When you wish on a star, it doesn’t matter how original you are. That is certainly Disney’s hope at the start of the new Pinocchio. The film marks the latest “live-action” remake of a classic from the Walt Disney Animation Studios catalog. And in this case, you’re pulling one of the oldest.

The CGI technologies of today give the chance to make animated characters look real. So, Disney starts making productions so-called remakes of their old animated classics, among them, Beauty and the Beast, The lion king, Aladdin, etc. Giving a second chance to those old hand-drawn animations to be watched by the new generations.

Walt Disney’s original Pinocchio was only the second feature film made by his animation house after Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs three years earlier.

Is it the same movie or has something different?

The original 1940 film is a quaint, cheesy affair. Tonally, Zemeckis honors that, with sporadically charming results. His script, written with Chris Weitz (who also worked on Kenneth Branagh’s Cinderella), gently temporizes here and there and tries to add some emotional weight. Tom Hanks’ Geppetto, while reliably cute, is now imbued with a certain sadness, building the puppet not just because he wants a child, but because he lost one. It’s a sweet and touching idea that is sad. However, the change gives the beginning of Pinocchio ’22 an overwhelming sense of melancholy for a children’s film.

Hopefully, Pinocchio panders a bit to his very young audience and errs on the side of conservatism in his message about the importance of family. And yet, the ways in which Zemeckis and Weitz have chosen to play with the concept of being ‘real’ (here, being true to oneself as well as being truthful) make this Pinocchio more than just a flashy but soulless remake of Pinocchio. Disney-genuine and that’s not a lie.

Recommended: NASA technology used in space could be used in electric cars to be charged within 5 minutes

It’s often hard to know where to blame when Disney’s live-action remakes flop. Does animation allow a suspension of beliefs that human actors cannot sustain? A problem with the source material? An air of corporate strategy to the whole thing? In Pinocchio’s case, it’s a combination of all three. Either way, something is wrong: the film is competently crafted, duly acted, clearly soulfully wrought, and yet, like its star, it lacks a beating heart.