Pinocchio Review: 4 Ups & 6 Downs

3. It Sanitises The Original's Edgier Elements

Disney's remakes to date have quite predictably cleaned-up the edgier and more transgressive elements of their original animations - such as Dumbo's drunken escapade getting cut from Tim Burton's 2019 version - and Pinocchio is sadly no exception.

Zemeckis, presumably at Disney's mandate, has planed the cheekier elements from the 1940 film away, as is most apparent during Pinocchio's trip to Pleasure Island. No, don't expect to see him smoking cigars in this version, while the beer he consumed in the original is replaced with root beer.

The climactic Monstro sequence also feels considerably less intense than it did in the original, with Disney blatantly toning down the visceral terror of the giant whale.

All in all it results in a film that feels both less challenging and less interesting - parents know they've got a safe, comforting babysitting tool for their children, albeit one that's hugely lacking in personality and vision as a result.