Directed by Robert Zemeckis
Written by Chris Weitz and Robert Zemeckis
Starring: Tom Hanks, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Keegan-Michael Key, Lorraine Bracco, Cynthia Erivo, Luke Evans
Disney has been creating live-action remakes of its animated films since 1994, but an “agenda” of sorts truly formed in 2015 with the release of Cinderella. Nearly every year since Disney has provided audiences with a live-action adaptation of one of its animated works. These have included The Jungle Book (2016), Beauty and the Beast (2017), Dumbo (2019), Aladdin (2019), The Lion King (2019), Lady and the Tramp (2019), and Mulan (2020). For the most part, these films have been generally well received, with the exception of a couple of minor hiccups (Dumbo and The Lion King were met with mixed reactions, per Rotten Tomatoes). While one shouldn’t necessarily call the critical reception of these efforts a “winning streak,” there’s no denying the anticipation and popularity these releases have over audiences. After all, Disney is one of the most recognizable brands in the world.
So, how does Disney’s latest live-action remake, Robert Zemeckis’ Pinocchio, fare? Is it an improvement over the original 1940 animated classic? Does it bring anything new to the well-known story of the wooden puppet who wants to be a real boy? Does it perhaps complement the animated original and Carlo Collodi’s 1883 novel The Adventures of Pinocchio? The answer to all questions raised is, unfortunately, no. This retelling of Pinocchio does none of these things. In fact, it doesn’t even try to do these things. This film does the absolute bare minimum to get by. Even though it has a running time of close to two hours, the moment Pinocchio steps outside of his creator Gepetto’s house, the film rushes from one plot point to the next, seemingly checking boxes off its to-do list, and does so with virtually zero inspiration behind it.
There is not much of an argument to be made as to why this film exists. Sure, the idea of a live-action Pinocchio retelling sounds good on paper, but given that the final product is so unremarkable, it never manages to justify its own existence; quite the opposite, actually, as it clearly shows why Disney shouldn’t just adapt its entire animated catalog into live-action films. Robert Zemeckis, who directed such well-known films as Back to the Future and its two sequels, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Forrest Gump, Contact, Cast Away, and The Polar Express, certainly knows how to carry a story. In the case of Pinocchio, the entire film acts as a showcase for Zemeckis’ fascination with special effects in regard to animation. Apart from The Polar Express, he also directed the animated films Beowulf and A Christmas Carol, and the partly animated Welcome to Marwen. His revolutionary use of motion capture has changed the industry in general, but Pinocchio feels more like an extended pitch to a studio than it does an actual film, because there is no life behind any of it. Everything happens quickly, nothing really feels emotionally grounded,(including the wooden puppet Pinocchio), and at times the CGI imagery, especially in the case of the fox “Honest John” and his cat partner Gideon, and even Pinocchio himself at times, feel more creepy than they do.
This isn’t to say that the entire film is a lost cause. Tom Hanks gives a solid performance as Gepetto, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth does a splendid job voicing Pinocchio, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt nails the voice of Jiminy Cricket (who looks a bit odd in CGI form here). The cinematography is beautiful, quite frankly, especially when the sea monster Monstro becomes involved, but these aspects alone cannot save Pinocchio from being as bland and lifeless as it is.
The film also ends rather abruptly, and this creative route taken by Zemeckis and co-writer Chris Weitz can’t help but feel lazy and just as rushed as what came before it. It’s certainly better than, say, Robert Benigni’s atrocious 2002 film Pinocchio, but at least that film was unique in some way. There was a well-received Pinocchio in 2019 from director Matteo Garrone (which, ironically, also starred Benigni), and there will be another film titled Pinocchio, a stop-motion musical from Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson, released in two months. There certainly isn’t “Pinocchio burnout” going around; that would be ridiculous. However, Disney’s version was released at a time in which just about all that can be said about Pinocchio has, or will soon be said. What more could yet another adaptation of Collodi’s work offer at this point, unless it’s radically different from what has come before it? Given how seemingly uninterested in its own story this Pinocchio is, perhaps it’s a warning sign that suggests Disney shouldn’t remake its own animated classics just because it can. In many cases, the best version of that story has already been told.
Grade: D–