Disney’s Tom Hanks-starrer Pinocchio, a live action remake of the iconic 1940 animated film of the same name, may feel like a mixed bag to the fans of the original movie. The one-hour-45-minute film, which premiered on Disney+ Day, has a strong star cast, excellent visuals and new additions to the soundtrack. However, it fails to tick all the right boxes.
The Robert Zemeckis-directed movie, inspired by Italian author Carlo Collodi’s 1883 book The Adventures of Pinocchio, is streaming on Disney+ Hotstar. We take a look at what this film gets right and where it could have done better.
What works
Geppetto’s back story
Did you know why the woodworker Geppetto wanted his handmade wooden puppet Pinocchio to come to life? The animated film did not throw light on the back story of Geppetto, but the live action film resolves the mystery.
Geppetto wanted Pinocchio to look like his deceased son. It also shows Geppetto remembering a woman, possibly his wife, in a scene. When a rich man comes to buy the clocks he makes, Geppetto refuses to sell them, later revealing that he made them only because his “beloved Costanza” loved the clocks he made.
Tom Hanks’s Geppetto
The star cast of the movie includes Cynthia Erivo as The Blue Fairy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Jiminy Cricket, Luke Evans as the Coachman and Keegan-Michael Key as Honest John. However, it’s Hanks who stands out as Geppetto. Unrecognisable in his prosthetic-ladened look, Hanks shines in the role of the lonely old man who wants nothing more than his son back.
An open ending
The animated version had Geppetto’s wish come true with Pinocchio transforming into a real boy. The live action version takes a different route. With Pinocchio having met the stipulations of being brave, truthful and selfless, he does not transform into a real boy on screen. Geppetto tells Pinocchio that no matter what, he is a real boy to his father. The live action leaves it unclear if Pinocchio gets his flesh-and-bones body or remains wooden. But it shares a message of accepting oneself and one’s child just the way they are.
Visual wonder
The 1940 Pinocchio contained animation that was ahead of its time. The remake does justice by upping the ante. Unlike the 2019 Lion King where the live action characters and visuals felt jarring, Pinocchio’s visuals blend well to make the film easy to watch. The film outdoes other Disney live action remakes visually in the Pleasure Island sequence. The scene where Pinocchio and the unruly children enjoy their trip to Pleasure Island is a visual delight, arguably the best so far from Disney.
What doesn’t work
The new soundtrack
Erivo’s version of When You Wish Upon a Star is the only redeeming feature of the soundtrack. We also get a new version of the songs Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee and I’ve Got No Strings from the original soundtrack. Unlike Erivo’s song, the other two new versions are quite average. The soundtrack has four new songs — When He Was Here with Me, I Will Always Dance, The Coachman to Pleasure Island and Pinocchio, Pinocchio. None of them are catchy enough to be an earworm.
Character changes
A few new characters were added to the story. Sofia (Lorraine Bracco) the seagull and Fabiana (Kyanne Lamaya) the puppeteer were the two significant additions. Sofia and Fabiana were added to reduce the presence of The Blue Fairy as they step into scenes to help Pinocchio where the fairy helped the puppet in the original film.
The romantic moment between Pinocchio and Fabiana’s puppet Sabina feels unnecessary. Jiminy Cricket is dumbed down from being a wise voice of conscience to a shaky voice of suggestion. The reduced presence of The Blue Fairy, after giving us Erivo as the witty new fairy, is rather disappointing. Turning the gigantic sperm whale Monstro into an octo-whale hybrid sea monster doesn’t quite work either.
Unnecessary updating
Disney’s constant effort to make its content relatable to today’s youth sometimes falls flat. In Pinocchio, there are several attempts at updating the lingo and jokes from the classic. Honest John (Keegan-Michael Key) flings around words like “influencer” and jokes about Pinocchio taking the stage name “Chris Pine” to tease out a laugh in vain.
Preaching and childproofing
The 1940 film had a simple message telling children how to be good children. The live action version inserts messages about social acceptance as well as peer pressure. While the message of self-acceptance at the end of the movie hits the mark, the rest seems too preachy and misplaced.
At the same time, several scenes from the animated film are sanitised to make them more child friendly. Pinocchio and the unruly children in Pleasure Island are given the non-alcoholic root beer instead of more adult indulgences shown in the animated movie. Pinocchio is also shown to be more mindful of Geppetto’s wishes instead of being the easily tempted child. While the animated movie appeared to kill off Pinocchio at the end before he is revived and transformed, there are no such gloomy events in live action Pinocchio’s tale.