have to fit the modern context and I thought it was refreshing to hear modern dialogue in a film like this (at times).

3. The voice acting was spot-on. I especially liked Pinocchio and Honest John's voices.

Now of course, this film has many flaws:

1. The story lacks the soul that the original had. It felt more like watching a new spin-off film, as opposed to watching a Pinocchio film.

2. I was surprised how the film removed key elements from the original story. I don't see why this was even necessary.

3. The Blue Fairy just didn't do it for me. It felt very "by the way".

Overall, I think credit should be given to the cast and CGI team.

Though I think the director seems to have lost his way with his string of mediocre films of late.

CGI Nightmare

[chrismckay83-143-297954 · 1/10 · 12 September 2022]

Casting looks great but OMG the CGI is terrible, how is it so bad in this age. The story is changed to be modern with no reason. This is meant to be set in a time with no technology yet everything seems more advanced than in the real world.

I don't care about the story as its just re make rubbish. But if ya gonna make this garbage at least get the CGI right especially when there is so much of it in the movie.

Cheesy, the acting is awful. The puppet is super annoying and they have added stupid extra modern items to the movie just not needed.

The original creator would be ashamed of this terrible movie

Disney you are dropping the ball continuously lately. This is bad & it's starting to creep into star wars & Marvel which is unforgivable.

Good fun for the kids. Not a new classic though, but who would expect that?

[imseeg · 6/10 · 7 December 2022]

Solidly made animation movie, with beautiful special effects and nice characters. Tom Hanks is okay at his role.

Lots of comparisons are being made with the original Pinocchio, but this movie is targetted at kids and not at grownups and it simply is good fun for young kids, who will undoubtedly enjoy this adventure.

Director Robert Zemeckis has proven in the past that his movies are full of spark and punch. He almost always is capable of touching the right note. And in this movie he does so again, with a wonderful charm and cheer.

For the kids. Dont mind the naysayers, the kids will surely have fun watching this...

I wish upon a star for Disney to stop making these terrible live action remakes

[mercedes-86 · 1/10 · 9 October 2022]

I wish upon a star for Disney to stop making these terrible live action remakes, They have ran out of ideas and they just keep feeding us the same recycled stuff from decades ago but made to be way worse and less enjoyable like a cheap knockoff of the original. Tom Hanks phoned it in, the CGI is not that great for the amount of time and money they spent on it.they replaced the beer and cigars with root beer and smashing clocks, Pinocchio Does not even become a real boy in the end. People please stop paying to see this stuff, we have been burned on these so many times already, why do we keep letting Disney do this to our classic shows? I want Disney to start making actual cartoons again.

Masterfully mediocre

[simplifiyourlifenow · 2/10 · 16 September 2022]

Some kids movies stay with us and can be enjoyed again and again.

This is forgettable.

The cast is all mismatched with the characters.

The writing is awful.

It's made for a very young audience but has scarey parts that seem at odds with the demographic.

Tom Hanks is a strange choice and makes him look like he's desperate for work.

The cricket's voice is grating and sounds like a pubescent boy with a cracking voice.

The cgi is below par for 2022.

It's a semi musical and I cannot remember one tune from it. It's like the actors made up the songs as they went along.

We turned it off half way through.

Even our seven year old boy thought it was nonsense.

Hollywood's velocity on a downwards spiral continues.

A good movie is getting harder to find no matter how old you are.