Disney’s live action Pinocchio trailer has Tom Hanks wishing upon a star
Directed by Robert Zemeckis, the new adaptation also stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Cynthia Erivo, and Keegan Michael Key
Aux News Disney
Finished with being the world’s most evil manager in Baz Luhrman’s Elvis, Tom Hanks is ready to step back into the role of being Hollywood’s lovable dad—or the sweet father of a come-to-life puppet. Paired with a thickly curled mustache and a jolly nature, Hanks will be playing Geppetto in Disney’s live-action adaptation of Pinocchio, which released a new full-length trailer today.
Directed by Oscar-winning director Robert Zemeckis (Back To The Future) with a screenplay co-written by Chris Weitz (Rogue One: A Stars Story), the trailer gives us a fuller look at the wooden “almost real boy.” He looks… pretty much like how he looked in the original 1940 animated Disney feature, so great job there!
In addition to many shots of the ill-fated Pleasure Island Pinocchio gets sent off too, we see a lot of Jiminy Cricket (voiced by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) running around worrying about Pinocchio’s well-being. Played throughout the trailer is Cynthia Erivo’s dazzling rendition of “When You Wish Upon A Star,” who plays the Blue Fairy in this version based on the Carlo Collodi tale.
Voicing the living puppet is Benjamin Evan Ainsworth (The Sandman), with the rest of the cast including Keegan-Michael Key (Keanu), Lorraine Bracco (Goodfellas), Luke Evans (Beauty And The Beast), Kyanne Lamaya, Jaquita Ta’Le (Castle), Giuseppe Battiston (Perfect Strangers), and Lewin Lloyd (The Aeronauts).
This film continues Zemeckis and Hanks teaming up together on projects, with the two first working together on the Oscar-winning Forrest Gump. Since then, the two have worked on such films as Cast Away and the slightly frightening mocap Christmas film The Polar Express.
Disney’s Pinocchio will also have to face off against another take on the Italian story, as Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio sets up a battle against the best wooden boy. Though, del Toro’s is a bit more dark, setting his version against the backdrop of 1930s Italy and the rise of fascism in the country.
With the plot staying basically in line with the original animated film, there won’t be many new surprises to see in this adaptation. Pinocchio follows Disney’s current trend of crafting live-action adaptations of their beloved animated classics, with Mulan, Aladdin, The Lion King, and Beauty And The Beast all given their own star-studded treatment.
While many people have questioned if any of this is necessary (especially if the plots remain similar and the filmmaking doesn’t offer anything new), the mouse company already has future live-actions plans for Snow White, Hercules, and The Little Mermaid starring Halle Bailey.
Pinocchio begins streaming September 8 on Disney+.
40 Comments
We’ve had I think close to ten “live action” Disney remakes so I’m going to keep on asking, where the hell is my Kingdom Hearts movie?Disney owns the rights to the original characters. You can make a KH film without the Square-Enid stuff. Come on. Give me a trailer with an orchestral Simple and Clean already. The KH generation is on their 30s and with kids, it’s literally the perfect way to get a new generation of kids into Disney.
Probably because the “story” of Kingdom Hearts is absolutely impenetrable to almost anyone other then die hard KH fans
Forget all the crazy post-Birth by Sleep, you can tell a compelling story around Sora, Riku, and Kairi focused only on the heartless and nobodies of 1&2 and it could work.
In the early Kingdom Hearts games, Final Fantasy was kind of integral to the plot. It’s Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith telling Sora what his Keyblade is worth, and how it’s up to him to save the worlds.The rights alone would sink the movie, and honestly, as a KH fan… no thanks.
For myself, you can cut the Final Fantays characters and replace them with original characters and the story wouldn’t lose anything for me. Just seeing Kingdom Hearts original characters with the Disney characters would be enough. That’s why the rights wouldn’t be an issue. Disney owns everything created for KH.
Has Tom Hanks just thrown in the towel and said, “Fuck it.” ? Because late stage Tom Hanks career choices sure make that a compelling argument. Chet better stage an intervention, stat.
Tom Hanks is ready to step back into the role of being Hollywood’s lovable dad:
1) Chet Haze…. check2) Strapped, yo….checkIntervention time!!
I think Greyhound for better or worse was something of a passion project.
I don’t even know. How do you even justify shit as Tom Hanks at this point?You’re Tom Hanks, right? You wake up and consider the hundreds of millions you’re worth, so you just pound the meat. I mean, why not? I don’t know if people don’t think of it or consider it, but it’s like this: 10 million bucks, no interest and no other income, is $100,000 a year for a hundred years. I could spend twice my current income for a hundred years and never run out of money. And people have like 300 million dollars. What even, ya know?
You broke bitch.
Why does this look so bad?
Oh right, because all Disney live-action remakes look bad and the CG characters and environments are distractingly intangible while paling drastically in comparison to the hand-drawn originals. Also, they had a chance to do something really cool here with actual puppetry and far as I can tell, there’s none of it.
Please. Stop.
That CGI for Pinocchio himself looks like utter dogshit. I thought the screenshot at the top of the article would be misleading, but no, it really looks that bad. He doesn’t look remotely like a puppet made of wood, he looks like some kind of blobby cartoon rendered in 3D using technology from 15 years ago and clumsily inserted into live action footage.
He’s really . . . shiny. Gepetto really layered on the transparent varnish. Although it is a bit cool-looking. There’s a shot in that trailer where you see the shadows cross Pinocchio’s face, and it’s a good effect. That said, there is no way that Pleasure Island ends up being as edgy-amusing as the original version, where Pinocchio and Lampwick chain smoked cigars and gulped down beer while playing pool.
The Del Toro version is gonna have the pleasure island part go “Very Bad Things” when Pinocchio accidentally kills a prostitute
Everything about the original is deeply disturbing. It’s basically a 90 minute animated film about child trafficking. And the whale scenes are terrifying. No idea why Disney didn’t just let this one be because on a recent rewatch I couldn’t help but keep thinking, “wow this thing is fucked up.”
Rogue One: A Stars Story —> Rogue One: A Star Wars Storygets sent off too —> gets sent off toPlayed throughout the trailer is Cynthia Erivo’s dazzling rendition of “When You Wish Upon A Star,” who plays the Blue Fairy in this version based on the Carlo Collodi tale. —> WTFThough, del Toro’s is a bit more dark —> Though del Toro’s is a bit more darklive-actions plans —> live-action plans
Yeah. It’s like it was written in the car on the way to work. Check out Deadspin some time. You’d think they were hiring only drunks. The writing is astoundingly shitty.
Well at least they gave the animals anthropomorphic features this time instead of the soulless, black-eyed nightmares that the last couple of movies had.
Will the live action Hercules movie merge the rest of Disney canon directly into the MCU?
I rewatched all of the Disney animated films at some point over the pandemic and the only one that I think that would be “necessary” to make a live action adaptation of would be The Black Cauldron.That being said if they get the casting right Hercules could be really fun. And just because the score is so gorgeous I wouldn’t hate The Hunchback of Notre Dame, especially if it was more in line with the stage version.
“That being said if they get the casting right Hercules could be really fun”Hell, you could STILL use DeVito as Phil.I would love a Hunchback adaptation that cuts the gargoyles and plays it as operatic (yet still energetic and fun in that Disney Animated way) as the rest of the film. HOND is so close to being a top of the mountain Disney Canon film for me, but the gargoyles are just too much of a jarring juxtaposition to the rest of the bold strokes the movie takes.
Agreed on Hunchback. I’ve never seen it, but there is a stage version that was originally developed and ran in Germany for a number of years with at least one major run at New Jersey’s Paper Mill Playhouse (there’s even a cast recording) that hews much closer to the novel, so Esmerelda dies and there are no talking gargoyles. It never made the transfer to Broadway, unfortunately, probably because it was apparently quite dark and not exactly family friendly.
And this is exactly why I canceled Disney Plus. Thank you and goodnight.
I know Disney’s going to Disney, but I would have deleted this off the hard drives in despair after seeing the Del Toro trailer if I was them. The live action movies were already mediocre at best, but this is going to be incredibly embarrassing for them, going head to head with Del Toro.
I guarantee that any Disney movie is going to make more money than a Guillermo del Toro movie. Even the worst of their live action remakes made 10 times what any del Toro movie makes. I would personally delete every Disney live action remake, but Del Toro has quite a few movies I would delete off a hard drive as well.
They’re not making these movies for the Tomatometer, they’re in it for the money and the streaming traffic, so I don’t think they give two shits about the next arthouse swing from Guillermo Del Toro that will once again wind up as a probably-fantastic cult hit but nothing to intrude on their media dominance.
“They” is a lot of people. I assure you that most people working in Hollywood aspire to artistry, even if they give up all hope of it once they agree to work for the Rat.
Sure, but I think Michael Eisner summed it up best:“We have no obligation to make art. We have no obligation to make history. We have no obligation to make a statement. But to make money, it is often important to make history, to make art, or to make some significant statement. We must always make entertaining movies, and, if we make entertaining movies, at times, we will reliably make history, art, a statement or all three.”That’s the gist, really, theyre in the business of money, and the way they make money is to make good stuff people enjoy. So yeah, if they believe in their Pinocchio, they don’t give a Mickey Mouse ass over whatever GDT is doing that will have no effect on their product.
I hope they’ll keep in the terrifying body horror of the original. It would be a shame if a new generation couldn’t be traumatized by the Pleasure Island scene like we all were.
Back when I was in my mid twenties I was in Brussels and went to the Delirium bar. I swear it was a recreation of pleasure island. I felt like I was surrounded by children. Would not recommend unless you’re 15 looking to get trashed in another country.
I think Del Toro has got you covered on that one.
Keegan-Michael Key (Keanu)Well…If I had to select one of his film credits given the context here, I would have gone with The Lion King but sure. Pick the non-Disney cat movie he appeared in.
Unpopular opinion – I think this might work? The aesthetic works for what the story is. It’s a nice compliment to the original film.I don’t hate it. It seems like a perfectly fine way to spend a few hours at home with your kids.
I think of these Disney Classic live action remakes as less for nostalgic older audiences cuz I think they make the most sense as tools to introduce a younger audience to a classic story through a modernized, more accessible lens, with the presumption that if they love it they’ll seek out the original perhaps later in life.
That is a very charitable reading of what is a cynical money grab. If they want kids to watch the original Pinocchio they just need to put it on Disney+
100%. I probably couldnt get my little nieces and nephews to sit through the 70-80-year old originals, but something more modern-looking to their young sensibilities would work and hopefully they’d seek them out when they’re older.
I’m sorry, but it’s not a patch on the Pauly Shore epic.
I’m torn because on the one hand, sure, no real need for “live-action” remakes. On the other hand, seeing that Hercules is in the pipeline makes me happy because I’ve always thought it was an underrated treasure, and maybe this will bring appropriate attention onto the original at last. Hm.