Pinocchio

Last night I saw a new live-action adaptation of the classic fairy tale Pinocchio as my first movie of 2021 (and the last of the big Christmas releases).  It is much darker and stranger than the Disney animated version that we all grew up with but it is also incredibly enchanting and I really enjoyed it.  A poor Italian carpenter named Geppetto (Roberto Benigni) sees a traveling puppet show come through town and decides to make his own puppet to rival those in the troupe.  He carves the puppet Pinocchio (Federico Ielapi) out of a magical piece of wood which causes it to come to life.  Geppetto comes to regard the puppet as his son but Pinocchio longs for adventure and is easily led astray despite many warnings from the Talking Cricket (Davide Marotta).  He runs away and has a series of misadventures with beguiling characters and fantastical creatures which often require him to be rescued by the Blue Fairy (Marine Facth).  Pinocchio eventually encounters Geppetto, who has been looking for him, and begins working for a shepherd so that he can care for Geppetto when he becomes ill.  The Blue Fairy sees that Pinocchio has become worthy by his selflessness and grants his wish to be a real boy.  This is an Italian production filmed in Italy, where the story actually takes place, with Italian actors (it is dubbed in English but the voices are recognizably Italian) so it feels very authentic.  The landscape and all of the visuals are incredibly beautiful even if some of the creatures encountered by Pinocchio are bizarre (especially the Snail, who leaves a trail of slime behind wherever she goes, and the Tuna, who struggles to breathe rather dramatically).  Benigni, who is usually quite ostentatious, gives a restrained performance as Geppetto that is surprisingly affecting and Ielepi is so endearing as Pinocchio.  I was fascinated by the special effects, most of which are practical through makeup and prosthetics rather than CGI, because Pinocchio really does seem like a wooden puppet that has come to life (I especially loved how he creaks every time he moves).  As I mentioned, the story, which is very faithful to Carlo Collodi's book The Adventures of Pinocchio, has very dark themes even though it has a quirky and lighthearted tone so it might be a bit disturbing for young children (the scene where Cat and Fox hang Pinocchio from a tree is definitely unsettling).  However, I found it captivating and I would definitely recommend it to adults.