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Day 355 of 365 of
my year long challengeWeek 51: B is for BAD
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From
Life is Beautiful, a classic of whimsy, heart and charm, Roberto Benigni's next effort brings misery, anger and pain. This is not the kind of Pinocchio where a puppet becomes a boy by becoming a better person. This is simply a man-child being a pain in the arse.
As always,
Pinocchio sees Geppetto (Carlo Giuffrè) craft a puppet that comes to life. Played by Benigni, Pinocchio is a rascal who desperately wants to go to school but keeps getting distracted along the way. From swindlers to prison, donkeys to sharks, and fairies to crickets, Pinocchio must face many random tests in an effort to grow up and earn the right to be a real boy.
Credit must go where credit is due. Benigni seems to follow the original story reasonably well without softening up or talking down to the teacher kids. It may make the childish antics of Benigni's clowning at odds with the slightly more mature fantasy at play but it's not quite the sickly sweet of a classic Disney film. Likewise, credit must go to the production itself. Grand and extravagant at even its most basic, Benigni's fantasy world is visually well realised and feels ripped entirely from the pages itself. Non-physical effects may not be so great but the tangibility of everything here is actually quite impressive.
And that's where all praise stops.
Pinocchio really is at odds with itself for the majority of the film. It wants to be a family-friendly fantasy but Pinocchio is hardly the family friendly story we think it is today. Similarly, Benigni seems to be unstoppable as he goofs around onscreen and irritates beyond belief. Gone is the charming buffoonery of a man trying to protect his son's world. Instead, we have a middle-aged man pretending to be a boy puppet and bouncing about like a git. And for every lesson he seems to learn, Pinocchio never really grows up.
As an utter pain, Benigni absolutely overwhelms the rest of the film and quashes any chance for decent performances from anyone else. Giuffrè gets the short end of it as he must bear the consequences of his creation's actions while Nicoletta Braschi' Blue Fairy comes in a close second. Neither are then given much to do but lightly chastise, forgive and pander to Pinocchio. I'd be insulted if I weren't already. So too, Pepe Barra's Cricket bears the brunt of the "adult" conversations.
On the flipside, Bruno Arena and Max Cavallari's Fox and Cat, and Kim Rossi Stuart's Lucignolo are given free reign to go as over the top as they can. It almost seems like they're trying to out-Benigni Benigni. They're simply loud and annoying. I do like how all animal creatures are anthropomorphised here but that's simply the production values trying to save the film again.
Along the way, though, one can't help but feel a tinge of creepiness thread its way through the film. There's no real reason for it to be creepy, certainly not more than it already is, but something about Benigni in the title role really doesn't do things fro me. Actually, I think it might have something to do with the fact that all "children" here have a stronger 5 o'clock shadow than I do. I'm starting to think that no one here is south of 30. Whatever it is,
Pinocchio just comes across as just on the wrong side of creepy.
And that's the sum of it.
Pinocchio just isn't a good film. It looks reasonably good and feels like a fairytale brought to life at the best of times. The rest, and majority, of the film, though, is left a little too weird, a little too annoying and lot too self-indulged. Benigni's misfire is famous, especially as it came off the back of a home run, but there's nothing about
pinocchio that seems to work. Benigni might be a good fit in theory but stay off-screen dude, you're just too old.
