Pinocchio 2002

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Pinocchio ★½ 2002 (G)

Benigni's faithful version of Carlo Collodi's Italian fairy tale suffers from a disastrous decision to dub the dialogue for an American audience and Benigni's self-consciously manic and forced portrayal of the little wooden boy. Set against this wall-to-wall performance, the rest of the proceedings seem lifeless and dull, with the exception of the opening sequence (before Benigni shows up). By the time you read this, a subtitled version could be around, which may help with the humor, but will still leave the other problems. One thing that is not a problem is Spinotti's wonderful cinematography. Production is the most expensive in Italian history, at $45 million. 108m/C VHS, DVD . IT Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, Mino Bellei, Carlo Guiffre, Peppe Barra, Max Cavallari, Bruno Arena, Kim Rossi-Stuart; D: Roberto Benigni; W: Roberto Benigni, Vincenzo Cerami; C: Dante Spinotti; M: Nicola Piovani; V: Breckin Meyer, Glenn Close, Eric Idle, David Suchet, John Cleese, Richard “Cheech” Marin, Eddie Griffin, Topher Grace. Golden Raspberries ‘02: Worst Actor (Benigni).

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