Pinocchio is a fantasy story about an inventor, Geppetto, creating a wooden marionette called Pinocchio, who he wishes was a real boy. His wish is granted unexpectedly by a fairy who then assigns Jiminy Cricket as a conscience to keep Pinocchio out of trouble. Jiminy mostly fails at this task as most of the film Pinocchio spends in deep trouble. Pinocchio is known for having its fair share of controversial scenes, namely the scene where the boys are transformed into donkeys, and the scenes where Pinocchio tries drugs on Pleasure Island. Granted the movie has a deep message and iconic portions, such as the song When You Wish Upon a Star that plays before every Disney film. Now let’s look at the modern take on this questionable Disney classic. 

To start off, the movie itself was not exactly looked forward to. It was released as a Disney+ exclusive along with 5 other films. Since Pinocchio has entered the public domain there has been no shortage of films centering on this story. This year alone there have been three set to debut. Pinocchio is also another installment in Disney’s new line of live action remakes and has been set on par with the mostly forgotten Lady and the Tramp. Pinocchio is forgotten enough so its live action recreation only makes sense in the context of wanting to squeeze more money out of the already dead tale. 

The visuals of the live action show are arguably as off-putting as the sketchy scenes of the original. Starting with the main character himself, Pinocchio’s CGI appears to not even look close to being set in the environment. Especially when he’s being held by Geppetto or others it doesn’t look like the animators even tried to make it look like he was being held. The design and animation of the fox and cat that manipulate Pinocchio designs are twitching messes that no one would follow, even those without a conscience. While the movie tries to censor the transformation of Pinocchio’s friend Lampwick transforming into a donkey, Lampwick’s high pitched screams of horror and the shadows of his body contorting into a donkey still make it in the film. 

Pinocchio did not do well partly because Disney often lacks consideration for its nostalgic audience returning to see their favorite stories reimagined. Therefore, because of the changes made to the film, and even lack of creative inspiration, it can make the audience feel like the movie is just a filler film. Who was really sitting home praying for a Pinocchio live action remake? The movie’s grotesque imagery during the adventures of the puppet shifts strangely with the scenes of Geppetto’s sadness. The movie, unlike some others, does not benefit at all from its remake as the original story already had a good enough message with the right amount of shocking imagery to go with. All in all, this film has its charming moments but those are massively overridden with the feelingly calculated presentation, and that’s where the movie loses its nostalgic audience, and possibly its only for this film.