When it comes to live-action Disney remakes, the most common and reactionary response that fans have is "Why bother"? Since Disney began it's stream of classic animated tales transformed into live-action form, the results have been mixed with the latest hybrids leaving much to be desired with audiences. Whereas ones such as Cinderella, The Jungle Book, and Beauty And The Beast left audiences generally satisfied, others have left them largely underwhelmed like Guy Ritchie's Aladdin, 2019's The Lion King and 2020's Mulan. Unfortunately with Robert Zemeckis Pinocchio, the latter trend continues as the newest live-action Disney adaptation despite being a passable remake, ultimately lacks the magic of its classic animated predecessor.
Bearing the same storyline as its animated counterpart, Pinocchio has the wooden puppet being brought to life by a Blue Fairy and striving to be a real boy while seeking a life of adventure. His life is turned upside down when he leaves his father to follow the circus. As far as plot goes, Pinocchio stays relatively close to the animated creation with minimal differences. Rather than taking the story and starting from scratch, the live-action Pinocchio repeats all of the originals key beats with it often feeling as if it's going through the motions. While it doesn't dishonor the original film, it also never seizes the opportunity to build on it and feels like a generic by-the-numbers live-action adaptation that falls within the category of being so-so, ultimately doing nothing innovative with its story.
With the performances, Pinocchio's cast proves effective with the actors doing a believable job of establishing the real-life version of the characters world for audiences to witness. Despite the cast being well-assembled, it's the performances of Tom Hanks as Geppetto and Benjamin Ecab Ainsworth as Pinocchio that are key here. Hanks completely immerses himself in the role of kind-hearted Italian woodcarver Geppetto, who wishes for a real boy and makes Pinocchio to be his real one. While Hanks feels underused here, he crafts a unique version of the character that stays true to his animated form. Ainsworth appears to be perfectly casted as the voice of Pinocchio with him embodying all of the characters classic traits in desiring to become a real boy. Joseph Gordon-Levitt also impresses at voincing Jiminy Cricket who acts as Pinocchio's "conscience", as well as being the stories narrator. The rest of the cast deliver notably strong performances including voice actors Keegan-Michael Key as the red fox "Honeet" John who cons Pinocchio, Lorraine Bracco a seagull named Sofia who befriends Jiminy. Other live performers in the film include Cynthia Erivo as the magical Blue Fairy who brings Pinocchio to life and promises to turn him into a real boy if he proves himself, Luke Evans as charismatic owner and operator of Pleasure Island, The Coachman, and Giuseppe Battiston as the abusive puppeteer, Stromboli, who forces Pinocchio to perform onstage for profit. Overall, Pinocchio's cast delivers fine work regardless of how one feels about the film as a whole.
As far as directing goes, Oscar winner Zemeckis brings the world of Pinocchio to life on the screen in a way that feels darker than the 1940 animated classic which also carried its own share of intense moments. With how visually stunning the world of Pinocchio appears, the use of CGI for the character himself appears uneven at times despite the overall look and design of the character being spot-on. Along with the films beautiful cinematography, the editing keeps the story fast-paced like the original with composer Alan Silvestri incorporating several musical numbers which include iconic songs like When You Wish Upon A Star, this time performed by Cynthia Erivo as The Blue Fairy or Tom Hanks performing When He Was Here With Me. With Pinocchio, Zemeckis does a solid job of crafting a live-action world which the characters can both live and breathe in, despite CGI work on Pinocchio.
When it comes to live-action Pinocchio's writing, many of the original films themes are present including faith, hope, greed, desiring fame, loneliness, taking control of ones life, love, and family. Much like the original, Pinocchio learns to follow his conscience while distinguishing right from wrong in addition to resisting temptation and proving himself to be brave, honest, and unselfish. Despite carrying the originals story-structure and themes, Zemeckis's Pinocchio can't shake the feeling that it feels a bit shallow at it's core. The film comes across as feeling like a paint by-the-numbers Disney remake that aims to deliver on its promise of providing audiences with tremendous amounts of nostalgia while not doing anything significant to upgrade the story. The films strongest moments are the ones which include both Geppetto and Pinocchio, though those moments are too few and far between. What ultimately holds back Zemeckis Pinocchio from being a truly remarkable live-action remake, is that audiences never truly feel that they're witnessing the main character learn the difference between right and wrong throughout his journey to becoming a real boy. The thrill of that discovery is largely absent here with the script often feeling like it's going through the motions and checking off all the key events of the animated film in hopes of not upsetting Disney fans. The scriptwriting for Pinocchio never seizes the opportunity to explore the life lessons its predecessor taught generations of audiences.
What made the original Pinocchio a classic was not just it's groundbreaking animation but how clever, playful, witty, and moving it was with the remake missing some of those key components. Whereas Pinocchio's nose was shown to often stretch whenever he told a lie, the remake has it reduced to only one scene. With how Disney's been inconsistent with adapting its classic animated tales in live-action form, fans question the need to redo something that's already perfect, especially if you can't recapture the originals magic. The saying goes that if something isn't broke then you shouldn't try to fix it. One certainly wishes that Disney listened to that logic and applied it here.
Final Verdict: Watchable if you're a fan of the original, though one shouldn't expect the same kind of enchantment from the remake.
Images courtesy of Disney
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