TV - Movies
It's Time To Talk
About Disney's
Major Change To
The End Of Live
Action Pinocchio
By NICK STANIFORTH
Like many of Disney's live-action remakes of its animated films, for the most part, the 2022 live-action "Pinocchio" is a scene-by-scene retread of 1940s animated "Pinocchio." However, in its final act, it breaks from routine and plays around with what many might deem the biggest part of the story: its ending.
In a drastic alteration, Pinocchio doesn’t transform into a ‘real’ boy as he did in the original film, and Geppetto reassures him that is as 'real' to him as any flesh-and-blood boy. The film’s co-writer, Chris Weitz addressed the new ending by stating, "He is real in that he has learned his lessons and grown a conscience, but there is no need for him to end up a certain way physically for him to prove that."
While the remake attempted to deliver an ending that leaves the viewers to apply their own interpretations, the ambiguity is undercut in the last moments as Jiminy Cricket utters the film's final few lines: "People say he was transformed into an honest-to-goodness real boy. Did that actually happen? Who knows"
Except, we do know, because as Pinocchio walks away his wooden joints begin to transform into human skin, proving that we don't need an "interpretation" since we’re watching the transformation happen before our very eyes. Which begs the question: why was the dialogue right before that moment even included if they were just going to undercut the statement they were trying to convey?