Pinocchio Movie Review 2002

Benigni's faithful version of Carlo Collodi's Italian fairy tale suffers from a disastrous decision to dub the dialogue for an American audience and Benigni's self-consciously manic and forced portrayal of the little wooden boy. Set against this wall-to-wall performance, the rest of the proceedings seem lifeless and dull, with the exception of the opening sequence (before Benigni shows up). By the time you read this, a subtitled version could be around, which may help with the humor, but will still leave the other problems. One thing that is not a problem is Spinotti's wonderful cinematography. Production is the most expensive in Italian history, at $45 million.

Distribution

Buena Vista Home Entertainment, 500 S. Buena Vista St., Burbank, CA 91521-1120, Toll-free: 800-723-4763, URL: http://www.bvhe.com

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 108 minutes.
Originally from Italian.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Road Trip, Puppets

Screenplay

Roberto Benigni, Vincenzo Cerami

Cast

Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, Mino Bellei, Carlo Guiffre, Peppe Barra, Max Cavallari, Bruno Arena, Kim Rossi-Stuart

Cinematography

Dante Spinotti

Director

Roberto Benigni

Music

Nicola Piovani

Other

Breckin Meyer, Glenn Close, Eric Idle, David Suchet, John Cleese, Richard "Cheech" Marin, Eddie Griffin, Topher Grace, Tullio Morganti, Simona Paggi, Danilo Donati, Jane Law, Danilo Donati

Producer

Gianluigi Braschi, Elda Ferri, Nicoletta Braschi, Melampo Cinematografica, Miramax Films

Awards

Golden Raspberries 2002: Worst Actor (Benigni).