Tom Hanks and Director Robert Zemeckis bring the beloved animated classic Pinocchio to life in a new, fun way filled with nostalgia.
The voice cast of Pinocchio was very welcoming in this film alongside the acting as well. Benjamin Evan Ainsworth was perfect for the role of the puppet and truly captured the character’s joy and innocence and sold it throughout the film. Tom Hanks was good in the part of Geppetto and did a great job at conveying the sadness of the character, but at the same time, I don’t think they utilized him to the full degree. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a master actor and did a brilliant job at finding the traditional personage for Jiminy Cricket and added his own little style to the character without changing the character. Keegan-Michael Key was very entertaining in his portrayal of Honest John and I wished we could have seen more of the character.
This new version of Pinocchio adds some new twists and directions to make this timeless classic fresh and new, and these changes actually improve the story. I really enjoyed the addition of a new puppeteer character to the first act of trouble, who was very sweet and a nice new addition to the story. Another nice touch was how they elevated the performance of the puppet show and made it a little more fun and entertaining. And although the movie did make some changes to make it stand out on its own, it still kept to the storyline fairly well.
Disney’s Imagineer team deserves some props for designing the world for this film. The town is adorable and the setting felt very old-timey, which helps create the atmosphere of the movie. The stage where they performed the puppet show was very reminiscent of the classic setting from the animated film and was also nicely optimized for real life to have fun and feel like the classic art of puppeteering. And, of course, the theme park of madness that is Pleasure Island succeeded in so many ways to bring the land to life. All the kids had something to play in, and there was more detail and creativity in the park, alongside puns and imagery which really brought the nightmare of the lawless land to life in all its glory and fear.
Disney lately has been trying its best to make its characters look realistic in order to 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, however, that isn’t the case. Jiminy hops and skips like a cricket, then add some human qualities to be the clumsy and spastic conscience that we know and love. Cleo swims beautifully, but still has the emotional portrayal of the little flirt that she is. And as for Figaro, alongside Pinocchio, was so cute as they scampered, moved, and reenacted some of the most famous moments from the movie to a level that really felt like the source material.
Overall, Pinocchio is charming, fun, and cute, and captured the cartoon energy that went well with the look and feel of the movie, and the visuals were realistic for the most part, and it worked quite well. The changes that were made worked well for me and helped improve the story. However, the movie did feel a little rushed at times and some of the characters were not utilized to their full potential. I can’t say that this fill is a masterpiece, but, I can say that I really did enjoy this film and it made me feel the same joy as the animated film did when I first saw it as a kid and that is what really matters to me.
Disney’s Pinocchio is now streaming on Disney+
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