Disney's Pinocchio (Live-Action)

[Ben]

Haha…the CGI Pinocchio looks more of a cartoon than the cartoon Pinocchio.

[EricJ]

He literally looks like the Kingdom Hearts game-CGI version in a live-action commercial.

[Ben]

I know you don’t like him, but Bob Z is, or was, my favorite contemporary director. And to think he turned down the Flash movie to make th…

Oh…

[Dacey]

The Walk is an underrated gem.

I’d love to check out The Witches, but it’s been removed from HBO Max for dumb reasons, so….

[EricJ]

I think "Was" is the correct term here--

There's Bob Zemeckis BEFORE Roger Rabbit, when he saved Back to the Future from a lot of bad ideas ("I Wanna Hold Your Hand" is watchable enough, and "Used Cars" has its cult defenders), and there's Zemeckis AFTER Polar Express, when he thought Neato Technical Toys gave him the royal road to making movies, and could express his inner dreams and nightmares...
And boy, what a stew was boiling in that pot.

[Dacey]

No one is making you watch his movies.

[EricJ]

As someone who openly claims to hate Roger Rabbit, I take issue with that statement:
EVERYONE makes you watch that movie, whether you want to or not.

[Ben]

Oh, no, BZ still *is*, but he’s just not been playing at the same level since Polar Express diverted him into the uncanny valley for a long while.

There are three or four Zemeckises: one who directs or produces hyper-kinetic loudests, one who indulges in a slightly macabre side, the one that mixes these to create exceptional next-level filmmaking with assured hands, and maybe the one who got a bit too tied up in technology to forget what made the other Zemeckises tick and work so well.

The only film of his that I’ve never really been able to click with totally has been his director for hire job on Romancing The Stone, and even that is maybe because of Alan Silvestri's even-dated-then score. Still, it’s still better than current ripoff The Lost Island!

And, yes, The Walk is an underrated gem. It’s criminal how that film was essentially thrown under the bus for no good or understandable reason, and he hasn’t really had a big project worthy of his talents since, although The Witches is actually all kinds of fun if you get the chance to check it out, and miles better than the weirdy Brit original take.

Zemeckis makes great movies, but I just wish his subjects were as good as they used to be. Pinocchio is a case in point: he’s better than doing these kinds of films.

[Farerb]

[Daniel]

Aw, no little birds or Blue Fairy. Still impressed with Jiminy's voice and Pinocchio's is pretty good too. "What's happening Jiminy" reminded me of his original voice.

[EricJ]

Originally, as in the book, a dove, with distinct hints of the BF, drops Pinocchio the message that his father is in the whale; here, Bob wants to make a central character of one of the seagulls that attacks Jiminy, who now becomes a sidekick that delivers the news.
(And sounds suspiciously reminiscent of Queen Latifah from the '00 Roberto Benigni dub.)

[Ben]

My heart sinks, seeing that animation…

[Farerb]

Just as expected, completely abysmal. I should know by now that the whole point of Disney remakes is to "correct" the perceived mistakes of Disney's past by making everything bland and forgettable, but they manage to surprise me and stoop even lower everytime. Now I also know that "Disney+ Exclusive" means cheap and lazy.

Oh well... Time to move on to the next forgettable crap. What is it? Hocus Pocus? Disenchanted? Peter Pan?

[Bill1978]

I hope Disenchanted isn't forgettable. Well at least the songs, I just need the songs from Menken/Schwartz to be top tier.

[Ben]

Apparently it’s a "lifeless dud":

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movie ... 1235214842