Oscar Best Actor winner Roberto Benigni gives Pinnochio one more try.
The Italian film Pinocchio drops it’s English trailer. It is not a live action remake of Disney but the 2002 version instead. Pinocchio is in the Public domain because Carlo Collodi wrote it in 1883. That means anyone can make their version of this story. Federico Ielapi will be playing Pinocchio, while the Oscar Best Actor winner Roberto Benigni, plays Geppetto. The trailer got a mixed reaction because the realism of the CGI can be unsettling. This film was in Italian theaters in 2019, but it is now going to have a global release with this English dub.
The classic fairytale about puppet who wants to become a real boy is not reimagined for a new generation. This is not Benigni’s first Pinocchio film. In 2002 after his award winning performance in Life is Beautiful (Please watch this movie instead), He starred on this film. Critics didn’t receive this movie well at all.
Yes it is awkward but he played Pinocchio as a middle aged man. It is like Pen15 before Hulu even existed. Now that he plays Geppetto, his now playing a more age appropriate role. This is his chance to redeem himself in another Pinocchio movie. I will not judge this new film base on trailer because I see some potential. The living puppet boy would have look better as stylized an cartoonish instead of looking realistic. CGI can cross uncanny valley territory if its too realistic. If I managed to watch Cats, I think I will be able to give this a chance.
The best Pinocchio film I ever watched is the 1996 version starring Jonathan Taylor Thomas. I see that version as the gold standard. I think that incarnation is even better than the Disney one.
There is another upcoming Pinocchio movie and it will be directed by Guillermo Del Toro. Here are some early images of that version.