Wordiezett So much average

Contentar Best movie of this year hands down!

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Kirpianuscus lovely if you adore the book and you are child. nice because it represents new meet with Nicoletta Braschi and Roberto Benigni. because Benigni deserves his Pinocchio . and this is the most important trait of film. a nice film. for the memories, for the flavor of childhood, for the invitation to rediscover the masterpiece of Collodi. many critics are justified about this movie. but it has its special charm. and this saves it from the unfair status of bad film. because it preserves the magic of original story. and this is not small thing. so, an adaptation. or only the Pinocchio of master Benigni.

writers_reign As a child I quite liked Danny Kaye and by extension the Kaye persona given that they were one and the same. On the other hand I never liked Norman Wisdom who traded on essentially the same persona albeit with an English accent. In other words it took several films/years for me to develop the cynicism necessary to realize that Kaye was deliberately manipulating his audiences, confident of charming his way past hearts hardened against a patina of childish innocence crossed with cute whilst in Wisdom's case I was on to it from his first film. Roberto Begnini is a natural successor to Kaye and in Pinnochio he has thrown down a gauntlet that demands an unrealistic suspension of disbelief way beyond what the average playwright and/or scenarist asks of his audience. In short, at the age of fifty he is playing a puppet and not, of course, just any puppet but one that is in Italy virtually sacred and beloved the world over. As a student of irony it has not escaped me that Kaye enjoyed one of his biggest successes via Bopo The Puppet but even Kaye was content to leave it at the three minutes playing time of the average 78 rpm record rather than two hours playing time on screen. Many viewers have commented favorably on the sumptuous sets, costumes and special effects and I am happy to endorse those opinions albeit noting that they overshadow rather than complement the performances. Begnini seems bent on becoming an Italian Bryan Forbes in writing leading roles for his actress wife, Nicoletta Braschi, that she is unable to perform other than at a basic level of competence and this film is no exception saddling her as he does with the principal role of the beautiful fairy who mentors Pinnochio and grooms him to become a boy. On balance an honorable failure.

Jackson Booth-Millard Razzie nominated director Roberto Benigni had tremendous success with his brilliant Life Is Beautiful, but I can't say the same for this Italian remake of the famous fairytale. Basically the Blue Fairy (Life Is Beautiful's Nicoletta Braschi, Glenn Close dubbing) gives wood carver Geppetto (Carlo Giuffrè, David Suchet dubbing) a special log, which he turns into a puppet. This puppet comes alive quickly, and being carved into pine is given the name Pinocchio (Benigni, winning a Razzie for Worst Actor, along with Breckin Meyer dubbing). Geppetto wants his new "son" to go to school and ultimately be a good boy, but throughout the film Pinocchio is swayed away from doing this by many things that lead him into trouble. Pinocchio does want to be a good boy, and keeps telling himself, the Blue Fairy and The Talking Cricket (Peppe Barra, John Cleese dubbing) he has learnt lessons and will be, but he just keeps breaking that promise. He earns some gold and swindled from it by The Cat (Max Cavallari, Eddie Griffin dubbing) and The Fox (Bruno Arena, Cheech Marin dubbing), he is put into a puppet show, he goes to jail, he nearly gets turned into a donkey, and he ends up in the belly of a whale with his father. But in the end, for working so hard for his father, Pinocchio earns his right to be turned into a real boy, with his old puppet self resting on a chair, and his old shadow momentarily following him. Also starring Mino Bellei, Eric Idle dubbing as Medoro, Kim Rossi Stuart, Topher Grace dubbing as Lucignolo/Leonardo, James Belushi as Farmer, Hitch's Kevin James as Mangiafuoco and Queen Latifah as Dove. If I didn't know better I would say Benigni was trying to stick more to source material with Pinocchio being a very naughty boy, but it just doesn't work. The costumes are ridiculous, the special effects and nose growing look quite pathetic (apart from the whale), and the acting, especially by irritating Benigni (and Meyer's dubbing), is terrible, a very nauseating fantasy adventure. It was nominated the Razzies for Worst Picture, Worst Remake or Sequel, Worst Screen Couple for Benigni and Braschi and Worst Screenplay.

digitalmachine1000 What? What? How? How can someone turn out a gem like "Life is Beautiful" and then make THIS?! Pinocchio? With a 5 o'clock shadow? Hopefully this piece of screen dung won't ever make another dime! Benigni looked like a perv playing Pinocchio. I got this turkey from a discount store bargain bin for 5 bucks. I took it back and got a refund, the same as I would for any defective item. That's what I told the clerk, the movie was so bad I considered it DEFECTIVE. Doing a good, award winning project, getting a swelled head, and then turning out crap can be a career killer. Just ask Mr. M. Cimino about "Heaven's Gate".