The Adventures of Pinocchio (1996 Film) - Plot

Plot

Mister Geppetto is an earnest woodcutter. Years ago, he carved the image of his heart into a pine tree for his secret love Leona, but lightning hits the pine tree. A few years later, Geppetto finds the pine tree again, but it splits in half and rolls down the bank, landing at his feet. Geppetto is intrigued upon his discovery and takes the log home. He discovers that the pine log refuses to be burned, and so he decides to carve the new puppet with it. His puppet, named Pinocchio, is soon mysteriously animated by a somewhat sentient force after his creation, and Pinocchio approaches the woodcutter, initially alarming him. After a chase throughout the town, Gepetto finally finds Pinocchio and starts teaching him about how to behave. While wandering through town, Pinocchio becomes involved with two thieves, Volpe and Felinet, who attempt to flatter Pinocchio, but then Geppetto comes to the rescue and warns Pinocchio to mix with the right people. Volpe and Felinet go to the puppet master Lorenzini (Udo Kier) who owns a luxurious puppet theatre. Felinet tells him about Pinocchio, and Lorenzini appears interested, so he visits Geppetto that afternoon to barter for Pinocchio. However, although Pinocchio is somewhat taken to Lorenzini, Geppetto refuses to sell Pinocchio and instead sells some of his own marionettes.

Later, Pinocchio follows a group a schoolchildren and becomes fascinated by school and learning. Gepetto allows him to go, but a boy named Lampwick (Corey Carrier) and his friend Saleo (Richard Claxton) involve him in a prank. When Pinocchio lies about it, his nose begins growing longer and longer. The teacher punishes Pinocchio by forcing him to leave the school. Out of bitterness, he then causes a great deal of mischief in a bakery, in which the baker's wife (Dawn French) causes more damage than the puppet. Geppetto is held responsible for the puppet's actions and is arrested. While Geppetto spends the night in a prison cell, Pinocchio returns home and meets 'the voice of truth' in the form of a wise and optimistic cricket named "Pepe". He promises to help Pinocchio to become a real boy, if he will start acting to be a good person. The next day, Geppetto and Pinocchio stand before the judge, who rules that, unless Geppetto can pay for the damage Pinocchio caused, he will be sent in prison for three years. Lorenzini steps in and offers to pay off the debt, on the condition that Pinocchio be handed over to his custody. Geppetto strongly refuses but eventually gives in, believing that perhaps the puppet will be better off that way. Pinocchio is heartbroken and does not want to leave his "father", but Geppetto tells them that he cannot be his father since he is not a real boy. Pinocchio comes to enjoy the theatre and also comes to believe that Lorenzini loves him as much as his father did, after receiving few golden coins by him, though Pepe tells him that Lorenzini is just using him for riches and fame. Pinocchio comes to realize this as he performs in Lorenzini's play, and manages to save several puppets from being burned by the cruel Lorenzini. As he escapes, he accidentally sets the theatre aflame. He floats away down the river, passing through the woodlands to a quiet monastery. Volpe and Felinet catch up with him and manage to swindle him out of golden coins by telling him that if he buries them in the ground, they will grow into a tree of miracles that will turn him into a real boy. Pepe scolds the puppet and proclaims: "Miracles don't grow on trees. Miracles are made in the heart!"

Meanwhile, Geppetto has returned to the puppet theater to try to barter for Pinocchio only to find it burning. He discovers his sold puppets safe and senses that Pinocchio did it. He and Leona have begin searching the forest for Pinocchio. However, Pinocchio is enticed by Lampwick to join a wagon-load of other boys who are being taken to the "Terra Magica", where they are allowed to do whatever they want and are encouraged to perform bad and selfish deeds. During the trip, Pinocchio's hat falls into a river and later Geppetto and Leona arrive and find it on a beach, thinking that Pinocchio is lost at sea. Before striking out in a rowboat to search for the son, Geppetto professes his love for Leona. Meanwhile, Pinocchio, Lampwick, and Saleo go on the Roller Coaster where they get splashed with water from an enchanted fountain that suddenly turns the boys into donkeys. They are rounded up by Lorenzini, who is the one running the park after abandoning his career as a puppet master. Pinocchio, having grown only donkey ears, frees the donkeys from their pen. Chased by Lorenzini and his henchmen, Pinocchio attempts to warn the other boys of the cursed water in the fountain. No one believes him until Pinocchio makes donkey-Lampwick kick Lorenzini, sending him into the fountain's pool. As Lorenzini gets out of the fountain and jumps in a river, he transforms into a "monster". The boys, having learned of the park's curse as well as their lessons, run away together to get back to their homes, leaving Pinocchio and the donkey-Lampwick to journey back home alone. However, when Pinocchio arrives, only Leona is there. She takes care of Lampwick while reluctantly allowing Pinocchio to row a boat out to sea to find Geppetto. However, the puppet gets swallowed by Lorenzini, now transformed into a monstrous whale.

Inside Lorenzini's belly, Pinocchio is finally reunited with Geppetto. In order to escape, Pinocchio tells Geppetto that he hates him. The lie causes Pinocchio's nose to lengthen again and push the whale's throat open wider. The nose then breaks from Pinocchio, but still holds the throat. Unable to breathe properly because of this, Lorenzini is forced to vomit both Pinocchio and Geppetto out before he swims away choking, until Pinocchio's long nose breaks. Geppetto and Pinocchio make it back to shore, where Geppetto apologizes for giving Pinocchio away and tells him that he loves him, finally transforming the puppet into a real boy. On the way home, Pinocchio runs into Volpe and Felinet and tricks them into drinking from the fountain where he and the other boys were turned into donkeys. As a result, the two swindlers are transformed into a real fox and a real cat. Pinocchio returns to live life as a real boy with Gepetto, Leona and his best friend Lampwick, who changed back to normal along with the other cursed boys by becoming good and doing good deeds.