Tom Hanks is earning a rare scorching from critics and viewers, with his new live-action remake of the classic animation Pinocchio branded as “soulless”.
The reimagined story of the 1940 cartoon of a wooden puppet’s journey to becoming a real boy was released to Disney+ on Thursday.
It stars Hanks as the lonely woodcarver Geppetto and Joseph Gordon-Levitt voicing Jiminy Cricket.
However, many are questioning why the retelling of the beloved tale was made at all, with its “dud” 2022 version bombing in reviews.
According to review-aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, Pinocchio has earned a dismal 31 per cent from critics, while audience reviews have rated the new film at 45 per cent.
Directed by Academy Award winner Robert Zemeckis, Disney’s latest live-action remake follows a catalogue of unfaithful adaptations that fail to capture the magic of the original, including The Lion King, Aladdin, Dumbo, and Lady and the Tramp.
And Pinocchio stays true to the trend, according to reviews.
“Mostly, Pinocchio itself washes ashore into a kind of no man’s land – too uninspired to bring anything fresh to the material, dutifully playing like a pallid redo of the 1940 classic,” CNN’s top film critic Brian Lowry wrote.
“The reimagining goes awry in the opening number,” The New York Times‘ Amy Nicholson said in her review.
“The effect is an awkward fusion of fake and real that strains to find any magic in between. This Pinocchio, unfortunately, is no real boy, at all,” AP’s Jake Coyle wrote.
Meanwhile, Disney+ subscribers slammed the new adaptation on social media, describing it as a “soulless” retelling.
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“Just Why. Why does this exist… This is a complete train wreck and I hope that Disney is done after these next couple remakes,” another viewer wrote on Twitter.
Despite the negative responses, the film’s central draw of Hanks in the role of Geppetto was well received by viewers and critics.
Pinocchio is now available on Disney+.
