Earlier this month, The Walt Disney Company had their annual shareholders meeting D23. This was three days of events and reveals. Among the announcements, we got a look at the new Willow television series. There were also some previews of upcoming Marvel projects such as Blade, Secret Wars, and the new Captain America movie. One big drop that made quite a stir was a teaser for the live-action The Little Mermaid. Controversy aside, I hope it fairs better than some. That’s all well and good, but what about now? As for items projected at last’s years conference, we can look to their streaming service now to get an idea of how well it’s been going.
What I am about to talk about comes with a caveat. Of all the past classics from the house of mouse, Pinocchio was one of the first I saw on the big screen. The second was Fantasia, which thankfully they will probably never touch. The former of which has been remade and streaming now. I have been avoiding this one like the plague, and now know why. The CGI isn’t as bad as previous Robert Zemeckis outings like Beowulf or The Polar Express. This is not saying much.
Most of the original story remains intact, albeit padded. Frequent collaborator Tom Hanks tries his best to make Geppetto inviting. There were times, however, his mumbling accent made it hard to understand him.
Pinocchio looks good; can’t be said of Honest John, the biggest uncanny valley nightmare I have seen since 2019’s Cats. And I could do without the modern one-liners that took me out of the story. Cynthia Erivo was a great choice for the Blue Fairy, although they didn’t utilize her enough. She appears at the beginning and never again. This makes for one of the more muddled morals when Pinocchio’s nose grows from lying, becoming the way he escapes. Hear that, kids? Lying isn’t bad as long as it works towards your advantage.
New characters like Fabiana and her puppet Sabina and songs like Luke Evans’ turn as the Coachman to Pleasure Island are fine enough. But they add nothing to the story, only stretch it out to justify the film’s own existence. The other songs like I Got No Strings are still there, but are inferior versions. And Disney, please stop leaving child actors out to dry who can’t sing. It is embarrassing to see this happen. Here’s hoping Guillermo del Toro’s version coming out on Netflix this winter fares better.
On the Marvel side of things, I decided to check out their other summer film. Thor: Love and Thunder is the latest from Taika Waititi in this franchise. And I had a great time with this. Some of the criticisms is that his style can be jarring in tone. Yes, the serious drama being undercut by humor can be a bit dissonant. However, the majority of it still made me laugh despite this. Chris Hemsworth brings that silly charisma he has from his past appearances. You get the impression he could do this role forever. There are more characters stuffed into this movie than any other solo outing of a superhero. That should be expected post-Endgame.
One major inclusion is Thor’s past love Jane Foster, played again by Natalie Portman. Marvel, in the past, has had a bad track record with female love interests being sidelined. But Taika and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson imbues Jane with such depth and an amazing story arch. This makes it a worthy entry in the MCU by far. Christian Bale’s villainous turn is one of their best yet and look out for the scene stealing one from Russell Crowe. You can’t ask for a happier viewing.
