TV - Movies
Pinocchio (2022)
Hints At A Tragic
Backstory In
Geppetto's Life
By CAMERON ROY HALL
THIS STORY Contains spoilers for Disney's "Pinocchio" (2022).
SPOILER WARNING!
Like Disney's other modern, live-action retellings, the new "Pinocchio" movie specifically addresses plot points that audiences felt could use some further clarification. In the updated version, Geppetto (Tom Hanks) is given a bit of a backstory, which is not a detriment to the film, only to our emotional well-being.
When left alone, Geppetto confesses to an empty room that the cuckoo clocks he has built were beloved by a woman in his life, whose name he speaks in a hushed, reverent voice. He also takes a photograph of a young boy from his work desk, places it on his bedside table, says, "Goodnight, birthday boy," and gently kisses the frame.
We can paint our own picture — once upon a time, Geppetto presumably had a wife and son, and he aches deeply from the emptiness left by their leaving. That yearning love stirs his sleeping wish to the Blue Fairy (Cynthia Erivo), and suddenly the story of "Pinocchio" makes a lot more sense.