Robert Zemeckis’s Pinocchio lands somewhere in the middle. The director, famous for pushing the boundaries of technology with The Polar Express and Who Framed Roger Rabbit has delivered an efficient retread that doesn’t stray too far from the 1940 original.
The talking wooden puppet may be rendered in beautiful CGI animation but his face is reassuringly familiar and he sports the same hat and buttoned-up little pants you can buy at any Disney store.
After waking up in the workshop of sad Italian widower Geppetto (Tom Hanks), Pinocchio hopes to become a real boy so he wishes upon a star with Cynthia Erivo’s Blue Fairy, gets an insect conscience in the form of Jiminy Cricket (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), and embarks on a mission to prove himself “brave, truthful, and unselfish”.
There are a smattering of new songs and a pointed warning to the social media generation.
Here, the slippery fox (Keegan-Michael Key) lures him into joining Stromboli’s puppet show with promises of instant fame. “You’ll be an influencer!” he booms.
The film’s greatest strength is the far-from-wooden performance from its star turn.
Tom Hanks may be an obvious casting but the veteran pulls on our heartstrings as the wooden boy’s twinkly-eyed, live-action “father”.
- Pinocchio, Cert PG, On Disney+ Now