Now, one word of advice: watch the English-subtitled version, NOT the English-dubbed version. I had no option but to watch the dub, and it lacked, well, everything. Then, later, I had the luxury to watch the subtitles. Still lacked quite a lot, but much better than the dub.

For my review, now. The movie didn't have much substance to it. Honestly, I love the story of Pinocchio, but the movie turned it into a bland, empty form. There was no good acting, nothing that really stood out. I never really laughed at anything, or had a heartfelt feeling towards anything. To me, it was just about 2 hours of people talking. And nothing happened that made too much sense. They changed the story so much it took everything away. Even a fantasy like Pinocchio was so unrealistic, beyond the point of belief. I didn't feel there was much moral, as the boy says he's learned his lesson, but continues to lie and lie and lie. Too many things just kept happening. There wasn't just a basic storyline like: Event 1, 2, 3 (maybe even 4), and a resolution. It was more like Event 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, etc. The characters just change randomly, also. You don't know whether to like them or hate them. The whole time, I was thinking "I love how sweet Pinocchio is, oh wait, he lied. He betrayed her. But he realized his mistake! Good boy! Oh no! He ran off on a promise!" And so on. All the movie lived off of was slapstick humor, drastic character change, and unnecessary repetition of events.

I hope I won't have to watch this horrendous movie ever again.

I must admit I admired the set designs and the effects of this film, which were quite colorful and entertaining. The film started well and I settled in expecting to be amazed.

Then Pinocchio spoke, and I saw Roberto Benigni as the wooden puppet who longed to be a boy. WOW was that bad casting! I couldn't keep track of the amount of times I winced in pain and rolled my eyes as Benigni, a middle-aged man, ran around like a spoiled brat spouting things many 3-year olds have outgrown. I must admit I wanted to make kindling of this puppet.

Worth seeing for the set pieces, costumes and effects. Too bad we can't edit out the parts with Pinocchio!

5 out of 10 (all 5 for the sets and costumes).

I will say Pinocchio(2002) is not a terrible film and I personally wouldn't put it on my worst movies ever list. However, it wasn't particularly good in my opinion either. It may be truer in the spirit of the wonderful book by Carlo Collodi, that I did appreciate, though I am not a purist by all means. But in the process, while some scenes worked especially with the lovely Nicoletta Braschi as the Blue Fairy(Glenn Close in the dubbed version), this Pinocchio lacks the heart, magic and charm the book and the Disney film, which is still one of Disney's finest hours and had an appealing yet somewhat risqué sense of darkness, evidently have.

Roberto Benigni is a major part of the problem, he is very miscast in the title role, he is too old and also overacts to an embarrassing degree. Of the supporting cast only Braschi acquits herself well and likewise with Close in the dubbed version. The dubbing in general is awful, with the actors either trying too hard(Jim Belushi), are wasted(Eric Idle) or don't fit at all with the character(Cheech Marin), while the facial expressions on screen feel forced and overdone and the lip synching is sloppy. The story has its memorable scenes, but narrative wise it is rather clumsy, while the dialogue tries hard to be earnest and funny yet comes across as annoying, the direction is over-eager and the pace is rushed.

However, while the nose growing looks rather hokey, the special effects are decent and at least try to bring some magic on screen. The scenery and sets are suitably sumptuous, the cinematography and editing are not as slip-shod as one might think and the costumes are very colourful. The soundtrack is quite jaunty and energetic too.

So overall, it does have its big problems and is not that good a movie but it is not as bad as I had heard. 4/10 Bethany Cox