Mark Reviews Movies: PINOCCHIO (2022)

Pinocchio, Disney+

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Review by Mark Dujsik | September 8, 2022

At this point, it's just going to keep happening. All of those feature-length animated films made by the Disney company throughout the decades will be remade or re-imagined as some combination of live-action and computer effects. We just have to accept that as a fact and for the best or, at least, some sense of purpose behind these productions—beyond the fact that it can be done, of course.

The newest such remake is Pinocchio, co-writer/director Robert Zemeckis' adaptation of the 1940 animated masterpiece and, to some extent, the Carlo Collodi novel about a living puppet from the late 1800s. Everyone knows the story, right? A lonely man, in want of a family or just some company, constructs a puppet in the form of a boy and wishes upon the first star he sees in the night that the wooden boy might become a real one. The puppet, brought to life by a fairy, goes on adventures and learns important lessons about being "brave, truthful, and unselfish."

The simplicity of the original film's story isn't necessarily its key strength, but it is a major reason that the film has lasted for generations. It's filled with easy and obvious lessons for kids, and without much worry about matters of plot, the film's directors and animators had free rein to put their imaginations on the screen.

Those who might not have seen the 1940 film in a while might forget how filled with detail it is, as well as how surreal and abstract its imagery can become. There's the famous scene on Pleasure Island, of course, where ill-behaved boys are transformed into donkeys for indulging in antisocial activity, but there's also the great whale that figures into the story's climax. It's an imposing beast, to be sure (The space inside its mouth or throat or wherever before the digestive bits is a desolate cavern). Watch again, though, and take note of how the animators use the movement of water to convey just how large and violent the sea beast is, without showing much of the whale in its physical form.

It's far more tempting to talk about the original film, even and, perhaps, especially after seeing Zemeckis' new version. To be clear, this one isn't absent of flights of imagination and technical efficacy, but it is so much a copy of the original in terms of story that comparison is almost demanded. For all of this movie's modern polish and life-like effects and minor additions to the tale, that's inherently a losing prospect.

The story more or less remains the same, with Tom Hanks playing the lonely tinkerer Geppetto, who's now given a dead wife and son to explain why he so desperately wants the puppet to come to life. That's fine, but it's also irrelevant, since Geppetto still disappears from the narrative after the puppet loses himself in various exploits and until the finale.

The puppet, of course, he calls Pinocchio (voice of Benjamin Evan Ainsworth), which is given life by the Blue Fairy (Cynthia Erivo in a glorified cameo), as well as a temporary conscience in the form of Jiminy Cricket (voice of Joseph Gordon-Levitt). By the way, that computer-generated character, with its human hands (and feet, which the filmmakers let us see for some inexplicable and somewhat terrifying reason) and face that looks as if it's wearing a mask made of skin over the upper half, serves as a vital demonstration of how glossier and more realistic design isn't always a benefit. On the other hand, the puppet boy is convincing enough, both as a presence and as a facsimile of the original film's design.

Soon enough, Geppetto decides it's time for Pinocchio to go off to school. The rest of the plot (which Zemeckis and Chris Weitz's screenplay later mocks for taking place over the course of a single day, which is not the jab it thinks it is, since that's the remake's own problem) has Pinocchio tempted into a life in the theater by the fox Honest John (Keegan-Michael Key), abused by puppet impresario Stromboli (Giuseppe Battiston), and carted off to Pleasure Island by a nefarious coachman (played by Luke Evans).

The additions here are mostly in-jokes (mainly offered by a wise-cracking Jiminy, which depletes the character's aw-shucks personality) and pop-culture references (Geppetto's clocks feature a bunch of movies that have gotten or will get similar treatment as this one's source material). We also get a young puppeteer in Stromboli's troupe named Fabiana (Kyanne Lamaya), who gets one of the movie's new songs, a marionette ballerina, and nothing of significance to do or say in the story.

Zemeckis is a skilled filmmaker, especially when it comes to using technology to give us sights like the gaudy carnival of Pleasure Island and digital characters—except for the unfortunately eerie Jiminy and this movie's bland iteration of the sea monster—who fit into the world here. His Pinocchio isn't without its charms, such as retaining the story's core simplicity, or its capacity to visually impress. One just keeps wondering what the point of this redundant venture is, and this time around, it's hard to pinpoint one of substance or much worth.

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