The New Adventures of Pinocchio (film)

Plot

In July 1890, Pinocchio and his friend Lampwick skip school to go to a carnival. While there, they watch a presentation by the carnival's leader, Madame Flambeau. She gives a man with one shorter leg some of her Elixir, and his leg grows to the length of the other one. The carnival's dwarf then leads Pinocchio and Lampwick to "The Hall of Freaks", a place with a clown that washes his face, an albino who can blow fire from his mouth, a large fish tank that have fish with human faces, a woman with a beard, and a fairy called "Blue" who only Pinocchio can see. They then return to Pinocchio's house and find his father Geppetto, who is very sick. Pinocchio and Lampwick then return to the carnival to each buy some of Madame Flambeau's Elixir. Felinet and Volpe, a human-cat and human-fox respectively, lead them to Madame Flambeau. They don't have enough money for the Elixir, so they agree to work for her in the carnival. Lampwick drinks his Elixir and returns home, and Pinocchio gives his Elixir to Geppetto.

The next morning, Pinocchio finds the Elixir has transformed his father into a puppet. Madame Flambeau enters their house, and gets angry at Pinocchio for giving the Elixir to his father instead of himself. She reveals she is Lorenzini's widow. Geppetto and Pinocchio are then forced to work at the carnival's show. Geppetto eventually accepts and enjoys being a puppet, much to Pinocchio's dismay. Lampwick had been transformed into a sea donkey because of the Elixir, and Pinocchio finds him in the large fish tank. Madame Flambeau compromises Pinocchio that if he becomes a puppet, then Geppetto and Lampwick will automatically become human again; but this was a trick so that Pinocchio would perform in front of the prince. Seconds before the show, the dwarf takes Pinocchio; Felinet and Volpe take Geppetto and replace the two with inanimate puppets. The prince angrily leaves due to the audience booing. Madame Flambeau and her team go on a search for Geppetto and Pinocchio. The dwarf takes Pinocchio and Lampwick to the forest where Pinocchio came from. The dwarf transforms and reveals himself as Pepe.

Madame Flambeau finds Geppetto and then finds Pinocchio. Geppetto apologizes to Pinocchio for being more interested in his fame than his son, and it is implied he wants to be human again. Madame Flambeau then transforms into Lorenzini, a secret he had been hiding the whole time. He plans on cooking Lampwick using Pinocchio and Geppetto as the firewood. Pepe gives Pinocchio clues on how to find the Heart of the Mountain. Pinocchio, Geppetto and Lampwick get to the Heart of the Mountain via sliding down a long pathway. Once there, they find a pool called the "magic water", something that turns someone/something into their true nature. Lorenzini and the others also enter the Heart of the Mountain. Lampwick falls into the water and is instantly restored to human. Lorenzini laughs and jumps in the magic water thinking it will make him powerful, but it instead turns him into "the sea monster" over a period of time. Geppetto and Pinocchio then jump in and are instantly restored to human. Volpe and Felinet jump in but their true nature remains.

The next day, Lorenzini is locked up in a cage, and is laughed at by the carnival's audience for his grotesque sea monster appearance. Pinocchio and Lampwick go to see Geppetto's puppet show, along with a girl called "Isabella" who looks just like Blue but with black hair. Isabella tells Pinocchio that the Elixir can't truly fix anyone's troubles. Geppetto performs in front of the prince, and is applauded by Pinocchio and the rest of the audience. As the second lot of credits roll by, Lorenzini escapes his prison.

Cast

Development

Like The Adventures of Pinocchio, this film utilized animatronic puppets that were created by Jim Henson's Creature Shop.

Reception

The New Adventures of Pinocchio currently holds a 36% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.