New Adventures of Pinocchio (1999)
Puppeteer Geppetto becomes a puppet after drinking an elixer that Pinocchio bought from a traveling carnival.
Genre – Family
Director(s) – Michael Anderson
Writer(s) – Tom Sheppard and Sherry Mills (based on book by Carlo Collodi)
Cast – Martin Landau and Udo Kier
Blue Rider’s Role – Arranged bridge financing
Distributor(s) – Fries Film Group, New Line Cinema, Hannover House, MC-1, Flashstar Home Video (Brazil), Manga Films and Sherlock Media (Spain), Nighthawks Pictures, RCV Film Distribution (Benelux)
Release Date – 1999
Synopsis – Pinocchio skips school with his friend Lampwick to attend a magical carnival run by Madame Flambeau. She tricks Pinocchio into buying a magic potion which she claims cures any illness. The purchase locks the puppet boy into a contract from which he cannot escape.
Viewers’ Ratings:
As of March 8, 2007, 50.9% of the 162 people who evaluated this movie at The Internet Movie Database gave is positive ratings. The demographic groups that liked it best were women aged 45 and older (who rated it 7.6 out of 10), followed by people aged 17 and younger (6.4).
Major Cast and Crew Credits and Awards:
Directed by Michael Anderson (Orca, The Shoes of the Fisherman, The Quiller Memorandum, The Sea Wolf; 1957 Best Director Oscar nominee for for Around the World in 80 Days; two other awards and four nominations for works including Summer of the Monkeys and Logan’s Run).
Tom Sheppard (Freakazoid, The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius; two Emmy wins and two othe Emmy for Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain and Animaniacs; Annie Award nom for My Gym Partner’s a Monkey) and Sherry Mills (The Adventures of Pinocchio); based on book by Carlo Collodi.
Martin Landau (North by Northwest, Sleepy Hollow, The X-Files, Rounders, Cleopatra, The Majestic, Hollywood Homicide; won Oscar for Ed Wood; two other Oscar noms for Crimes & Misdemeanors and Tucker: The Man and His Dream; 21 major awards and eight other nominations for works including Mission Impossible, Without a Trace, By Dawn’s Early Light and Legacy of Lies; 79 other films and TV projects) and Udo Kier (End of Days, Armageddon, Blade, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Dogville, Breaking the Waves, Johnny Mnemonic, My Own Private Idaho and 173 other films and TV works).
Cast includes Gabriel Thomson (Enemy at the Gates, Great Expectations, Joseph, Painted Lady); Gemma Gregory (Great Expectations, Mike & Angelo, Popcorn); Warwick Davis (four Harry Potter films, two Star Wars movies, four Leprechaun pics, Ray, Labyrinth and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy; major award nominations for Willow, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Leprechaun in the Hood); Sarah Alexander (Bridget Jones’s Diary, Coupling, Alias Smith & Jones); Simon Schatzberger (Band of Brothers, Daniel Deronda, Black Books) and Ben Ridgeway (About a Boy, If Only, The Infinite Worlds of H.G. Wells).
Executive producers: Omar Kaczmarczyk (Trance, The Lost World, Pale Blood, In Between) and Silvio Muraglia (Tale of the Mummy, Silent Trigger, New World Disorder).
Producers: Raju Patel (Bachelor Party, 11:14, The Jungle Book, The Adventures of Pinocchio); Harald Reichebner (Never Talk to Strangers, Nostradamus, Bandido) and Jeffrey M. Sneller (Bound for Glory, Kingdom of the Spiders, Necromancy).
Original Music by Günther Fischer (Nightkill, A.D.A.M., Der Aufenthalt) and Rainer Oleak (Die Himmel Kann Warten, Wie Feuer und Flamme).
Cinematography by Ennio Guarnieri (The Cassandra Crossing, Ginger and Fred, The Inner Circle; BAFTA nomination for The Garden of the Finzi-Continis; won two major Italian awards for La Traviata and Brother Sun, Sister Moon).
Film Editing by Andrew MacRitchie (Die Another Day, Sahara and Stormbreaker) and Marcus Manton (Pumpkinhead, American Ninja, Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell, Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo).
Production Design by Humphrey Bangham (Caught in the Act, The Point Men, New World Disorder).
Art Direction by Keith Slote (Proof, The Musketeer, Stage Beauty, Three) and Simon Bowles (Wing Commander, Fortress 2, Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London, The Lost Battalion; nominated for a 1999 British Independent Film Award for Lighthouse).
Costume Design by Cynthia Dumont (Madame Edouard, Riddler’s Moon, The Musketeer).
Special Effects Supervisor: Harrie Wiessenhaan (Ocean’s Twelve, The Devil’s Own, Shadow of the Vampire, Mindhunters, Deuce Bigelow: European Gigolo).
Visual effects supervisor: Mark M. Pompian (Stargate, Last Action Hero, Multiplicity, Outbreak, To Be or Not to Be).
Release Data:
The film opened in the U.S. on Nov. 15, 1999; it debuted in France, Germany and Spain in 2001; and it bowed in Norway in 2002.
Links:
Internet Movie Database entry for New Adventures of Pinocchio
