Animation Addicts Podcast - Disney, Pixar, & Animated Movie Reviews & Interviews | Rotoscopers · Rotoscopers

338 Pinocchio - The Helper Puppet

·48 min

1. Animation Addicts Podcast episode 338 focuses on Disney Plus’s 2022 Pinocchio remake. 2. Morgan Stradling and Chelsea Robson host the discussion, and both speak as long-time animation reviewers who compare remakes to Disney originals. 3. The episode asks whether Robert Zemeckis’s Pinocchio works as a live-action-style remake or as a faithful copy. 4. The hosts note the film’s September 8, 2022 release date, the Walt Disney Pictures, Depth of Field, and Image Movers production credits, and the Disney Plus exclusive release. 5. They mention Robert Zemeckis as director and co-screenwriter with Chris Weitz, and they connect Zemeckis to Polar Express, 2009 Christmas Carol, Beowulf, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Forrest Gump, and Back to the Future. 6. The discussion also includes the reported $150 million budget and the IMDb figure of $33,000 in box office revenue. 7. Morgan and Chelsea frame Disney Plus as part of a larger push to fill the platform with new films and series. 8. They describe the remake era as beginning with announced projects around 2015 and say Pinocchio went through several directors and writers before Zemeckis joined in 2019. 9. The hosts contrast two remake strategies: a near carbon copy like Beauty and the Beast or a looser reinvention like Cinderella. 10. They argue that Pinocchio follows the first strategy so closely that it loses the themes that made the animated film work. 11. Morgan praises Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Jiminy Cricket and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth as Pinocchio for voice performances that do not sound obvious on first watch. 12. Chelsea reacts more negatively to Jiminy Cricket’s fourth-wall-breaking opening and to his on-camera singing during the Disney logo sequence. 13. The hosts split on Cynthia Erivo’s Blue Fairy performance, with one praising the singing and the other finding the moment too Broadway-style for the film’s tone. 14. They say Tom Hanks as Geppetto often feels like “Tom Hanks in a wig,” especially when the script gives him long monologues and awkward singing. 15. The conversation returns repeatedly to Geppetto’s backstory, including the clocks, the lost family, and the way the remake makes him seem unwell rather than simply lonely. 16. They object to the film’s handling of the new Fabiana and Sabina characters, including Fabiana’s leg injury and the way her storyline does not connect cleanly to Pinocchio’s arc. 17. They discuss Pleasure Island, saying the remake reduces the original’s smoking and drinking mischief to safer vandalism and root beer jokes. 18. The episode’s tone is chatty, reactive, and detail-heavy, with Morgan and Chelsea interrupting themselves to compare scenes, performances, and design choices. 19. Listeners who like Disney remake debates and production trivia would get the most from this episode. 20. Listeners wanting a spoiler-light scene-by-scene recap may prefer a shorter review.

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