Disney’s Pinocchio is the first of two new adaptations of the classic Italian fairytale to be released in 2022 – with Guillermo del Toro’s fresh take on the story of the wooden boy set to follow in December.
This version – from Robert Zemeckis – is the latest example of the House of Mouse’s recent trend of adapting its own animated classics as CGI/live-action hybrids, following on from the likes of Beauty and The Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King.
The film sticks fairly closely to the narrative of the beloved 1940 animation, with Jiminy Cricket once again guiding us through the story of the titular puppet and his quest to become a real boy.
And one of the other things the Disney adaptation has in common with that earlier film is that it includes several musical numbers – both original compositions and iconic songs like When You Wish Upon a Star, which is this time sung by Cynthia Erivo as The Blue Fairy.
“We went through the process of doing what you do whenever you’re going to make a musical,” Zemeckis explained in the film’s press notes. “When we were writing the script, Chris (Weitz, co-writer) and I would spot places where we said to each other, ‘Hey, why don’t we do a song there?’
“What songs do best in musicals is shore up the emotional growth of a character or help express what a character is feeling at any given moment. So that’s what we did with the songs.”
The four new songs were each written by Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard, and include two numbers for Tom Hanks as Geppetto and one from Luke Evans – who stars as the sinister Coachman.
“What we found with Pinocchio is that the film could handle a lot of range in how the songs were approached,” said Silvestri.
“It was a very fluid process all the way through. And as you might expect, we wrote some things that didn’t wind up in the film. But that was all part of the process, the creative process of finding what the film really needed.”
Read on to see Pinocchio’s full tracklist.
Pinocchio soundtrack
When He Was Here With Me performed by Tom Hanks, written by Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard
When You Wish Upon a Star performed by Cynthia Erivo, written by Leigh Harline and Ned Washington
Pinocchio, Pinocchio performed by Tom Hanks, written by Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard
Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee (An Actor’s Life For Me) performed by Keegan-Michael Key, written by Leigh Harline and Ned Washington
I’ve Got No Strings performed by Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, written by Leigh Harline and Ned Washington
I Will Always Dance performed by Kyanne Lamaya, written by Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard
The Coachman to Pleasure Island performed by Luke Evans, written by Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard
Pinocchio is released on Disney Plus on Thursday 8th September 2022. Sign up to Disney Plus for £7.99 a month or £79.90 for a year.
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