Rating: G
Genre:
Children's/Family
Release Date: 09/24/1997
SubTitles: English/Espanol
Dubbed: English
Sound: DD5.1
Run Time: 94 Minutes
Flags: Suitable for Children
Distributor/Studio: New Line Home Video
Unlike the more familiar animated
Pinocchio by
Disney, there are no song interludes here, and characters added to the story by
Disney (such as
Jiminy Cricket) are not included. Producer
Francis Ford Coppola and director
Steve Barron, (known for the first
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film) closely adhere to
Carlo Collodi's 1883 novel and use the visually timeless setting of a Czechoslovakian village.
Jim Henson's puppet studio skillfully brings this
Pinocchio to life. Long ago, in his youth, Gepetto (
Martin Landau) loved but did not court Leona (
Genvieve Bujold), who married Gepetto's brother instead. In that earlier time, he carved her initials with his onto a tree. Now his brother is dead, and though he still feels for Leona, he is still too shy to woo her. Instead, the old puppet-maker goes into the forest and cuts down a tree in order to make a puppet just for himself. The tree is the same one he carved his initials into when he was younger, and it has the magic of his love in it. Soon after the puppet
Pinocchio is made, he comes to life. Aside from being made of wood, he begins to live the life of a perfectly normal little boy. He even goes to school. Lorenzini, an evil magician who runs a children's puppet show, hears of Pinocchio and wants to use him in his show. Lorenzini lures children to his show, only to later turn them into donkeys. Donkeys are useful creatures, and Lorenzini makes a lot of money selling them. Through many trials and tribulations, the puppet-boy earns the right to become the human boy Pinocchio (
Jonathan Taylor Thomas).
~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
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