Disney’s first trailer for its “live-action” version of Pinocchio has become the target of mockery and derision as online commenters trashed the coming attraction for reasons including lifeless visual effects, a bald blue fairy, and the studio’s continued regurgitation of its own intellectual property.
Pinocchio, starring Tom Hanks as Gepetto, will skip cinemas and debut September 8 on the Disney+ streaming service. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, the movie features many of the original story’s cast of supporting characters, including Jiminy Cricket, the Blue Fairy, and and the duplicitous fox known as Honest John.
The trailer has been so poorly received that Disney has blocked YouTube users from seeing how many “dislike” votes the video has received. Various reports put the number of “dislikes” at more than 120,000, versus 30,000 “likes.”
Watch below:
The trailer withholds any glimpse of Pinocchio himself, even though still photos (like the one above) clearly show the character.
Some YouTube commenters have blasted Disney for another pointless “live-action” retread of a classic movie lacquered in unconvincing digital effects.
“The world doesn’t need more lifeless live-actions like this,” one commenter noted.
“The fact that the original is ‘timeless’ is the whole reason it doesn’t NEED to be remade,” said another.
“It’s sad that Disney is so creatively bankrupt. That it has to remake these classics rather than making any new originals,” another commented wrote.
The casting of a visibly bald Cynthia Erivo as the Blue Fairy has also perplexed viewers. The original Blue Fairy in the 1940 animated version had demurely coiffed, shoulder-length hair.
“Excited to show my daughter this trailer. But when the fairy busted to the window she started to cry. Can’t put my finger on it why,” one commenter wrote.
“‘I’m so excited to have voldemort appear in this movie,” said another, referring to the similarly bald Harry Potter character.
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