The new trailer for the live-action remake of Pinocchio is here to remind you to be brave, truthful, and not selfish, even if you’re not a sentient puppet trying to become a real boy.
Oscar-winning director Robert Zemeckis is re-teaming with his frequent collaborator and fellow Academy Award winner Tom Hanks, who will portray the gentle-hearted wood-carver Geppetto. But don’t worry, this isn’t one of those uncanny-valley Polar Express situations — Hanks’ Geppetto is a fully live-action character, while his wooden puppet son who has come to life, the titular Pinocchio, is a computer-generated character.
Pinocchio is voiced by Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt as his conscience who is also an insect, Jiminy Cricket. Oscar-nominee Cynthis Erivo plays the Blue Fairy — another live-action character — who imbues Pinocchio with self-awareness. Keegan-Michael Key plays “Honest” John, the talking fox with something up his sleeve. We also have a new character added to the mix, Academy Award-nominee Lorraine Bracco as Sofia the Seagull.
Rounding out the cast is Luke Evans’ The Coachman, Kyanne Lamaya’s Fabiana, Jaquita Ta-Le’s Sabina, a marionette puppet, Giuseppe Batiston as Stromboli, and Lewin Lloyd as Lampwick.
With a script penned by Zemeckis himself and Christ Weitz, the writer behind Antz, About a Boy, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, we’re sure to get a magical treat of a film for the whole family. And who better to direct such a film than Zemeckis, the man who brought us such classics as Back to the Future and Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Check out Pinocchio on Disney Plus on September 8.