Pinocchio (2019)

Pinocchio: Directed by Matteo Garrone. With Federico Ielapi, Roberto Benigni, Rocco Papaleo, Massimo Ceccherini. Old woodcarver Geppetto’s puppet creation, Pinocchio, magically comes to life with dreams of becoming a real boy. Easily led astray, Pinocchio tumbles from one misadventure to another as he is tricked, kidnapped and chased by bandits.

“Who knows Matteo Garrone, knows the boldness of this man in conceiving old and new stories according to his style, his vision, his creativity. Pinocchio by Matteo Garrone offers a new, albeit yet another, vision of the famous wooden puppet created by the brilliant Carlo Collodi, an entirely Italian history with a vast resonance all over the world over the years, making Pinocchio one of those stories to be repeated and preserved and here, Garrone, succeeds. The film has many strengths, starting from the Oscar-winning Roberto Benigni (already seen as Pinocchio himself in the past) which this time portrays Geppetto and perhaps is to be counted as the greatest interpretation ever since the days of the good Nino Manfrediu0026#39;s one, as well as the little Federico Ielapi, who with his little genius entertains and makes himself loved from the public as did the famous Disneyu0026#39;s Pinocchio. Spectacular CGI, not always purely-perfect, but daring, courageous, high quality for an Italy-France-Great Britain production, where, unfortunately, you do not always have the pleasure of tasting the genius of these nations in this field; perfect makeups, which do not even envy Hollywoodu0026#39;s ones and in some ways can be placed in the u0026quot;old-schoolu0026quot; class, simply to say that they are materially splendid, especially, for the first time ever, in seeing an actor in flesh and blood becoming a wooden puppet. Powerful sound sector, with a scrupulous attention to detail, especially from the point of view of the soundtrack composed by Dario Marianelli, which enhances every single scene and line of the screenplay, as well as the cinematography of Nicolaj Brüel that fully marries Garroneu0026#39;s imagination and style, making unique the view of the picture. The only flaw, maybe, is the too much haste to present some crucial scenes, almost as if to say u0026quot;you already know whatu0026#39;s gonna beu0026quot;. In conclusion, Pinocchio is a spectacular film, expected and appreciated, thanks to the brilliant mind of Matteo Garrone who marries perfectly with the rest of the crew. A true, honest and definitely to appreciate Pinocchio in the years to come.”