Never so much has been so wasted as in hyphenate Roberto Benigni's ill-advised live-action version of Carlo Collodi's much-loved classic. Allegedly the most expensive film ever made in Italy - a $45 million extravaganza entirely shot in lavish stage sets -, this Pinocchio stays pretty close to Collodi's original dark fable of a naïf, mischievous wooden puppet whose greatest desire is to become a flesh-and-blood boy, avoiding the Disney whitewashed version. But that, along with Benigni's wife (and co-producer) Braschi's lovely performance as the Blue Fairy and the late Danilo Donati's wondrously whimsical production design and wardrobe, is about all you can recommend in the picture. Everything else is a mistake: plodding, pedestrianly handled, "Pinocchio" is a painfully dull, style-less pageant, failing to make the most of such impeccable production values and with Benigni's shrill, hysterical performance, wholly inadequate, totally missing the story's point. Fellini once dreamt of directing the story with Benigni in the role; more's the pity that he did not get around to do it and left Benigni to do the job so unsuccesfully. It's probably unsurprising that the film was a huge seasonal hit in Italy; but it's hard to see how anyone else, especially since the much beloved "Life Is Beautiful", will even begin to like it.
