Film ► Pinocchio live action remake: "And the Cricket will be CGI"

[Sonofjafar]

Spoilers man, they're everywhere. If there's even a single hint of KH references in a movie this forum will be on it like flies on a horse.

Which begs the question: in the trailer for Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio, the cricket is writing in a journal, most likely chronicling the events of that film. Nod to Jiminy’s kh role or coincidence

 

[Elysium]

The new trailer looks great! I'm glad it actually seems to be attempting to re-make the movie it's a remake of...! Who knew?

 

[Sonofjafar]

The new trailer looks great! I'm glad it actually seems to be attempting to re-make the movie it's a remake of...! Who knew?

You aren’t wrong. However, I doubt Pleasure Island’ll keep it’s business model of “give children booze and cigars”. A minor difference but it kind of weakens the whole temptation part of the place

On that note, I doubt Luke Evans can pull off this face

 

[Megavoltage]

I'm not exited for the film but I do like how Nu Monstro looks. This freaky kaiju would be a cool KH boss.
Remember the whale fight in BBS? That but on steroids.

 

[WaltK]

I’m watching it right now and all I have to say is:

Has anybody gone and made Disney live-action remake bingo card yet? Quite a few things would be ticked off by now if I had one.

 

[WaltK]

Here’s a rundown now that I’ve watched all the way through:

Spoiler Show

-Geppetto now has a dead wife and kid as part of his backstory. It’s mentioned at the beginning of the movie and never brought up again as far as I can remember.

-Geppetto refuses to sell any of his cuckoo clocks, leading to a potential customer to ask why he even bothers to open a shop, to which he says “it’s complicated”. Either I missed it, or the movie just flat out never bothered to explain his reason.

-Some of the clocks in Geppetto's shop are straight up based on other Disney movies and properties, like one that has Woody from Toy Story popping out on a horse, or one with Roger and Jessica Rabbit kissing each other. It’s kinda neat, actually.

-The Blue Fairy only shows up at the beginning. Her other scenes are removed.

-New character #1: Sofia the seagull. She’s introduced as a wild animal friend of Geppetto who lets her have any garbage he has left over (presumably for her nest), and she goes on to befriend Jiminy. She has a somewhat important role later on in the movie, though at the expense of a scene from the original, which I’ll get to later.

-New character #2: this one’s just pointless. There’s this kind young woman who works for Stromboli, and she has her own puppet persona that she uses to communicate with Pinnoch after he loses his trust in real people.

-Pointless new character’s first contribution to the plot is to talk with Pinnoch (via her puppetsona) while he’s imprisoned by Stromboli, in which she points out that the key to his lock is hanging on the wall. She doesn’t stick around to, y’know, actually help in getting the key or anything.

-A change I’m actually kind of mixed on: in this version Pinocchio escapes from his cage when his nose starts to grow with Jiminy standing on it, and he realises that it could allow Jiminy to reach the key that’s hanging up. On one hand, I like that Pinocchio actually figures out a way to save himself without the Blue Fairy dropping in to help out. The only issue is that the nose growing is never properly addressed within the scene. In the original, the BF is at least able to provide some symbolic context on why it’s happening (“a lie will grow until it’s as plain as the nose on your face”). Here, Jiminy at least makes a comment about lying, but never says anything to link the two.

-Another change I’m mixed on: one of the weird things that went unexplained in the original movie was how Geppetto’s search for Pinnoch led him out to the ocean to be swallowed by Monstro. In this version, he finds a poster for Pleasure Island and assumes that Pinocchio has gone there, leading him try sailing there. Okay. But that doesn’t explain why Geppetto would make such an assumption.

-Now this change is just plain bullshit: in this version, Pinocchio remains almost entirely untempted by the stuff on Pleasure Island. He's visibly uncomfortable with the hooliganism going on around him, and berates Lampwick for cheating at pool. He even outright says “I don’t want to be a jerk”. The only "sins" he partakes in are drinking root beer (yep, not even alcoholic) and attempting to play pool (which, y’know isn’t even a sin to begin with). And despite all this, Pinocchio still begins turning into a donkey. What…??

-Pointless puppet girl makes her second and final appearance right before Pinocch goes off to look for Monstro. She shows up to tell him that Stromboli has been thrown in jail (for reasons I don’t recall ever being said) and that she’s started her own touring puppet show. He declines her offer to join them, and she promises to meet him again when they’re back in town.

-Sofia the seagull fulfils her purpose to the plot by pulling Pinocch out to sea by a rope, jet-ski style. This happens instead of the awesome undersea scene from the original.

-Monstro is a sea monster in this version. …sure, why not?

-Now seems as good a time to mention: Pinocchio straight up has superspeed in this movie. At least, that’s essentially what it is. When he dances in Stromboli’s show he shuffles his feet on the floor so fast that he catches fire, and he later does something similar to start the fire inside Monstro. And when he and his family are escaping from Monstro, he does so by kicking his legs at superspeed in the water to turn their dingy into a motorboat. This kid’s rolling around at the speed of sound.

-There’s a short scene during the escape where Geppetto is formally introduced to Jiminy, for no apparent reason. It’s literally the only time they interact.

-It’s Geppetto who gets the “Disney Death” in this version. Pinocchio begs him to wake up, before singing a verse from “Wish Upon a Star” and crying a magic tear that wakes him up.

-For some reason, they decide to end the story ambiguously. Geppetto tells Pinocch how he’s proven himself to be a true boy at heart, and the two walk off together, and we see Pinocchio gradually morphing into flesh and blood as they go. Jiminy says something to the effect of “Pinocchio may have become a real boy, but nobody knows for sure when he did”.

 

[Soldier]

A few points @Ernest_Panda.

Spoiler Show

-The reason Gepetto never sold his clocks is because they were his life's work, made for his wife or his child. Sofia explains that he did that to get the dinghy to go to Pleasure Island in the first place, which shows how much he's willing to go for his wooden son.

-The Blue Fairy is indeed superfluous to this story, honestly she didn't even really need to appear to begin with. Just have it so the star still shines on Pinocchio, bringing him to life and have the cricket explain what's right and wrong.

-Sofia actually just uses the garbage to eat. Seagulls (and other members of the Laridae family for that matter) are very opportunistic and crafty creatures, often eating things that aren't meant for consumption. I once ate lunch near the water and a seagull literally swooped down, grabbed my empty milk carton and flew off to eat it before I could do anything about it.

-I'd argue she isn't ENTIRELY pointless, she's one of very few people this Pinocchio meets on his journey that has no ill intentions for the puppet, considering how much it happens in the Disney version and the original story. She at least has a sort of unique backstory where it's hinted that her leg was damaged either through abuse or an accident, preventing her from becoming a ballerina. I at least thought the brace was interesting, just goes to show how far prosthetics have come.

-She actually TRIED to get the key for Pinocchio, but because Stromboli barged in she had to flee, leaving the latch open for him to close later.

-I wanted them to say that line so bad, you don't even know Mr. Panda. What good is adapting a historically significant fable like Pinocchio and not using it for the moral that made it famous?

- I dunno, if my head was made out of pine and I was discriminated against by the one person (the schoolmaster) I was told to follow, why wouldn't I eventually end up at pleasure island? In this version the urchins (and yes, they're clearly intended to be street urchins) state that they've been swept up off the street after dark, and that Pinocchio should know this. This implies that it's sort of an established "cautionary tale in a cautionary tale" like how the boogeyman was created to discourage bad behavior or fairy tales scaring kids from running away into the forest. Geppetto likely put two and two together and knew that's where he'd end up.

Playing pool, while not an inherent sin can be attributed to gambling, as bets can be made on it. It's a bit of a stretch but the fact that they did this in a bar (adult bar, not the traditional Italian bars) makes the implication that him merely being there would result in him transforming into a donkey regardless, and it seems bad behavior accelerates the process compared to the original. Do have to give them credit though for making Pinoch's donkey ears and tail made out of felt and wood respectively, that was a nice touch.

- Stromboli actually was largely responsible for underpaying his employees and making a hostile work environment, Fabiana reveals this to Pinocchio when he's trapped in the cage. Kind of shocking considering how the original film had most of it's antagonists get off scot free (for the most part).

- Not going to lie, I really wanted them to do the underwater walk like the original, but I guess it's hard to do because everything is realistic (Remember, they're not cartoons anymore, Pinoch is a REAL wooden puppet and Jiminy is a cricket with all of the abilities and limited air of a cricket). It's a shame because with how detailed most underwater scenes have gotten (KH's Caribbean comes to mind, that manta is fantastic) it would've been nice to see native fauna of the Italian penninsula's oceans in a Disney movie.

-Well, I'd argue this is kind of closer to the original story, as in Collodi's version Geppetto and Pinoch are swallowed by
"il Terribile Pesce-cane" (or the terrible dogfish in english). A dogfish is a type of shark, and while this Monstro is still more whale inspired, it's more streamlined and sleeker than the original. I guess it's intended to be like the sea monsters that were put on old maps back in the day, possessing a lot of parts from known marine life (octopus tentacles, a whale's blowhole, a shark's dorsal fin) but honestly they could've just went the King Louie route and made Monstro an extremely large basilosaurus, at least then it'd be more whale-like.

-Well, Pinocchio needs to have some moves when he's a part of the party in KH IV when Sora visits the world. It'll be called piede di fuoco and it uses up all of his MP. Don't worry, I got this information from a reliable source, I know what I'm talking about


I guess Disney really wanted to pull a Porco Rosso ending, they were on a beach.

 

[Sonofjafar]

Was the donkey transformation as messed up as the original?

 

[WaltK]

All valid points @Soldier , except

- I dunno, if my head was made out of pine and I was discriminated against by the one person (the schoolmaster) I was told to follow, why wouldn't I eventually end up at pleasure island? In this version the urchins (and yes, they're clearly intended to be street urchins) state that they've been swept up off the street after dark, and that Pinocchio should know this. This implies that it's sort of an established "cautionary tale in a cautionary tale" like how the boogeyman was created to discourage bad behavior or fairy tales scaring kids from running away into the forest. Geppetto likely put two and two together and knew that's where he'd end up.

Gepetto doesn’t even know what happened to Pinocchio at this point. As far as he knew, he went to school and never came back. He doesn’t know that Pinocchio got kicked out, or was discriminated against by the teacher. Indeed, Pinocch first tells him about the incident when they’re reunited at sea.

 

[Sonofjafar]

ok. just saw the donkey scene and i gotta say two things:

1. Jiminiy entering the scene with a firework kind of kills the imapact of the horrific sight this scene is supposed to be

2. Lampwick's fearful cries for help are kind of downplayed.

 

[Elysium]

A few points @Ernest_Panda.

Spoiler Show

-The reason Gepetto never sold his clocks is because they were his life's work, made for his wife or his child. Sofia explains that he did that to get the dinghy to go to Pleasure Island in the first place, which shows how much he's willing to go for his wooden son.
...

-I'd argue she isn't ENTIRELY pointless, she's one of very few people this Pinocchio meets on his journey that has no ill intentions for the puppet, considering how much it happens in the Disney version and the original story. She at least has a sort of unique backstory where it's hinted that her leg was damaged either through abuse or an accident, preventing her from becoming a ballerina. I at least thought the brace was interesting, just goes to show how far prosthetics have come.
...

"il Terribile Pesce-cane" (or the terrible dogfish in english). A dogfish is a type of shark, and while this Monstro is still more whale inspired, it's more streamlined and sleeker than the original. I guess it's intended to be like the sea monsters that were put on old maps back in the day, possessing a lot of parts from known marine life (octopus tentacles, a whale's blowhole, a shark's dorsal fin) but honestly they could've just went the King Louie route and made Monstro an extremely large basilosaurus, at least then it'd be more whale-like.

Spoiler Show

I liked that they had Geppetto sell his clocks to find Pinocchio. I also liked the puppeteer girl and that Stromboli went to jail. It added a bit more realism to the story to me. Instead of every single person Pinocchio meets being a monster, there was a little more variety--otherwise, why wouldn't he have simply assumed the next person he meets must be evil, too, after Honest John and Stromboli. As for the other thing with Stromboli going to jail, to me that's a better reflection of justice in the real world. Some people get away with what they do (like Honest John, the Coachman, etc.) and some don't; it's often very random how things fall in life rather than simply "everyone gets away with what they do."

I don't mind the change to Monstro either. For one, they were never going to match the original character there anyway--that's one of the best animated moments there are, all the tension and everything. Plus, it kind of makes me think of a leviathan in this version, which sort of suits how biblical the story is, much more specifically and openly about "morality" in the story than other fairy tales.

I liked it. I believe the only thing I didn't like was the Coachman's song, that part was disappointing and the ending felt a little fast to me. I loved Tom Hanks, Honest John, Stromboli, and Figaro in particular. Gordon-Levitt actually managed to sound a lot like the original, which wasn't something I thought he was going to try to do (at least the early trailers he sounded mostly like himself). The 3D for Honest John, Gideon and Pinocchio were all pretty good to me? Of course Figaro didn't blend nearly as well as those character, but they really nailed the mannerisms at least. Cleo on the other hand was pretty lifeless.