Disney is rebooting or rather remaking their classic animated film that is based on the Italian story Pinocchio which has since become a literary classic. It was already weird that we were getting two Pinocchio adaptations in the same year. Guillermo Del Toro and Netflix’s animated venture called Pinocchio. The other one is this, the live-action adaptation of the 1940 classic film. The film is helmed by Robert Zemeckis and stars Tom Hanks as Geppetto and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth as Pinocchio. The supporting cast includes Luke Evans, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Cynthia Erivo, Sheila Atim and Keegan-Michael Kay. From the past few years, Disney has been making live-action adaptations of their classic animated films like The Jungle Book, The Lion King, Mulan, etc.
While the adaptations has been successful and there has been a singular problem with them except a few. They’re unambitious, they’re scene to scene copy of the animated films. They look like a more visually appeasing version of the animated films with real people acting in it. So, I didn’t have high expectations from the new Pinocchio movie and based on the reviews it looks like I was right. The film at the time of writing has 5.1/10 IMDb score and a 31% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The Audience score of the film also has a rotten rating of 44%. Even if we simply skip the numbers for a while it is pretty clear from the comments of critics that the film suffers from ambition and creativity, much like most of the Disney live-action adaptations.
Disney’s Pinocchio Reviews: What are the Critics Saying?
Fay Watson (Total Film)
“Another enjoyable yet flawed addition to Disney’s live-action catalog, with stunning visuals that capture the magic of the original but ultimately fail to keep up the pace.”
Original Score: 3/5
B.L. Panther (Paste Magazine)
“By skillfully manipulating the lines of reality, Zemeckis creates a film worthy of its visual efforts, one with a mostly real purpose: To update the film for contemporary audiences.”
Original Score: 7.5/10
John Anderson (Wall Street Journal)
“The Blue Fairy may have brought life to Pinocchio, but no one here is delivering anything particularly fresh.”
Mark Feeney (Boston Globe)
“Pinocchio’s nose isn’t all that’s wooden and too long here.”
Original Score: 2/4
Robbie Collin {Daily Telegraph (UK)}
“[A] garish, dead-eyed exercise, which recreates the 1940 masterpiece largely scene for scene, albeit with a handful of instantly forgettable minor detours.”
Original Score: 1/5
Christian Zilko (IndieWire)
“Each failed attempt to modernize its beautiful message serves as a reminder of how little it needed updating in the first place.”
Original Score: C
Shannon Connellan (Mashable)
“You may not have asked for a live-action remake of Pinocchio, but now you’ve got one, and it’s still as weird, surreal, and morally pompous as the original.”
Bill Goodykoontz (Arizona Republic)
“Some films feel like classics from the start. Others don’t. The new “Pinocchio” falls into the latter category. Watching it makes you believe sometimes it’s best to leave well enough alone.”
Original Score: 2.5/5
Andrew Barker (Variety)
“As with so many of the director’s previous CGI extravaganzas, all the meticulous surface detail in the world can’t compensate for the core emptiness of the film’s digital creations.”
Richard Crouse
“Following in the footsteps of other Disney live-action remakes like Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King and The Jungle Book, the latest version of Pinocchio adds new technology to the story, but no new ideas.”
Original Score: 3/5
Peter Martin (ScreenAnarchy)
“It may not have surprised me, story-wise, but Pinocchio made me glad that I’m flesh and blood.”
Edward Douglas (The Weekend Warrior)
“Zemeckis ably adapts one of Disney’s classic tales in a way that acknowledges full well that everything that played for kids 82 years ago still works today.”
Original Score: 7/10
Nate Adams (The Only Critic)
“Another soulless and unimaginative Disney remake.”
Original Score: C-
Matt Conway (Battle Royale With Cheese)
“The journey of one affable puppet’s search for an identity has never felt so charmless and devoid of humanity onscreen.”
Alistair Harkness (Scotsman)
“Follows the original Disney version fairly faithfully, albeit with some additional songs and more amped-up action.”
Original Score: 3/5
Mike McGranaghan (Aisle Seat)
“Zemeckis can be a superb director, yet he gives in to his worst technology-driven impulses here, effectively sucking all meaning out of the tale.” Original Score: 1.5/4
Alex Godfrey (Empire Magazine)
“Though not without charm, and some splendid CGI, this scattershot grab-bag of good intentions results in a bit of an emotional flatline. This puppet will not tug on your heartstrings.”
Original Score: 2/5
Tara Bennett (IGN Movies)
“Zemeckis is basically doing a paint-by-numbers version of the studio’s much better original, just with modern animation and Tom Hanks. And while Tom always tries his best, even he can’t make this redo memorable on its own merits.”
Original Score: 5/10
Richard Roeper (Chicago Sun-Times)
“Every frame of “Pinocchio” is filled with rich and lush detail — at times this almost looks like a 3-D film — and the performances, whether live action or voiced, are universally excellent.”
Original Score: 3/4
Barry Hertz (Globe and Mail)
“An entirely unnecessary “live-action” remake of the animated classic, Zemeckis’s film accomplishes a number of cinematic achievements, none of them commendable”
Disney’s Pinocchio is slated to release on 8th September 2022 in theatres.
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