Pinocchio (2002)

Instant Favorite.

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

All the top film critics have obviously never read the book. This is literally how Carlo Collodi would have wanted it to be in its material; the bizarreness and abnormality of it all and how I feel with this adaptation is the same way I felt with it in the book.The story tells the tale of a log that falls out of a wagon and into the hands of a kind-hearted woodcutter named Geppetto who decides to carve the log into a beautiful marionette. The marionette comes to life causes assorts of damage in town. After his father is released from prison for his antics, the marionette which he names Pinocchio decides to change his ways and become a better behaved boy. However his mishaps lead into some mysterious adventures which also lead him to befriend the beautiful, loving Blue Fairy who teaches him more than just good behaviour but the rewards for it, which gives him an ambition to become a real boy.There are so many things I love about this film and the first one to mention is the material to the actual novel; it holds the same feel to the story which Carlo Collodi must have felt when he first wrote it and there are very few changes such as the character of Lampwick. In Collodi's Italian translation he is names "Lucignolo" (which is also in the film) and in the English dub he is renamed "Leonardo". Then there is the sea goblin and the bulldog that rescues Pinocchio from it, which is cut from the film. Then there is the Land of Toy renamed to "Fun Forever Land" which I see no complaint with as it has been renamed so many time: Pleasure Island, Playland, Terra Magico,. The designs for each background bring the story to life such as the Blue Fairy's beautiful house, Fun Forever Land in its manipulating colours of the rainbow, enticing naughty, lazy boys to become jackasses from their antics but my most favourite design would have the be the shark that swallows Pinocchio and Geppetto as it really captures the design from the original sketches when the book was first published.The actors were very conceiving to their characters. Especially Roberto Benigni's performance as the dancing, skipping Pinocchio. He obviously knew the character well form the book with his happiness, his naughtiness, his tantrums and finally his kind, loving heart. Many people criticise him for being a boy but there is no issue at all. You are never old for anything. Carol Marsh was twenty years old when she played the titular character in the 1949 Alice in Wonderland. Benigni looked the part himself with his pale face and curly black hair and his costume was very convincing to the character, all in which and in red checks with a cute pointed hat. Nicoletta Braschi did the role of the Blue Fairy justice, portraying the sweet, forgiving personality she carries as if she was actually an angel, due to the fact that she is never angry at Pinocchio for his lies or his broken promises. Even Glenn Close in the English dub convened us in her warm, soothing voice as she did with Tarzan's loving ape mother Kala. Other credits include Carlo Giuffre as the kindly old Geppetto, Peppe Barra as the wise Talking Cricket and Kim Rossi Stuart as Pinocchio's trouble-making best friend Lucignolo which suit their characters to a fault.The music is probably the best thing about the movie. Nicola Piovani is a very talented composer next to John Williams. The music really warmed my heart up to the top which fitted with the heart- feeling story perfectly well. It's only a shame that I cannot find it on any music website - even iTunes proves fruitless.Overall, this the most faithful adaptation to the classic Italian fairy tale. If anyone out there is a bookworm and would love to watch a film that relates well to whatever they read, this Pinocchio adaptation is an example.

nice. but not convincing. beautiful. but not enough. amusing. only for few sequences. touching. for good intentions. its sin - each viewer has his image of Pinocchio. and this image is very and deep different by Benigni work. his ambition to create the Collodi legendary character is far to be inspired. it is silly and too strange. because, unfortunately, it is not a joke but a movie , not a parody but adaptation of a great book. sure, poor Benigni is innocent. but his innocence, his desire to do a good work remains a failure. not for acting but for mixture between costumes, delicate images and his old humor recipes. he is saboteur of his labor. explanation - no measure of ingredients and the sparkles of ridiculous. but it is an exercise. not catastrophic. only very far by expectations.

Woddy Allen mark his style in each film Benigni makes it also, trying to locate Pinocchio outside that context, is perhaps the reason for their poor perception, it is a film with the special stamp of Benigni in his fantastic comedy that us reflects the child that we all carry within. I cried, I laughed a million times with this film. Benigni has been able to fill the theater public street Italian today with the assistance of millions people, proving to be one of or directors more creative in Europe. One of the best films that will be remembered in the future as a work of art. and It is time of dust off the bad reviews for this film and locate it as a true Futurist work of high moral content.

Razzie nominated director Roberto Benigni had tremendous success with his brilliant Life Is Beautiful, but I can't say the same for this Italian remake of the famous fairytale. Basically the Blue Fairy (Life Is Beautiful's Nicoletta Braschi, Glenn Close dubbing) gives wood carver Geppetto (Carlo Giuffrè, David Suchet dubbing) a special log, which he turns into a puppet. This puppet comes alive quickly, and being carved into pine is given the name Pinocchio (Benigni, winning a Razzie for Worst Actor, along with Breckin Meyer dubbing). Geppetto wants his new "son" to go to school and ultimately be a good boy, but throughout the film Pinocchio is swayed away from doing this by many things that lead him into trouble. Pinocchio does want to be a good boy, and keeps telling himself, the Blue Fairy and The Talking Cricket (Peppe Barra, John Cleese dubbing) he has learnt lessons and will be, but he just keeps breaking that promise. He earns some gold and swindled from it by The Cat (Max Cavallari, Eddie Griffin dubbing) and The Fox (Bruno Arena, Cheech Marin dubbing), he is put into a puppet show, he goes to jail, he nearly gets turned into a donkey, and he ends up in the belly of a whale with his father. But in the end, for working so hard for his father, Pinocchio earns his right to be turned into a real boy, with his old puppet self resting on a chair, and his old shadow momentarily following him. Also starring Mino Bellei, Eric Idle dubbing as Medoro, Kim Rossi Stuart, Topher Grace dubbing as Lucignolo/Leonardo, James Belushi as Farmer, Hitch's Kevin James as Mangiafuoco and Queen Latifah as Dove. If I didn't know better I would say Benigni was trying to stick more to source material with Pinocchio being a very naughty boy, but it just doesn't work. The costumes are ridiculous, the special effects and nose growing look quite pathetic (apart from the whale), and the acting, especially by irritating Benigni (and Meyer's dubbing), is terrible, a very nauseating fantasy adventure. It was nominated the Razzies for Worst Picture, Worst Remake or Sequel, Worst Screen Couple for Benigni and Braschi and Worst Screenplay.