The Walt Disney classic “Pinocchio” came to the cinema more than 80 years ago. Disney+ is now launching a live-action reboot starring Tom Hanks as the doll carver Geppetto. Can she convince?
Los Angeles – It is world famous, Carlo Collodi’s story of the wood carver and toy maker Geppetto and his marionette. In 1883 the Italian author published his work about Pinocchio’s adventures, it is one of the most popular children’s books. Geppetto carves a puppet out of a block of wood which, with the help of a blue-haired fairy, comes to life overnight. Pinocchio can move and speak without strings. He grew on the old man like a son.
Pinocchio, with a nose that grows with every lie, wants to become a “real” boy. This is an adventurous venture with many encounters, some of them dangerous. With a talking cricket as a companion, he ventures out into the world – from a traveling circus with the greedy puppeteer Stromboli, to the pleasure island “Pleasure Island” to the belly of a giant whale.
Walt Disney probably immortalized the character when “Pinocchio” was released in 1940 as Disney Studios’ second feature-length animated film (after “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, 1937) and won two Oscars. Since then, the cheeky, inquisitive doll has been the subject of dozens of film and TV productions. And interest in the fairy tale does not wane.
From old to new
A live-action new edition of the cartoon classic is now starting (September 8) on the Disney+ streaming service. The Walt Disney Studio relies on the attraction of stars and on modern CGI effects, i.e. scenes produced on the computer. The two-time Oscar winner Tom Hanks (66) turns into the carpenter Geppetto with gray curls, mustache and wire-rimmed glasses, the 13-year-old Briton Benjamin Evan Ainsworth (“Haunted in Bly Manor”) lends his voice to Pinocchio.
The award-winning actress and singer Cynthia Erivo becomes a floating, blue fairy with the help of digital effects – and enchants with the magical song “When You Wish Upon A Star”. Luke Evans, who played the brawny handsome Gaston in the Disney reboot of “Beauty and the Beast,” now becomes a villain as a coachman. Joseph Gordon-Levitt (“Inception”) appears in his voice only, albeit in the key role of Jiminy Cricket. The computer-animated green insect, with top hat, tails and parasol, is at the same time the narrator, Pinocchio’s companion and his “conscience”.
State-of-the-art technology in use
Seven years in the making, Pinocchio was written by Chris Weitz (“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”) and directed by Hollywood effects master Robert Zemeckis (“Back to the Future”). Zemeckis has previously cast Hanks in front of the camera for Forrest Gump, Cast Away and The Polar Express. In 2004 he had already used groundbreaking technology in the fantastic Christmas fairy tale “The Polar Express”. Using a performance capture system, actors’ facial expressions and gestures were transferred to digital film characters. Hanks was actually in front of the camera, but all film locations were created on the computer.
Even now, Zemeckis pulls out all the stops of modern animation technology, but at the same time “Pinocchio” relies on nostalgia. At its core, the film stays true to the classic template. Warm candlelight illuminates Geppetto’s old wood workshop, Pinocchio wears the familiar yellow hat, blue bow tie and short red trousers. And he follows the proven advice of the blue fairy: “Be courageous, sincere and selfless”. Some songs are new (Hanks also sings songs), the seagull Sofia is there for the first time and there is a little surprise at the end of the fairy tale.
Fans can look forward to that
Hollywood has chosen Pinocchio to be its new star. Lionsgate Entertainment released the animated film “Pinocchio: A True Story” in March, and Netflix plans to show its own version from December. In addition, the streaming giant has won Oscar winner Guillermo del Toro (“Shape of Water”). He sets his dark “Pinocchio” retelling in fascist Italy in the 1930s. The director calls his heart project shot in the stop-motion technique a “little fable about love, life and disobedience”. Stars like Ewan McGregor, Cate Blanchett and Christoph Waltz lend their voices to the characters in the original. dpa
