Pinocchio
Miramax Films | Release Date: December 25, 2002 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
11
METASCORE
Overwhelming dislike based on 15 Critic Reviews
Positive:
0
Mixed:
2
Negative:
13
Watch Now
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
40
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
There's no getting past the shockingly poorly dubbed voice work of the English speaking cast; Meyer's voice is particularly shrill and grating. Read full review
40
VarietyDavid Rooney
The spirit of the late Federico Fellini -- with whom Benigni talked of doing the project together -- surfaces repeatedly. But that spirit fails to enliven a film substantially lacking in personality, energy, magic and humor. Read full review
30
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
It's an oddity that will be avoided by millions of people, this new Pinocchio. Osama bin Laden could attend a showing in Times Square and be confident of remaining hidden. Read full review
25
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
The most bizarre cinematic experience of 2002. So misguided as to be utterly mystifying, this shameless vanity project is almost surreal enough to be entertaining. Almost. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleEdward Guthmann
Big, opulent and frequently wretched, Pinocchio is so bad that its American distributor, Miramax, opened it on Christmas Day with scant advertising and no advance press screening. Read full review
25
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Jennie Punter
Benigni as a Pinocchio with 5-o'clock shadow and tufts of arm hair poking out from under the sleeves of his puppet costume, it borders on creepy. Read full review
25
Baltimore SunJay Boyar
The bottom line is that the studio's marketing strategy is just a tad incomplete. Instead of hiding Pinocchio from critics, Miramax should have hidden it from everyone. Read full review
20
L.A. WeeklyDaniel Fienberg
Visually sumptuous but intellectually stultifying. Read full review
10
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
An unintended gift to midnight-movie programmers and students of the bizarre, Roberto Benigni's Pinocchio could have become a "Howard The Duck" -- or "Battlefield Earth"-like synonym for cinematic miscalculation, were its title not already so familiar. Read full review
10
Village VoiceMark Peranson
This faithful, humorless, altogether insufferable (and, by all accounts, hastily dubbed) version of Carlo Collodi's 1883 fairytale about the trouble-causing puppet who longs to be human is the director's lifelong dream. Read full review
10
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
The recut American version is truly awful, but a good 75 percent of the awfulness is attributable to Miramax, the film's distributor. Read full review
10
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
The only way his (Benigni's) show-off performance could have a prayer of working would be if the film were released as a silent. Read full review
0
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Benigni's Pinocchio is meant to be adorable, but he comes off as less an enchanted puppet than as a harmlessly deranged middle-aged man prancing about in the kind of froufrou cream-colored pantsuit that Dinah Shore retired to her back closet in 1977. Read full review
0
New York PostV.A. Musetto
Loud, crass and full of slapstick humor that the Three Stooges would be ashamed of. And it is almost completely lacking in charm and nuance. Read full review
0
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
By film's end I was fantasizing that Peter Stormare would drop by with his "Fargo" wood-chipper in tow, but it was not to be. Appalling. Read full review
More From This Movie

11 Critic Reviews

3.8 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL