Disney's Pinocchio Remake Is Watchable But Also Proves That Some Classic Stories Don't Need Retelling

      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

Bullet Train Gives Audiences An Insanely Fun Train Ride Worth Taking

      What makes a solid action movie is the stylistic directing and unique form of storytelling that's brought to the film, along with a plot that's engaging. Add to that a terrific ensemble cast such as the one that Sony Pictures Bullet Train possesses. Featuring the acting talents of Brad Pitt, Joey King, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Andrew Koji, Hiroyiki Sanada, Michael Shannon, and Sandra Bullock, Bullet Train takes high-octane action to the next level with delivering an action-packed experience that serves as an appetizer while awaiting for the next installment of the John Wick franchise. 

      Bullet Train's plot has unlucky assassin Ladybug (Brad Pitt), encountering several other assassins from around the globe on a high speed train with their separate objectives all connecting together. Whereas the films storyline isn't one that's particularly deep or thought-provoking, it serves as being an effective vessel in delivering brainless high-speed action with cleverly witty humor. Although it won't blow anyones minds, the film carries enough thrills to provide audiences with a fairly decent action comedy thats boasted by its colorful cast.

      Much of Bullet Train's power comes from the charismatic performances of its ensemble cast, particularly Brad Pitt who largely carries the film with his performance as seasoned but unlucky American mercenary, Ladybug. Pitt puts his charismatic talent on full display here with him crafting a character whose extremely fun to watch. Joey King shines as young female mercenary, The Prince, who pretends to be a British schoolgirl. King does an impressive job and steals the show when Pitt isn't on the screen while managing to hold her own against the rest of the cast. Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Brian Tyree Henry are terrific as British assassins and adoptive bothers Tangerine and Lemon with the latter sharing a love for Thomas the Tank Engine which becomes an ongoing humorous gag between the two. The duo provide much of the films comedy that makes it well-balanced with its action. Other noteworthy performances include Andrew Koji as Yuichi Kimura, a Japanese member of the White Deaths criminal organization with Hiroyiki Sanada as his father and former Yakuza, The Elder. Michael Shannon as usual, delivers a strong performance as Russian leader, The White Death, and former KGB operative. Benito A Martinez Ocasio excels as Mexican assassin The Wolf, along with Sandra Bullock as Ladybug's contact and handler, Maria Beetle. The cast for Bullet Train shows great enthusiasm in playing their characters with each person not only fitting into their roles, but also having a complete blast in doing so. Their efforts add a tremendous amount of energy and charisma to the film, ultimately making the experience an enjoyable one.

      Directed by stunt coordinator David Leitch, who helmed Atomic Blonde, and Deadpool 2, Leitch delivers an exceedingly violent story to audiences that comes across as feeling comical. Such violence shown includes gun and sword usage, heavy blood sprays, characters faces being blown off and impaled with meat hooks and poisoned characters bleeding from their eye sockets before dying. With the films 120 running time, Leitch keeps things constantly stopping and going with flashbacks incorporated to add backstory to the characters in terms of fleshing out their motivations without it feeling forceful. As far as cinematography goes, Bullet Train's is visually striking with the Japanese cityscape and usage of different colors being shown making the films visual landscape enticing for audiences. The costume design shown cleverly fits the distinctive personalities of each character, even after fight scenes. With its score, composer Dominic Lewis adds to the intensity of the action scenes by delivering musical mayhem along with twisty tunes to make the plot more thrilling. Known for making gleefully violent action fate, Leitch doesn't disappoint here and crafts a serviceable action fare that's exciting to watch and appealing on a visual front regardless of whether one feels that the story is a bit shallow.

      When it comes to writing, Bullet Train keeps things straight-forward and relatively easy to follow while providing twists and turns throughout the speedy train ride. The films concept regarding criminals and murderers attempting to kill each other while staying alive on a high-speed Japanese train is appealing despite not bearing much depth. A key point which the story drives is that keeping things simple is always better as emphasized by Brad Pitt's character. The latter acknowledges that things don't always go the way he expects them to when things switch up or become complicated with him admitting that he prefers things to go smoothly. The area where the script thrives is placing its numerous trained fighters against each other with the films real suspense coming from characters returning from certain defeat like being thrown off a train, jumping back onto it and trying to find their way back inside. The script also delivers clever pop up moments such as the planting of a poisonous snake emerging and catching the audience by surprise. Each character receives just the right amount of development to make them palatable to audiences with cleverly humorous bits included such as Henry's character having a strong fascination with Thomas The tank Engine. While the characters are appealing overall, it's Ladybug who adds heart to the story with his laid-back persona making him less of a fighter and more of someone whose trying to make things easier for himself. As hard as the rest of the film appears to be in terms of being violent, Ladybug's character brings moments of charm in between as well as Henry. 

      Although it can be said that Bullet Train's script isn't the most innovative and relies heavily on its impressively choreographed action scenes and the charismatic appeal of its main cast, there's enough of what works to make it a satisfying action-packed experience despite not reinventing the wheel. If entertainment is the destination then Bullet Train meets it while presenting itself as being an efficient time waster that's absurd, funny, flawed, and ultimately worthwhile. 

Final Verdict: A must watch for action fans. 

Images Courtesy Of Sony Pictures