Pinocchio

Roberto Benigni's fanciful adaptation of Carlo Collodi's classic tale of the naughty wooden puppet who dreams of becoming a real live boy was a huge hit in its native Italy but arrives on these shores seriously compromised by poor English-language dubbing. Benigni, co-wrote the screenplay with regular collaborator Vincenzo Cerami and returned to Collodi's original material, so Americans weaned on Disney's 1940 animated classic may be surprised at just how bad a puppet Pinocchio is. In fact, he's every parent's nightmare: He's lazy, refuses to go to school and is an incorrigible liar even though he stands no chance of getting away with his prevarication, since his n...