Those of you who've been wishing on a star for a Polar Express reunion are about to have your hearts' desires granted. Heading to a Disney+ near you is the new Pinocchio, directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Tom Hanks as kindly puppet-master Geppetto. Benjamin Evan Ainsworth from The Haunting Of Bly Manor provides Pinocchio's voice, and here's the first teaser trailer, giving us glimpses of Jiminy Cricket (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), the Blue Fairy (Cynthia Erivo) and the foxy Honest John (Keegan-Michael Key). Hi-diddle-dee-dee!
Pinocchio is, of course, the story of a wooden puppet crafted by carpenter Geppetto and magically brought to life, who dreams of being a real boy and sets off on a quest to achieve it, getting into adventures and encountering various colourful characters along the way. Zemeckis co-wrote this version with Chris Weitz, and the story obviously follows the established path of Disney's 1940 animated classic, rather than radically turning back to Carlo Collodi's brutal 19th Century Italian children's novel.
Cynthia Erivo, Lorraine Bracco and Luke Evans are elsewhere in the cast, and Pinocchio arrives on Disney+ worldwide on September 8. That gives it a significant head start against Guillermo del Toro's stop-motion version, which is due on Netflix in time for Christmas. Expect a bit more Collodi in that one...