leigh-bamford All the top film critics have obviously never read the book. This is literally how Carlo Collodi would have wanted it to be in its material; the bizarreness and abnormality of it all and how I feel with this adaptation is the same way I felt with it in the book.The story tells the tale of a log that falls out of a wagon and into the hands of a kind-hearted woodcutter named Geppetto who decides to carve the log into a beautiful marionette. The marionette comes to life causes assorts of damage in town. After his father is released from prison for his antics, the marionette which he names Pinocchio decides to change his ways and become a better behaved boy. However his mishaps lead into some mysterious adventures which also lead him to befriend the beautiful, loving Blue Fairy who teaches him more than just good behaviour but the rewards for it, which gives him an ambition to become a real boy.There are so many things I love about this film and the first one to mention is the material to the actual novel; it holds the same feel to the story which Carlo Collodi must have felt when he first wrote it and there are very few changes such as the character of Lampwick. In Collodi's Italian translation he is names "Lucignolo" (which is also in the film) and in the English dub he is renamed "Leonardo". Then there is the sea goblin and the bulldog that rescues Pinocchio from it, which is cut from the film. Then there is the Land of Toy renamed to "Fun Forever Land" which I see no complaint with as it has been renamed so many time: Pleasure Island, Playland, Terra Magico,. The designs for each background bring the story to life such as the Blue Fairy's beautiful house, Fun Forever Land in its manipulating colours of the rainbow, enticing naughty, lazy boys to become jackasses from their antics but my most favourite design would have the be the shark that swallows Pinocchio and Geppetto as it really captures the design from the original sketches when the book was first published.The actors were very conceiving to their characters. Especially Roberto Benigni's performance as the dancing, skipping Pinocchio. He obviously knew the character well form the book with his happiness, his naughtiness, his tantrums and finally his kind, loving heart. Many people criticise him for being a boy but there is no issue at all. You are never old for anything. Carol Marsh was twenty years old when she played the titular character in the 1949 Alice in Wonderland. Benigni looked the part himself with his pale face and curly black hair and his costume was very convincing to the character, all in which and in red checks with a cute pointed hat. Nicoletta Braschi did the role of the Blue Fairy justice, portraying the sweet, forgiving personality she carries as if she was actually an angel, due to the fact that she is never angry at Pinocchio for his lies or his broken promises. Even Glenn Close in the English dub convened us in her warm, soothing voice as she did with Tarzan's loving ape mother Kala. Other credits include Carlo Giuffre as the kindly old Geppetto, Peppe Barra as the wise Talking Cricket and Kim Rossi Stuart as Pinocchio's trouble-making best friend Lucignolo which suit their characters to a fault.The music is probably the best thing about the movie. Nicola Piovani is a very talented composer next to John Williams. The music really warmed my heart up to the top which fitted with the heart- feeling story perfectly well. It's only a shame that I cannot find it on any music website - even iTunes proves fruitless.Overall, this the most faithful adaptation to the classic Italian fairy tale. If anyone out there is a bookworm and would love to watch a film that relates well to whatever they read, this Pinocchio adaptation is an example.

mrturk182 Pinocchio is one of the most iconic fairy tale characters of all time. He debuted in the 1883 children's novel, The Adventures of Pinocchio, written by Italian writer Carlo Collodi. The Adventures of Pinocchio has been adapted many times over the past 132 years. One of the most beloved adaptations came from Disney's 1940 animated classic, Pinocchio. It is a timeless movie that has been passed down to every generation. There was no need for anyone to top that adaptation in film.Unfortunately, in the source material's country of origin, one filmmaker wanted to make a movie on Pinocchio from an Italian's perspective. To do a remake of a movie that was made in America, but was based on a story from your country, is okay to do. Just keep it in your country. Roberto Benigni's Pinocchio didn't. Released in 2002, Pinocchio was the most disastrous adaptation to ever come to the United States. It got slaughtered by everyone, it only made $3 million in the box office, and it received 6 Razzie nominations. Where do I begin explaining this atrocity?Let's start with the director himself, Roberto Benigni, who also plays the title character. Roberto Benigni grew up on the talents of Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Peter Sellers, and he became recognized as an improvisational actor who eventually developed a career in directing. Now, he was never a bad talent. He was in great Jim Jarmusch movies like Down by Law and Night on Earth, and his turn at acting/directing/writing in the Oscar-winning 1997 movie, Life Is Beautiful, showed he was capable of doing a movie right. In Pinocchio, Roberto does everything wrong. Not just the movie, but also the representation of the source material.Here, we have a FIFTY-YEAR OLD Roberto Benigni playing a boy character! The thought of it doesn't even work. As he tries to take on this iconic character, he forgets that his age difference isn't going to make anyone take this performance seriously. Sure, some adults have gotten away with playing younger fairy tale characters. But Pinocchio is a BOY, and a BOY is in the range of 2 to 12 years old! Even worse, he isn't even made to look like a wooden puppet. He's already looking like someone in human form. It's like having a cat play Lassie or the Tin Man dressed up in rubber. This kind of costume and makeup design is something you can only get away with in middle school plays. Even worse, his acting here is way too childish and clownish. It resembles some of Robin Williams, Dana Carvey, Mike Myers, and Adam Sandler's worst performances ever. Sure, it's a children's movie, but for an Oscar-winner in the Best Actor category, Roberto should've known better.But Pinocchio isn't the only character this movie got wrong. The talking characters in the story, like the Fox, the Cat, and the Talking Cricket, don't even look like a Fox, a Cat, or a Cricket. The actors are all in human form! There was no attempt to give them any costumes to make them look like animals. They could've done CGI characters, but they didn't. Even the hideous, squeaking mice in the opening scene were CGI. It's not that hard.Now, the production and story are no better off. One of the film's first scenes has a log bouncing around the village and causing chaos in the style of unfunny slapstick. The cops even take action and try to arrest the log. IT'S A LOG! YOU CAN'T ARREST A LOG! The next thing I'm going to point out is when Pinocchio ditches school, he goes to a play and joins in with other performing "wooden puppets". They get trapped by puppet master Mangiafuoco after the play, and he's huge. Like Gulliver's Travels huge. Pinocchio is seen around the village in normal size and height like the other villagers, but he only appears small in front of Mangiafuoco. That's another disadvantage of having an adult play Pinocchio. The sizes of the puppets are so inconsistent, that you can tell when they're using a green screen effect.And if you listen closely and observe the screen, the dialogue doesn't match up with the actors' lip movement. That brings us to the movie's biggest problem: it was filmed in Italian, but here, it's all dubbed in English! You do not do that for a foreign movie playing in American cinemas! BUT THEY DO IT EVEN WORSE ON PINOCCHIO! Seriously, this is the worst dubbing ever done for a movie. The movie's US distributor, Miramax, admitted that they needed to do post- production looping to insert the English dub for the US release. Why? Did they know that just the sight of an adult playing Pinocchio was going to fail? This only adds onto the problem. You a FIFTY-YEAR OLD Roberto Benigni playing Pinocchio and SOUNDING LIKE THE STONER FROM CLUELESS! You have a Talking Cricket not looking like a cricket and SOUNDING LIKE A MEMBER OF MONTY PYTHON! You have the Fox and the Cat not looking like a Fox or a Cat and SOUNDING LIKE COMEDIANS OF OTHER ETHNICITIES!I wish I could elaborate more on every other problem, but I made my point clear. This is the worst adaptation of The Adventures of Pinocchio or any other children's fairy tale book in general. I'm sure Italy was looking to do a remake of a movie based on a story from their country. Heck, I come from an Italian heritage, but I never would've trusted the actor that killed the Pink Panther franchise with a wooden project that deserves to be turned into paper.Score: 0/100Recommendation: None. I'd even recommend Jonathan Taylor Thomas's performance in 1996's The Adventures of Pinocchio before this movie.

Edgar Soberon Torchia First thing I did was to erase from my head the version of the puppet that was created by the Disney factory. Then I had to struggle to admit old Roberto as a kid, and his wife as a fairy, but now I am old enough to admit both licenses, especially from someone who did something as silly as "La vita è bella". But most of all, I had to have a bigger, harder struggle to take off those stupid glasses we wear more often than not, to see everything through Hollywood eyes. And there I was: watching an Italian film about an Italian puppet, based on an Italian book, with an old Italian clown in the main role, done with a lot of affection, with great cinematography by Spinetti, and great art work by Donati, to whom the film is dedicated... I enjoyed it very much, and even if it is hated by almost anybody that saw it, I still would recommend it to my dearest friends.

Egogo Nkaku Although far from a great film, this is certainly not the worst thing I've ever seen. I saw without prejudice and enjoyed it although I did find it full of oddities. I was very surprised when I looked it up afterwards and saw all the hate being spewed out, which is why I felt I should write this review. Sure it has some curious ideas such as: The boy Pinocchio played by a 50 year old man. Actually once you get over his age, he puts in a playful joyful performance which reminded me of Danny Kaye at times.Bad dubbing. Not much can be said in defence of this, but the voices used, such as John Cleese and Glen Close are appropriate in themselves, it is just the bad syncing that is annoying.Some rather cheap-looking special effects. This could certainly have been better but it is sad that people can no longer use their imaginations.As said, these detract from an honest attempt to remake the children's classic. But why the hate? As many have said, I think that this is a much less sentimentalised version of the Disney, closer to the original story and some have taken against it.All in all, children of all ages will enjoy this film and probably learn some valuable life lessons from it. See for yourself and make u your own mind.