The Adventures of Pinocchio (1996 film)

In a forest, Italian woodcarver Geppetto carves a heart into a pine tree, expressing his secret love for a woman named Leona. When he leaves, a bolt of lightning strikes the tree, imbuing the heart with magic. Years later, Geppetto finds the remains of the tree and carves a marionette out of it, naming him Pinocchio. Due to the heart's magic, Pinocchio comes to life, referring to Geppetto as his father. Pinocchio chases a pigeon outside, meeting Leona, and then a pair of thieves, Volpe and Felinet, who work for Lorenzini, a sinister theater director and puppet master, informing him of Pinocchio's existence and sentience. Lorenzini tries to purchase Pinocchio, but Geppetto refuses to sell his son. Pinocchio climbs out of a window and wanders into town, joining a group of boys in school. He gets into a fight with the rowdy Lampwick, and when he lies about it, his nose grows longer and he is kicked out of the class. In sadness, Pinocchio ends up causing damage to a local bakery, and Geppetto is arrested as a result. Pinocchio flees home, meeting a talking cricket, Pepe, who tells Pinocchio to behave, and stay out of trouble in order to become a real boy. The next day, Pinocchio and Geppetto are put on trial at court. Unless Geppetto pays a fine, he will be imprisoned. Lorenzini enters, offering to pay off the debt if Pinocchio is given over to him. Geppetto reluctantly agrees after being reminded of his poor state.

Pinocchio becomes the star of Lorenzini's productions, and is given gold coins as payment. However, Pepe helps him discover that he is ultimately unloved by Lorenzini. Pinocchio rescues several of Geppetto's puppets from being deliberately burnt by Lorenzini, unintentionally setting the theater on fire. He then leaps into a river and flees to the forest, where he decides to live. Felinet and Volpe find him, swindling him out of his coins. Pinocchio spots a stage coach passing by, carrying Lampwick and other boys, travelling to Terra Magica, a hidden fun-fair for boys to do as they please. Meanwhile, Geppetto and Leona have been tracking down Pinocchio. Losing track of him, Geppetto rows out to sea, upon finding Pinocchio's hat on a beach. In the fun-fair, Pinocchio, Lampwick, and other boys go on a roller-coaster, but drinking the water of Terra Magica turns them into donkeys by symbolizing their bad behavior (but because Pinocchio has holes in his body only his ears appear). The fun-fair turns out to belong to Lorenzini, who sells the donkeys off to circuses and farms. Pinocchio has Lampwick kick Lorenzini into the cursed water, transforming him into a sea monster and forcing him to flee into the ocean. The boys and donkeys escape the fun-fair, and Pinocchio reunites with Leona at the beach, as he sets out to find his father at sea.

Pinocchio and Pepe are consumed by a giant whale-like sea monster (which they recognize as the now feral Lorenzini), reuniting with Geppetto inside his stomach. From the strong smell of rotten chili peppers, they try to escape up Lorenzini's throat; Pinocchio lies to extend his nose and make the passage larger, causing his nose to break. Lorenzini starts to choke, breaching the ocean top and spitting Geppetto and Pinocchio out in the process and left to choke in the ocean depths, until Pinocchio's long nose breaks (somehow and off-screen). On land, Pinocchio and Geppetto embrace. Pinocchio's tears flow, the tears landing on the heart carving, the same magic force from before transforming him into a real boy. The two embrace once more over the miracle. Pepe congratulates Pinocchio before leaving, wanting to rest from the whole ordeal, but promising they will see each other again soon.

On the way home back to the village, Pinocchio runs into Felinet and Volpe, whom he tricks them into going to Terra Magica and drinking the cursed water there; they are later revealed to have been transformed into a real cat and a fox, which results in them being captured by a farmer as new pets. They witness Pinocchio in town while lamenting their fate. The donkeys all transform back into boys by reforming. Geppetto and Leona marry, and Pinocchio gives his father a log he found, to carve into a girlfriend for him.

Nearly ten years before the film was eventually made, Jim Henson and director Steve Barron were considering the idea of a live-action version of Pinocchio. They approached Disney with this idea, but Disney turned down the project. Years later, producer Lawrence Mortorff (President of Kushner Locke) sent Barron a script for a film based on the novel by Carlo Collodi. The project then finally got off the ground. For the character of Pinocchio, a complex animatronic puppet created by Jim Henson's Creature Shop was used with stop-motion.[3]

Principal photography began on July 24, 1995 and wrapped on September 15, 1995. The film was shot in Croatia, Prague, Český Krumlov, and High Force. Pepe, the talking cricket, is computer-animated. One of the biggest changes in the filming was replacing Wallace Shawn with David Doyle, as the voice of Pepe the talking cricket. However Shawn's voice as Pepe can still be heard in the trailer for the film, and he is even credited in the trailer.

The score by Rachel Portman features saxophone solos by David Roach.

A sequel was released in 1999 called The New Adventures of Pinocchio. Landau reprised his role as Geppetto, while Kier was recast as Lorenzini's estranged wife, Madame Flambeau (they were the only two actors to return in the film). Gabriel Thomson played the title role, replacing Jonathan Taylor Thomas. It was shot in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg.

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