Another Take: Pinocchio

Tom Hanks and Robert Zemeckis team up again with a top animation team to bring the classic tale to new life in this endearing live action/CGI combo on Disney+.

Robert Zemeckis and Tom Hanks may just be the most successful director/star pairing in American cinema, with the possible exception of the Johns, Ford and Wayne.

“Forrest Gump,” “Cast Away” and “The Polar Express” have each come to be regarded as classics, box office hits as well as critically, and bringing home the awards honors. They’re back together for another go in a live-action version (with plenty of CGI animation) of “Pinocchio,” the classic tale about a pinewood puppet who magically comes alive and dreams of turning into a real boy to please his father/creator, Geppetto, played by Hanks.

It’s an extremely well-made and emotionally endearing picture that does not feel like a cynical remake of Disney’s 1940 animated original. I watched it with my boys, ages 9 and 11, and they were thoroughly engrossed. I think modern kids may find this new version more accessible than the first one with its old-school animation style.

I’m guessing you know the story: Geppetto, an elderly creator of clocks, toys and “oddments,” makes Pinocchio to remind him of the son he lost long ago. He makes a wish for him to come alive, and the Blue Fairy (Cynthia Erivo) grants it, with the promise that Pinocchio can become a real flesh-and-blood boy if he proves himself “brave, truthful and unselfish.”

She appoints as his temporary conscience — until one of his own develops — the charming vagabond Jiminy Cricket (voice of Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a better-ish angel who will literally sit on his shoulder and tell him the right thing to do.

Alas, Pinocchio gives into temptation (and sabotage, being separated from Jiminy) and wanders off into various cautionary adventures, from starring in a carnival puppet show to being swallowed, along with Geppetto, by Monstro, a whale-like leviathan.

Perhaps the peak of the movie, both from a storytelling and spectacle perspective, is Pinocchio being waylaid and taken for an extended visit to Pleasure Island, a secret place where wayward children are tempted with sugary food, thrilling rides and tall quaffs of mysterious root bear. They quickly become spiteful and selfish, turning into figurative (and soon literal) jackasses.

Although this is officially a live-action film, CGI is used for much of the backgrounds, special effects and primary characters, to the point I’d say close to 50 percent of what you see is animated.

This starts with Pinocchio himself, voiced empathetically by Benjamin Evan Ainsworth. He’s made to look very much alive, but still something made of wood and paint. His eyes manage to be soulful while two-dimensional in a Bambi sort of way. He moves with a slight herky-jerky manner, as in his “I’ve Got No Strings” dance tune for the mean puppeteer Stromboli (Giuseppe Battiston).

Keegan-Michael Key gets a nice song number as Honest John, an “agent” red fox who sells Pinocchio into servitude. Luke Evans shows off some surprisingly golden pipes as The Coachman, the slithery headman of Pleasure Island.

Lorraine Bracco provides the voice of Sofia, a new character, a helpful seagull and friend of Jiminy’s. Another new face is Kyanne Lamaya as Fabiana, a kindly puppeteer who performs with Pinocchio via marionette onstage and gives him some sage advice off it about not being held back by the things you cannot do.

Hanks doesn’t have a ton of screen time, reappearing from time to time as he searches for his lost puppet, but is a soulful presence playing a broken man who grasps for one last chance at having a family. I like that he has an entire wall full of cuckoo clocks he refuses to sell because his wife adored them so. Watch for a few familiar faces to pop out of the little doors.

Zemeckis does an adroit job of balancing the live-action and animated components, to the point you feel like they’re sharing the same space, physically and emotionally. Despite all the outlandish action, there’s a strong sense of spacial integrity — something often missing in this sort of filmmaking. It helps ground the fantastical with the practical.

I’ve been up-and-down on Disney’s trend of doing live-action versions of their classic cartoon features — “Cinderella” and “Cruella” were delightful, while “The Lion King” felt profoundly unnecessary and “Dumbo” was just plain bad.

Like many, I am curious why the House of Mouse decided to release “Pinocchio” entirely on its Disney+ streaming platform, without even a pro forma theatrical distribution. It’s obviously a polished, big-budget affair and Hanks/Zemeckis are A-list talent.

Reportedly it was the commercial failure of “Dumbo” that prompted the move. Personally, I like to think audiences will always come out for a good movie. Though there is the possibility the studio was worried about Pinocchio fatigue.

Believe it or not, this is the second of three versions of Pinocchio coming out this year alone. “Pinocchio: A True Story” was a low-end animated affair that you probably haven’t even heard of (I hadn’t). Guillermo del Toro’s stop-motion animation version comes out in December, and promises to be a more deliberate departure from the character’s traditional look and feel.

After watching and enjoying this “Pinocchio,” I can’t help think how much better it would’ve played on a big screen. I’ll just have to wish upon a star that the next time Disney does one of these remakes so well, it’ll let the movie shine its brightest.