The live-action Pinocchio was released on Disney Plus on September 8th. Although this movie and the 1940 one have the same storyline, you can tell they are different from each other, which made this movie stand out in both a good and bad way. 

First, this movie had an amazing cast, starring Tom Hanks as Geppetto, Cynthia Erivo as the Blue Fairy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Jiminy Cricket, and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth as Pinocchio. These are all amazing actors who have played their roles in such an amazing way. 

When watching the movie, I couldn’t even recognize that Geppetto was played by Tom Hanks, and I was shocked as soon as I realized it was him. Geppetto was a great fit for Hanks and I couldn’t imagine anyone else playing him. He has always done a great job with his characters and gets committed to them, and you can tell that he was in this movie.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s voice was so unrecognizable, I would have never guessed that he was the voice of Jiminy Cricket. Along with Hanks, Levitt was also committed to his role and it paid off for his character. Although he did such an amazing job as Jiminy Cricket, it was also such a step below the kinds of other movies he’s in, like Inception and 10 Things I Hate About You. 

One detail in the beginning of the movie is that the clocks in Geppetto’s shop makes a reference to most of the Disney movies, including Toy Story, which Tom Hanks voiced in, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and many more Disney movies. This is a great detail for a Disney movie, considering they don’t show much details in most of their films. 

The animation in the movie for the characters wasn’t really the best. Whenever Geppetto would hold Figaro, it was obvious that Disney didn’t try to hide the fact that the cat was CGI or just didn’t do a good job making him seem realistic. 

Another time this happened was with Honest John. Although the fox was in the movie for a short time, it doesn’t change the fact that the CGI for him was just as bad. I would have expected better from Disney, but I’m also not surprised by this happening, they don’t have the best reputation with live action movies. 

Towards the end of the movie, it seemed like Geppetto was dead because he wasn’t waking up, but Pinocchio saved him from a magical teardrop that hit his cheek and woke him up instantly. This seems a little too familiar, something that has already happened in a Disney movie. If you couldn’t guess what I was referring to, I’m referencing Tangled.

It feels like Disney didn’t know how to end Pinocchio without it being similar to the animated version, so they looked through older Disney movies and hoped no one noticed. Disney should have come up with a different ending without it being the same as a different movie, but it’s understandable that they could only do so much for an ending that is meant for children.

Speaking of endings, Pinocchio doesn’t even turn into a physical real boy, he just learns what it means to be one. Yes, the whole point of the movie was for Pinocchio to prove he is a real boy, but he could have at least turned into one too. Understandably, if he was a real boy, he wouldn’t have been able to save Geppetto and himself from the monster in the ocean. 

Although we do get to see Pinocchio learn what it means to be a real boy, we should have at least seen him become a real boy. Good for Pinocchio to learn about this, but we should have at least seen him have a more happy ending of turning into a real boy and being able to go to school rather than him and Geppetto walking away and out of the cave.