Pinocchio (2002)

True to Collodi
A few weeks after having read an English translation of Collodi's original tale to my four year old daughter, I rented this movie, largely out of morbid interest in its reputation as one of the worst films of the decade. What I found left me flabbergasted - at how far off the mark American reviewers had been with near unanimity. Perhaps one needs to be familiar with the original story, or perhaps the dubbing was indeed a remarkable disaster (I only saw the film in Italian with subtitles), but for my daughter, uncomprehending of Italian and too young to read subtitles yet never lost for a moment, as well as for me, the scenes we beheld respectively carried us through the film in rapt silence. There is no doubt that that the playfulness and allegorical richness of Collodi's work as well as Benigni's reverence for the tale radiate from this film. I fear that so many American reviewers simply lacked the patience to try to find or even guess at its proper context. I hope that some of them will someday venture a reassessment. Watch this film, but only after you've absorbed the original tale.

A masterpiece, but only in Italian!!!!
I would like to join in here in saying that this is a great film and shamefully underrated. Now, this is not the fault of the critics, but the fault of Miramax, who made one of the most bone headed decisions ever in their lifetime when they decided to dub this film into English. The dubbing is absolute zero. I didn't even bother with that version. The Italian with English subtitle version is the one to see, and it's a magnficent film. Benigni shows that he's a great comic actor as well as a great filmmaker. The look of this film is sumptuous. It almost can be seen as a blending of Fellini and Visconti, at least in its production design and cinematography. In fact, Danilo Donati did the production design for this, and he worked exclusively with Fellini and Pasolini. In fact, this was originally conceived as a colloboration between Fellini and Benigni, but Fellini passed away, and Roberto took it over. Despite Miramax's boneheaded decision to dub the film, at least they released the uncut, undubbed version on DVD. Check this one out. It's one of the most maligned films ever, and it's a shame, because it's a masterpiece.

suspend logic
Odd, so many people writing that Begnini at 50 wasn't believable as a puppet who talks. What is believable about a puppet who talks? Boys who turn into donkeys? People who are swallowed by sea monsters? Maybe the idea WAS to depict the idea that the self-centered, tantrum-prine child is still there at some level, even in adults - yes ... seeing people's behavior in traffic, I think it is.

I loved this movie, and more importantly, so did my 2 and 1/2 year-old son, who is able to suspend all logic. When we watch the scene in the soon-to-be-donkey land, with Begnini swinging above the playing "boys", he says "Again". We watch it again, and he giggles with delight, again. He doesn't turn to me and say - you know - all those adults playing children are really miscast.