Pinocchio (2002 film)

Pinocchio
Italian theatrical release poster
Directed by	Roberto Benigni
Screenplay by	Vincenzo Cerami Roberto Benigni
Based on	The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
Produced by	Gianluigi Braschi
Starring	Roberto Benigni Nicoletta Braschi Mino Bellei Carlo Giuffrè Peppe Barra Franco Javarone Max Cavallari Bruno Arena Corrado Pani Kim Rossi Stuart Luis Molteni Alessandro Bergonzoni
Cinematography	Dante Spinotti
Edited by	Simona Paggi
Music by	Nicola Piovani
Production companies	Melampo Cinematografica Cecchi Gori Group
Distributed by	Medusa Distribuzione
Release date	11 October 2002 (2002-10-11) (Italy)
Running time	107 minutes (original version) 100 minutes (US version)
Country	Italy
Language	Italian
Budget	$40–45 million[1][2]
Box office	$41.3 million[3]

Pinocchio is a 2002 Italian fantasy comedy-drama film written and directed by Roberto Benigni, who also stars. It is based on the 1883 novel The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi, with Benigni portraying Pinocchio. Filming took place in Italy and Kalkara, Malta. It was dedicated to costume and production designer Danilo Donati, who died on 1 December 2001.

The film was released in Italy on 11 October 2002 by Medusa Distribuzione, which was met with mixed reviews.^[4] It received an English-language dub in the United States in December 2002, released by Miramax; this version was critically panned. Pinocchio was selected as the Italian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 75th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.

Plot[]

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A magical log falls off a wagon, stopping at Geppetto's door. The wood carver creates a puppet from the log named Pinocchio. It surprisingly comes to life and is very mischievous. Pinocchio runs away and along the street, turning the town upside down. The carpenter is blamed and taken to prison by the carabinieri, while Pinocchio escapes.

Back home, a talking cricket scolds him for his behavior; this annoys Pinocchio, so he throws a hammer at him. Tired and hungry, he falls asleep with his feet on the brazier. Geppetto saves him from the flames when he returns. Wanting to be forgiven, Pinocchio promises he will go to school and study: Geppetto sells his only coat to buy schoolbooks for him. However, the naughty puppet goes on several adventures, dreading school.

Joining a puppet theater, Pinocchio is almost eaten by the puppet master Mangiafuoco. Lying to get out of the situation, he is given five gold coins. He then meets The Fox and the Cat, who trick him out of his money, telling him to plant it to grow a 'money tree'. Blue Fairy, encourages Pinocchio to give up his obnoxious ways, and saves him from being hanged. She gives Pinocchio medicine and coffin-bearing rabbits dressed as Undertakers appear when he initially refuses it, so he immediately takes it.

Pinocchio lies when the Blue Fairy asks about the gold coins, saying he lost them, and his nose grows. She tells him there are two types of lies: those with short legs, and those with long noses. Pinocchio promises her from then on, he will work hard to be good.

Pinocchio finds the Fox and the Cat again, who remind him of his coins. While Pinocchio is waiting for the tree to grow, they dig them up and run off, and the Talking Cricket tells him. He then tells the judges about the Fox and Cat, and is sentenced to five years in jail for foolishness. While there, Pinocchio meets Lucignolo (Leonardo in English), a thief.

Geppetto continues searching for Pinocchio. Four months later, during the celebration of the King's son's birth, Pinocchio is set free when he convinces the warden he is a crook. He stumbles across the grave of the Blue Fairy, who supposedly died of grief because of his antics. A dove tells Pinocchio his father was heading out to sea to look for him. Pinocchio arrives at the shore, finding Geppetto on his ship.

Pinocchio nearly drowns trying to save his father, then washes up by a city where he helps a lady carry her pitchers. Arriving at her home, he sees she is the Blue Fairy in disguise who faked her death to forgive Pinocchio. Starting anew, on his way to school he gets into a fight. A kid throws a book at him, he ducks, and it hits Eugenio, who loses consciousness. Thinking he is dead, the others run away, leaving Pinocchio at the scene.

The carabinieri arrive, Eugenio is taken to the hospital and Pinocchio is arrested. Upon nearing the Blue Fairy's house he escapes, ending up in a grape farmer's trap. Pinocchio is freed by Lucignolo, and returns to the Blue Fairy's, where he admits he did not go to school. She forgives him. The next day, the people at the school arrive at the Blue Fairy's party where the schoolmaster presides. Pinocchio leaves to look for Lucignolo.

Lucignolo tells him he is on a trip to 'Fun Forever Land', all is play and no work or school. Later that night, they board a stagecoach bound for Fun Forever Land together. When there, Pinocchio has some fun while the Cricket is trying to find him. When he does, he tries to warn them all they will turn into donkeys if they do not leave. The next day, Pinocchio awakens to find that he has sprouted donkey ears, and goes to find Lucignolo. The Cricket arrives, telling him the boys-turned-donkeys are sold for hard labor. Pinocchio soon becomes a donkey, and is sold to a circus ringmaster.

During his performance, Pinocchio gets hurt and is thrown into the sea. The Blue Fairy appears on the shore, he emerges from the water in his normal form, vowing to make up for his misdeeds. She warns him about a giant shark, he starts to swim, but is swallowed whole. Reuniting with Geppetto inside, he apologizes, and they escape together.

Pinocchio takes Geppetto to a farm to help him recover. Working there, he finds Lucignolo's donkey form dying in a stable and mourns his death. Weaving outside that night, the Blue Fairy, Medoro, and the Cricket visit. Rewarding his efforts to strive for moral prudence, the Blue Fairy transforms him into a real boy. The film ends with Pinocchio going to school, while his shadow - as a puppet - chases a butterfly.

Cast[]

Roberto Benigni and his wife Nicoletta Braschi starred as Pinocchio and the Blue Fairy respectively. Aside from playing the title character, Benigni also served as the film's director and writer.

Differences from the novel[]

In making the film, Benigni tried to be as faithful as possible to Collodi's work, but there are a few differences between them.

• Geppetto finds the piece of wood on the street, whereas in the book, it is given to him by Master Ciliegia (who does not appear in the film). Furthermore, in the film, it is specified that the piece of wood is pine. In the book, it is not specified which tree the log comes from.
• In the film, Mangiafuoco, angry with Pinocchio for spoiling his puppet show, shows his intention to eat him for lunch. In the book, he would like to use him as firewood to cook a mutton roast.
• In the book, the Fox pretends to be lame and the Cat pretends to be blind while. In the film, they do not have disabilities.
• In the book, Pinocchio had to defend himself from the killers who tried to open his mouth to take the gold coins; he bites off the hand of one of the two and then, spitting it on the ground, realizes that it is actually a cat's paw. In the film, this detail is omitted.
• In the film, Pinocchio met Lucignolo for the first time in prison when he was arrested by the Carabinieri of Acchiappacitrulli, accusing the Cat and the Fox for the theft of gold coins. In the book, he met him at school, when he moved to the Country of the Industrious Bees.
• The King of Acchiappacitrulli decides to free the prisoners from prisons to celebrate the birth of his son - not for a military victory, as in the book.
• When Pinocchio is arrested by the Carabinieri, who believe that he has hit Eugenio, he escapes from the Carabinieri (upon seeing the Blue Fairy) and then ends up in the field of the farmer who hires him as a guard dog (where in the book, he tries to steal the grapes, which he does not do in the movie). Pinocchio also escapes from the farmer, thanks to Lucignolo (who wants to steal chickens instead of martens). In the book, Pinocchio regains his freedom by completing the aforementioned task. Furthermore, in the film, the kidnapping by the master of Melampo replaces that by the Green Fisherman. In the book, the first occurs after his ordeal in Acchiappacitrulli, and before Pinocchio finds the alleged tomb of the Blue Fairy.
• In the film, after the misfortune with the farmer who forces him to watch over him, Pinocchio returns home still chained and full of shame and, when the Blue Fairy asks him how the day went, the puppet's nose grows long due to the lies he tells. However, in the book, after running away from the Green Fisherman (who had stripped and floured Pinocchio to fry him), Pinocchio obtains a dress from a bag for the lupins and, returning home, is left out in the cold all night because the snail - whom he asks to open it - takes nine hours to reach the door.
• When Pinocchio and Lucignolo realize that they are being turned into donkeys, in the Land of Toys, the Talking Cricket speaks to Pinocchio of his ignorance; while in the book, the puppet is warned by his roommate the dormouse. In addition, the Talking Cricket also replaces the Parrot, who warns Pinocchio of the theft of the coins by the Cat and the Fox.
• When Pinocchio is transformed into a donkey, he is led to a circus and injures himself by jumping a circle of fire, and the circus director, when he realizes that the donkey has broken his leg, sends his clowns to drown him in the sea. But in the book, the circus director decides to sell Pinocchio to a drum seller, who himself drowns the puppet - not the clowns.
• When Pinocchio returns to being a puppet, the Fairy - aware of the giant shark that was chasing him - maintains her human aspect in the film, instead of becoming a goat as in the book.
• When Pinocchio meets Geppetto in the shark's mouth, the puppet brings his father to safety by irritating him by taking his wig. In the book, they flee on the back of a tuna, already met by Pinocchio as soon as he is swallowed (who does not appear in the film) while the shark sleeps. Whereas in the film, when Pinocchio meets Geppetto he pretends to be a tuna but after a while, he reveals his true identity to the father because Geppetto is initially angry with him. (A similar scene also happened in the 1947 film adaptation of the same book).

Release[]

To promote the film's release, McDonald's sold Happy Meals containing toys that each resembled a character of the film.^[5]

In the United States and Canada, Miramax released the film on Christmas Day with no advance screening. Miramax said that this is because they needed to do post-production looping to insert the English dub for its English-speaking release. Edward Guthmann, a film reviewer for the San Francisco Chronicle, thought that this was because Miramax knew the film would not be well-received, and sought to have it released before critics placed their opinions on the film.^[6] The English version includes some differences, such as changed dialogues, some shortened scenes, and narration by David Suchet added. After the English dubbed version was poorly received, Miramax reissued the film in Italian with English subtitles on February 7, 2003.^[7]

Reception[]

Box-office[]

In Italy and Europe, Pinocchio grossed over $7 million within the first three days of its release.^[8] It went on to gross $3.67 million in the United States, and $37.7 million in other territories (of which €26 million was in Italy), for a worldwide total of $41.3 million, against a production budget of $40 million.^[3]

Critical reception[]

Original version[]

Pinocchio received mixed reviews.^[4][9] David Rooney of Variety wrote: 'In Roberto Benigni's take on Carlo Collodi's classic fairy tale, Pinocchio, the spirit of the late Federico Fellini - with whom Benigni talked of doing the project together - surfaces repeatedly. But that spirit fails to enliven a film substantially lacking in personality, energy, magic and humor ... The union between the Tuscan fairy tale and the region's most talented contemporary offspring would seem like the perfect marriage. In fact, it comes off as artificially exuberant and a little precious.'^[10] Roberto Nepoti of La Repubblica stated: "The film is a kind of linear translation of the book, illustrated by the splendid scenographies of Danilo Donati, played by good actors, accompanied by special effects of excellent levels but where, unfortunately, something is missing. What is missing is a visionary fantasy, a sense of excess, of the poetry that belongs to Benigni as an actor and author, but which Benigni as director has not yet acquired."^[11]

Pinocchio went on to receive six nominations at the David di Donatello Awards, winning two in the process: Best Sets and Decorations and Best Costumes, both to Danilo Donati. It was also nominated for at the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists.

American version[]

The English dub of the movie was heavily criticized, including Breckin Meyer's performance as the title character.^[12]

The English-dubbed recut version by Miramax was met with critical panning in the United States. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the English-language version of the film, with 55 reviews, has a rare approval rating of 0% – meaning no favorable reviews whatsoever  – receiving an average rating of 2.70/10.^[13] The site's consensus states: 'Roberto Benigni misfires wildly with this adaptation of Pinocchio, and the result is an unfunny, poorly-made, creepy vanity project'. Metacritic gave the film an 11/100 based on 15 critics, which suggests 'overwhelming dislike'. Jonathan Rosenbaum stated on Chicago Reader that "the recut American version is truly awful, but a good 75% of the awfulness is attributable to Miramax".^[14]

Amongst other issues, the English dub was heavily criticized, with many critics also founding that Breckin Meyer chosen as Benigni's voice was inappropriate and too young.^[12] David Noh of Film Journal International referred to Meyer's performance as a "ridiculously inappropriate Valley Boy voice".^[15] Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times stated that the voices "are so sloppy you might feel as if you're watching a 1978 Hong Kong action picture: the dubbed mouths of the Italian cast are probably still moving an hour after the film is over". Mitchell also called it "an oddity that will be avoided by millions of people" and criticized Benigni's decision to play the titular character, opining that his role as Pinocchio is 'as believable as Diana Ross playing Dorothy in The Wiz".^[16]

Ken Fox of TV Guide wrote: "there's no getting past the shockingly poorly dubbed voice work of the English-speaking cast; Meyer's voice is particularly shrill and grating", but praised Benigni's performance and make up effects, stating: "he's one Italian icon playing another, and physically, he's actually quite good" and "the art direction is often exquisite, and the anthropomorphic animal characters are beautifully realized through clever makeup design".^[17]

Accolades[]

The original version was nominated for six David di Donatello Awards (winning two) and three Nastro d'Argento (winning one):^[18][19]

• David di Donatello:
  • Best Sets and Decorations (Danilo Donati) — won
  • Best Costumes (Danilo Donati) — won
  • Best Actor (Roberto Benigni)
  • Supporting Actor (Kim Rossi Stuart)
  • Best Cinematography (Dante Spinotti)
  • Best Score (Nicola Piovani)
• Nastro d'Argento:
  • Nastro d'Argento for Best Score (Nicola Piovani) - won
  • Best Supporting Actor
  • Best Producer (Nicoletta Braschi)

The English dub was nominated for six Golden Raspberry Awards (a first for a foreign-language film) and won one:^[20]

• Worst Picture
• Worst Director
• Worst Screenplay
• Worst Actor (Roberto Benigni "Dubbed Godzilla-style" by Breckin Meyer) — won
• Worst Remake or Sequel
• Worst Screen Couple (Roberto Benigni and Nicoletta Braschi)

See also[]

• List of films with a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes
• Pinocchio (2019) - another adaption that Roberto Benigni starred in, but this time in a different role (as Geppetto).

References[]

External links[]

• Pinocchio at IMDb
• Pinocchio at Box Office Mojo
• Pinocchio at Rotten Tomatoes
• Pinocchio at Metacritic