"Pinocchio (2022)" - Film Review
Pinocchio (2022) tells the tale of the wooden boy who dreamed of becoming real. Pinocchio (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) was crafted by Geppetto (Tom Hanks), a lonely Italian woodworker. One night, Geppetto wishes that his wooden puppet could come to life. The honesty of his wish brings the Blue Fairy (Cynthia Erivo) to his home, where she uses her magic to make Pinocchio alive. She enlists a wise insect, Jiminy Cricket (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), to be Pinocchio’s conscience as he strives to be the boy Geppetto hopes he can be.
Even before the story takes the bizarre, fantastical turns of its second and third acts, there’s something not quite right. There’s not simply one aspect of the film that’s amiss, it’s more the realization that much of the magic has worn off in the eighty-two years since the premiere of the original Disney animated film. As far as technology has come in these eight decades, there’s an obvious disconnect between the animated components and the live-action actors. When Geppetto lifts Pinocchio in the air after realizing he can talk, Gepetto’s hands are noticeably awkward around Pinocchio’s body. There’s no blending of the live and animated worlds.
Photo courtesy of Disney Enterprises, Inc.
In the age of ear worms like “Let It Go” and “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” the songs of Pinocchio simply don’t hold up to the test. They lack the boldness and excitement of Disney’s contemporary songs. Even looking back at Disney’s Renaissance period, 1989 to 1999, those songs are memorable and have lives apart from the films they originally appeared in. While the film does add four new songs, they’re jarringly out of place. It seems they exist only to bulk up the runtime and create the illusion that there’s something new in this version of Pinocchio. There’s also the inexplicable choice of taking “When You Wish Upon a Star” away from Jiminy Cricket and giving it to the Blue Fairy. To be fair, Erivo is a more than capable singer (and will likely EGOT in her lifetime), but she’s given a shortened version. Now the audience loses the chance to hear Erivo sing the song in its entirety at the same time Jiminy Cricket is undercut as a character. “Give a Little Whistle,” one of the original Disney films’ beloved songs, isn’t even given an abridged version.
The Disney+ version of Pinocchio is not the only adaptation of this famed story of the wooden boy that will be making its way to screens this year. It’s one of four. Why there’s a sudden urge to adapt a novel that’s been around since 1883 is a mystery, and one that’s certainly not explained by this Disney+ version. What is the film trying to say about the current contemporary landscape through the lens of this centuries-old story? Was it simply so the film could make the joke that Pinocchio’s stage name could be Chris Pine? One can’t even make the argument that it’s a plain cash grab, as some of Disney’s other live-action adaptations may have been, because it premiered on Disney+.
Photo courtesy of Disney Enterprises, Inc.
The Pleasure Island sequence is proof of how outdated some aspects of the story have come to be. Despite that, it’s the film’s most compelling sequence, thanks to the liveliness of the flashing lights and carnival sites. Of course, any of that goodwill is effectively stomped out when the kids on Pleasure Island begin to turn into nightmarish donkeys.
For a film about a wooden boy who wants to become real and learn about what it means to be a person, Pinocchio (2022) is lifeless. Even Hanks, who has spent a good portion of his career playing charming, loveable characters, is bland in this adaptation. He was given two newly written songs, but he doesn’t have the same vocal abilities as Erivo and Evans. This makes the decision to give him the most songs utterly inexplicable.
Photo courtesy of Disney Enterprises, Inc.
The original Disney version of Pinocchio is a cautionary tale for children. A blueprint for parents to use in teaching their kids that there is right and wrong in the world. The 1940s Pinocchio gleefully joined in the chaos of Pleasure Island, but the 2022 version doesn’t. In essence, the 2022 film can’t claim to have that same cautionary theme because the updated Pinocchio never has to go through the journey of redemption. He never has to comprehend that to err is natural, but to apologize and learn from that experience is to be human. Without that theme, Pinocchio (2022) is as stiff as the wooden boy himself.
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