Unlike the MPAA we do not assign
one
inscrutable rating based on age, but 3 objective ratings for SEX/NUDITY, VIOLENCE/GORE
and PROFANITY on a scale of 0 to 10, from lowest to highest,
depending on quantity and context.
Live-action retelling of the Italian children's classic, written by, directed by, and starring Italian
comic Roberto Benigni. A magical piece of pine makes its way to elderly craftsman Gepetto (Carlo Guiffre) who turns it into a puppet. The
puppet (Benigni) is desperate to become a real boy and despite the benevolent guidance of the Blue Fairy (Nicoletta Braschi) and Gepetto,
Pinocchio gets into one scrape after another. Also with Bruno Arena, Peppe Barra, Mino Bellei and Max Cavallari. Jarringly dubbed in
English with the voices of Breckin Meyer, Glenn Close, John Cleese, Eric Idle, David Suchet, Cheech Marin, et al. [1:48]
SEX/NUDITY 0 - A puppet yells "I'm naked" when a man opens his shop door.
VIOLENCE/GORE 3 - A donkey lies on a bed of hay and dies. A group of boys and a puppet fight over a hat, one boy is hit in
the head by a book and he falls to the ground saying, "I'm dying." A puppet tries repeatedly to hit a cricket with a mallet, and a puppet
seems tired and ill. Two men chase a puppet, and two men wearing cloaks chase a puppet, one grabs him the other threatens him with a knife
and we see them hoisting him by a rope into the limbs of a tree where he dangles. An elderly man tips out of his boat into the sea and a
puppet jumps in to try to save him. A puppet finds the grave of a friend and grieves. A man shoots a gun in the air, and a donkey falls to
the ground playing dead. A man kicks a donkey, the donkey stumbles and falls to the ground, two men carry him off to a cliff and toss him
into the sea after a man says, "take him to the ocean and throw him in," and a huge shark swims up behind him chomping (we see the shark's
very large and sharp teeth). A cricket dodges being stepped on, being hit by a large hammer, being clapped between cymbals, being pierced
by darts and he's finally thrown onto the ground and trapped under a cymbal. A shark sneezes and expectorates a man and a puppet out into
the sea. A puppet's hands are chained to two horses, he breaks away and runs into woods where his foot is caught in a trap. Rabbits carry
a coffin into a puppet's room where he has just refused to take medicine. A puppet makes up a story about his brother who died. A giant
threatens puppets with a whip and then threatens to eat a puppet. A man talks about giving a boy a thrashing. A log falls off the back of
a cart, rolls through narrow streets knocking people down and overturning food carts (two men are hit with vegetables in the face). A
group of boys and a puppet turn into donkeys (we see them sprout ears and tails). A puppet is hoisted into the air a few times by a crowd,
but is not caught the last time and lands hard on a stage. A puppet jumps around a workshop touching everything frantically and knocking
things over, and runs out into the street where he knocks over barrels of wine, tears down laundry hanging on lines and causes a horse to
rear. People talk about butterflies living for just one day. A puppet's nose grows when he lies in a few scenes.
the review continues below...
PROFANITY 1 - A couple of mild scatological terms, a few insults. [profanity glossary]
DISCUSSION TOPICS - Being naughty, lying, peer pressure, second chances, stealing, greed, learning, love, happiness,
father's pride.
A CAVEAT: We've gone through several editorial changes since we
started covering films in 1992 and some of our early standards were
not as stringent as they are now. We therefore need to revisit many
older reviews, especially those written prior to 1998 or so; please
keep this in mind if you're consulting a review from that period.
While we plan to revisit and correct older reviews our resources are
limited and it is a slow, time-consuming process.
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