Pinocchio

The classic story of 'Pinocchio' is coming to life in Disney's new live-action movie. So, who is voicing Pinocchio? Here's everything you need to know.

The new Pinocchio is inspired by the character’s look in the 1940 animated original movie. Benjamin Evan Ainsworth is the voice of Pinocchio in Disney’s live-action film. They have to be doing the line, acting the lines. In the 1940 animated movie, the character was voiced by Dick Jones. Pinocchio is getting the live-action treatment. As you watch the movie, you might be asking: who is voicing Pinocchio?

Director Robert Zemeckis and star Tom Hanks reunite for "Pinocchio," a live-action update of the Disney animated classic.

Zemeckis’ “Pinocchio” prompts one to wish upon a star that Disney would stop diluting the legacy of its beloved animated features with these soulless knockoffs. In an incredible feat of time mismanagement, this “Pinocchio” is about 20 minutes longer than the 1940 version and still manages to blatantly sidestep having a poignant and magical ending. There’s a clear through line connecting Zemeckis’ longstanding affinity for animation and the utilization of technological advancements in storytelling. This unadventurous pursuit entails imitating its characters’ details, costumes and color palette to mimic, as closely as possible, what the audience is already familiar with. She deputizes Jiminy as the newly born figure’s voice of reason. But with Robert Zemeckis’ new hybrid incarnation — which combines live-action elements and 3-D CG animation — the Oscar-winning director has carved a lackluster replica.

Tom Hanks, Cynthia Erivo, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Keegan-Michael Key, and Luke Evans star in Robert Zemeckis' live-action remake of the 1940 animated classic ...

It will be difficult to forget the image of Pinocchio staring at a pile of horse manure and touching it out of curiosity. (Coincidentally, his The Witches remake for HBO Max is the only other serious contender against Pinocchio for his worst film.) When Disney Plus first kicked off in 2019, one of its opening-day original films was [the Lady and the Tramp remake](https://www.polygon.com/reviews/2019/11/12/20961761/lady-and-the-tramp-review-disney-plus-remake), which is predictable, lifeless, and entirely unmemorable. Though the 1940 version of Pinocchio isn’t as aggressive and rowdy as his fellow boys on Pleasure Island, he’s perfectly willing to dive into bad behavior, aping his cigar-smoking pal Lampwick. Where Jiminy Cricket performs it as a quiet, telling moment in the original film, the 2022 Pinocchio truncates it and gives the shorter version to the Blue Fairy. It’s a gross image in a film that otherwise doesn’t add in scatalogical humor, a gag that isn’t in the original and has no purpose in the remake, and a weirdly unnecessary cost in a film that struggles to merge CG and live-action elements. The story’s outline will still be extremely recognizable to anyone with a passing familiarity with the animated film or Collodi’s The Adventures of Pinocchio. Because this is a modern film, though, apparently someone felt the film needed to scoff a bit at its own flights of fancy. Unfortunately, remakes of [Aladdin](https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/23/18637207/aladdin-film-review-disney-live-action-remake-will-smith-guy-ritchie-mena-massoud-naomi-scott), [The Lion King](https://www.polygon.com/2019/7/11/20690363/the-lion-king-2019-review), [Beauty and the Beast](https://www.theverge.com/2017/3/17/14962212/beauty-and-the-beast-review-remake-gay-lefou-bill-condon-controversy), and others had less room to stretch. These are answers to questions best left unasked — many of the small touches in the original Pinocchio are haunting because they defy explanation. Like the animated version, the straight-to-Disney Plus live-action remake tells the story of a wooden marionette (a CG creation voiced by Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) brought to life by a magical Blue Fairy (Cynthia Erivo), who sends him on a journey to become fully human by exemplifying the traits of bravery, truthfulness, and selflessness. Songs such as “Give a Little Whistle” and “Little Wooden Head” have been jettisoned in favor of four lifeless new songs by Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard. He also explains why he refuses to sell off his dead wife’s treasured cuckoo clocks — which feature characters like Rafiki and Simba, Roger Rabbit, and Sheriff Woody, which may go down as one of the most painful bits of corporate synergy in film history.

Like the titular puppet at its center, “Pinocchio” lingers in an existential purgatory. The latest live-action remake of an animated Disney classic occupies ...

As always, the moral of the story is the importance of being honest. The Blue Fairy whooshes into the workshop and, with a sprinkling of magic dust, tells Pinocchio (voiced by So yes, you get “When You Wish Upon a Star” (which powerhouse [Cynthia Erivo](/cast-and-crew/cynthia-erivo) now sings as the Blue Fairy), but you also get little meta bits about education, parenting, and the perils of fame. Just as the original “Pinocchio” was groundbreaking in its artistic complexity, Zemeckis has always pushed the possibilities of animation and visual effects, from the dazzling hybrid of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” to his pioneering use of motion capture in “ [The Polar Express](/reviews/the-polar-express-2004).” (And, thankfully, technology has evolved since 2004 to keep human characters from looking so terrifyingly rubbery.) This is especially true toward the end of the perky puppet’s journey when he ends up in the mouth of a ferocious sea monster. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves, and clearly need the sunny narration of Jiminy Cricket (