The Adventures of Pinocchio

The Adventures of Pinocchio

“The Adventures of Pinocchio” takes an animated Pinocchio out of the cartoon world and into a real one, where he looks so out of place that we can hardly see him as anything but a special effect. It’s not always like this when animation meets reality; Jessica Rabbit fit in the same frame with Bob Hoskins just fine, but then she had too much energy and vigor she was alive while Pinocchio has an uncanny resemblance to those humanoid robots from the Duracell commercials.

Maybe it’s a difference in graphic style. Jessica Rabbit and most other toons in real-life scenes are designed to look like what they are: drawing cartoons. But Pinocchio’s face appears as if someone photographed a real face and then computer transformed it into wood. The effect is disturbing, even kind of creepy I didn’t like this Pinocchio (by the Jim Henson people) nearly as much as I did Disney’s all cartoon creature from 1940.

The movie follows the general outlines of the Carlo Collodi novel. Geppetto (Martin Landau), an old wood-carver, finds a piece of wood in the forest that almost seems to demand being picked up, taken home, and carved into a little boy. Once completed, the figure comes to life: it is wooden but it lives. Geppetto takes Pinocchio to his heart and tries to raise him right, but there are problems.

Pinocchio sneezes sawdust. He gets teased at school (“Hey buddy you ever get termites?”). He’s attacked by a woodpecker (“Peck on someone your own size”). Most deeply, he is unhappy because he wants more than anything else in the world to be made into a real little boy. (Since living puppets are so much rarer than little boys I was somehow reminded of the frog who says “Kiss me and I’ll turn into a sexy princess,” and the old man says “Frankly at my age, I’d rather have a talking frog.”)

Geppetto and Pinocchio live in an idyllic village where everybody knows everyone else’s business, but Lorenzini (Udo Kier), the evil puppeteer from across town, wants to steal Pinocchio. Geppetto has his hands full, especially when Pinocchio runs away to The Island of Lost Boys. Later, of course, Geppetto and Pinocchio find themselves inside the belly of a whale, which is nothing new for whales.

There is also a subplot that involves Geppetto’s long standing love for Leona (Genevieve Bujold). He carved their initials on the tree which was later carved into Pinocchio, and when his tears touch that wooden heart it becomes fleshat last. There are easier ways to make flesh and blood little boys these days , but if Geppetto has been dating Leona for 50 years without popping the question then maybe Pinocchio figured he had to do something.

The story is told with visual grace but not excitement. Even Pinocchio’s little cricket friend seems more like a philosopher than a ringmaster. Smaller children may be enchanted by it all, but older ones may find the movie slow and old-fashioned. There are lessons in the script about loving yourself and accepting others as they are, but let’s face it: we’ve been taught those things many times over in better movies.

Watch The Adventures of Pinocchio For Free On Gomovies.