Pinocchio

nice. but not convincing. beautiful. but not enough. amusing. only for few sequences. touching. for good intentions. its sin - each viewer has his image of Pinocchio. and this image is very and deep different by Benigni work. his ambition to create the Collodi legendary character is far to be inspired. it is silly and too strange. because, unfortunately, it is not a joke but a movie , not a parody but adaptation of a great book. sure, poor Benigni is innocent. but his innocence, his desire to do a good work remains a failure. not for acting but for mixture between costumes, delicate images and his old humor recipes. he is saboteur of his labor. explanation - no measure of ingredients and the sparkles of ridiculous. but it is an exercise. not catastrophic. only very far by expectations.

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.

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.

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.

I must admit I admired the set designs and the effects of this film, which were quite colorful and entertaining. The film started well and I settled in expecting to be amazed.

Then Pinocchio spoke, and I saw Roberto Benigni as the wooden puppet who longed to be a boy. WOW was that bad casting! I couldn't keep track of the amount of times I winced in pain and rolled my eyes as Benigni, a middle-aged man, ran around like a spoiled brat spouting things many 3-year olds have outgrown. I must admit I wanted to make kindling of this puppet.

Worth seeing for the set pieces, costumes and effects. Too bad we can't edit out the parts with Pinocchio!

5 out of 10 (all 5 for the sets and costumes).