ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, July 27, 1996 TAG: 9607290012
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: B-12 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: MOVIE REVIEW
SOURCE: JACKIE POTTS KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE
``The Adventures of Pinocchio'' is a winning live-action version of the famous allegory that knocks the sawdust off the original tale.
With the help of an irresistible animatronic puppet created by Jim Henson's Creature Shop, Pinocchio flees from keen-eyed woodpeckers and, perhaps most incredibly, appears to run and play without the aid of strings.
Although it's impossible to imagine Pinocchio without envisioning Disney's 1940 juggernaut, director Steve Barron (``The Coneheads,'' ``Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'') has done a fine job of creating his own fantastic universe.
Barron's ``Pinocchio'' aims to recapture the humor and subtle horror of the original satirical work, written by Italian journalist Carlo Lorenzini under the pseudonym C. Collodi. This reworking eliminates the blue fairy and instead adds a love interest, the kindly Leona (Genevieve Bujold), for puppetmaker Geppetto (Martin Landau).
And though Disney fans will be appalled to find that Jiminy Cricket has been replaced by an equally entertaining grasshopper named Pepe, they might be comforted to know that he doesn't suffer the fate originally intended in Collodi's tale when Pinocchio (gulp) crushes him.
The movie takes place in a splendid Italian hamlet ringing with operatic arias and peopled with all manner of crooks, from the penny-ante hustlers (Rob Schneider and Bebe Neuwirth) to the greedy puppeteer, Lorenzini (Udo Kier). But Landau eclipses them all. He is marvelously effusive as the kindly puppetmaker who helps Pinocchio become a real boy (played by Jonathan Taylor Thomas).
As always, Pinocchio remains an enigmatic story that flirts with Freudian metaphor. Younger children might be alarmed by the ``Pleasure Island'' scene, in which wayward boys make jackasses of themselves, chilling for many adults even today. But the wide-eyed puppet, a miracle of animatronics, is charming to behold.
The Adventures of Pinocchio HH1/2
A New Line release showing at Salem Valley 8. Rated PG. 96 minutes.|
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
21/2 stars.
A New Line release showing at Salem Valley 8. Rated PG. 96 minutes.
(c) 1996, The Miami Herald. Distributed by Knight-Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
AP-NY-07-25-96 1213E
LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Martin Landau plays Geppetto the puppetmaker.by CNB