James-Belushi Movie Reviews

I saw a sneak preveiw for Joe Somebody in the theatres and thought that it was very very bad.But since then I have been talking about the film and now I think it is pretty good and probally will by it.Tom Allen has been on a really good movie spree with this and Big Trouble.Joe Somebody is worth seeing.

The Plot:Tim Allen plays Joe who is a good natured guy who has been working in his buniness for the past 10 years.His wife divorced him and his daughter is with her mother and Joe doesn't see her all the time.On Take Your Daughter to Work Day a worker who has been working there for 2 years parks in the ten year parking lot played by Patrick Warberton.When the 2 year worker hits Joe in the parking lot Joe spends his week drowing out his sorrows.Joe begins to exercise and decides to have a rematch with him.The rest of the movie shows how he gets ready for the fight.Untill the big day comes...

Joe Somebody is a good family film that got bad reveiws and should have gotton better.This movie will definatly be in my DVD collection.

ENJOY!

Tim Allen gives a good spazaz to Joe in this movie that makes it funny. Jim Belushi is great as the person who trains Joe in the ways of self defense. cute and not so crude like most comedys which crudeness ans sickness makes it downfall, but y'all enjoy Allen. for fans of the tool man and Belushi

This movie is a pleasant, refreshing surprise. It's good to see Tim Allen again in a feature film, looking a little older, a little more seasoned and thoughtful in his acting. (He's also gotten pretty buff for the role too.) From the start, the musical score gave the gave the movie a sense of time and motion. Jim Belushi was classic in his smooth, no-nonsense way. Some of the interaction between him and Tim Allen was priceless footage. They worked off each other well. Julie Bowen 's role sort of hinted at the "ditzy blonde" initially, but then settled into a deeper character as the plot developed. Greg Germann was well-casted as her finkish boss. Wolfgang Bodison lit up the screen with his corporate look and new found friendship with the lead character. Patrick Warburton is one of my favorites anyway and its good to see him in more and more roles lately. The casting was a refreshing mix of personalities we haven't seen before and they played well together and shared the screen equitably. Their chemistry was palpable and very funny.
The look of the film was genuine, especially the corporate pharmaceutical world.
As for the story line and the comedy. I had some great laughs, good, hardy guffaws at some of the scenes. A few favorites to look for are the Target scene and the "squash" game. Very creative. Also loved the disclaimers mentioned on the pharmaceutical television ads. Some of the comedic timing was fantastic and well placed when the movie took a dramatic turn and threatened to get too serious.
The story left you feeling good and mindful about what it really means to be "Somebody". I like going to a movie, laughing hard, morally recharged, and leaving with some new joke material to tell people at the office.

I saw a sneak preveiw for Joe Somebody in the theatres and thought that it was very very bad.But since then I have been talking about the film and now I think it is pretty good and probally will by it.Tom Allen has been on a really good movie spree with this and Big Trouble.Joe Somebody is worth seeing.

The Plot:Tim Allen plays Joe who is a good natured guy who has been working in his buniness for the past 10 years.His wife divorced him and his daughter is with her mother and Joe doesn't see her all the time.On Take Your Daughter to Work Day a worker who has been working there for 2 years parks in the ten year parking lot played by Patrick Warberton.When the 2 year worker hits Joe in the parking lot Joe spends his week drowing out his sorrows.Joe begins to exercise and decides to have a rematch with him.The rest of the movie shows how he gets ready for the fight.Untill the big day comes...

Joe Somebody is a good family film that got bad reveiws and should have gotton better.This movie will definatly be in my DVD collection.

ENJOY!

Tim Allen gives a good spazaz to Joe in this movie that makes it funny. Jim Belushi is great as the person who trains Joe in the ways of self defense. cute and not so crude like most comedys which crudeness ans sickness makes it downfall, but y'all enjoy Allen. for fans of the tool man and Belushi

This movie is a pleasant, refreshing surprise. It's good to see Tim Allen again in a feature film, looking a little older, a little more seasoned and thoughtful in his acting. (He's also gotten pretty buff for the role too.) From the start, the musical score gave the gave the movie a sense of time and motion. Jim Belushi was classic in his smooth, no-nonsense way. Some of the interaction between him and Tim Allen was priceless footage. They worked off each other well. Julie Bowen 's role sort of hinted at the "ditzy blonde" initially, but then settled into a deeper character as the plot developed. Greg Germann was well-casted as her finkish boss. Wolfgang Bodison lit up the screen with his corporate look and new found friendship with the lead character. Patrick Warburton is one of my favorites anyway and its good to see him in more and more roles lately. The casting was a refreshing mix of personalities we haven't seen before and they played well together and shared the screen equitably. Their chemistry was palpable and very funny.
The look of the film was genuine, especially the corporate pharmaceutical world.
As for the story line and the comedy. I had some great laughs, good, hardy guffaws at some of the scenes. A few favorites to look for are the Target scene and the "squash" game. Very creative. Also loved the disclaimers mentioned on the pharmaceutical television ads. Some of the comedic timing was fantastic and well placed when the movie took a dramatic turn and threatened to get too serious.
The story left you feeling good and mindful about what it really means to be "Somebody". I like going to a movie, laughing hard, morally recharged, and leaving with some new joke material to tell people at the office.

Roberto Benigni received extremely harsh critical attack for his recent rendition of Collidi's classic fairy tale of a puppet who wished to become a wooden boy. Part of this is because Miramax decided to cut the film from 110 minutes to 99(!) -- often a bad mistake, as it can damage the effect of a film. But they added another slapping blow by overdubbing the character voices. In a foreign animated film, this works more successfully because an animation cel stands on its own. Unfortunately, it's not so in the case of live action. The line-readings of the voice actors clash horrendously with the moving mouth of the foreign language, and, here, in PINOCCHIO, it's just really awful. I only listened to bits and pieces of the dub, and although the voice cast is certainly talented and does a respectable job (except for Breckin Meyer as Pinocchio himself), their words are so poorly synchronized with the moving mouth that the results come across as disastrous.

Although the film holds well together in its native tongue and uncut version, one cannot help but wonder just what went wrong with this production. PINOCCHIO is definitely an ambitious picture; the costumes, set designs and cinematography are all strikingly beautiful. There are also lots of staggering special effects shots, from a carriage drawn by mice to an enormous shark in the sea. Such effects made the movie the most expensive in Italy --$45 million in total--; and Benigni should consider himself fortunate that it broke even in box office receipts. In America, however, it didn't have the same reception. Either because of the cutting and disastrous dubbing (despite the presence of big names in the cast such as John Cleese, Eric Idle, Cheech Marin, and Glen Close), or the fact that people could not accept this version, the movie was a dismal failure.

Part of the problem is the decision of having Benigni himself playing Pinocchio. I mean, come on! Benigni is WAY too old for Pinocchio, and a lot of the other "kids" in this picture are played by grown-ups! Somehow it didn't come off on me as glaring that such was the case, but I can just imagine why critics and film buffs would slamdunk this film for that cause. There are plenty of interesting concepts and ideas for the film; the Blue Fairy's costumes are gorgeous, and the image of a butterfly present in the film is very nice, but that's not enough to save this poor, troubled picture. There's hardly a sympathetic character in the movie; Pinocchio is supposed to be disobedient, yes, but here he's portrayed as a crazy maniac, refusing to behave or do anything good until he is goaded into it. The Talking Cricket is not much better. If you were spoiled by Jiminy Cricket from the (far superior) Disney version, prepare to be shocked - he not only looks a man with artificial antennas placed on his head, he also acts condescendingly. Instead of being encouraging, he comes across as a sarcastic, unhelping little jerk who just badmouths the "boy" instead of coaching him. Granted, I'm aware that this is true of the original Collidi tale (Disney "softened up" Pinocchio's personality for his film), yet here it's executed so awkwardly that it becomes difficult to become involved in this film. It also is not a very clear, focused picture: it's too dark and menacing for youngsters and too insane to appeal to older audiences.

A modern misfire, this version of PINOCCHIO is more likely to be remembered for its cinematography rather than its misguided story and below-average dubbing. (Even on the Italian original, there is some gratingly bad acting.)

Surprisingly, even though Miramax butchered this film in its theatrical release, they certainly produced a great package with this DVD. It's a two-disc set, complete with a very gorgeous transfer, and two different versions of the movie. One disc is the horribly recut U.S. release while the other is the uncut Italian version. Strangely, even an English language track is offered on the second disc as well, and it includes all the stuff that was cut from the U.S. premiere! Very interesting indeed, even if the dubbing still can't hold a candle to some of the better ones I've heard (mainly from animation films, because they don't have the same lip-sync problem that live-action ones do). Sadly, though, even the presence of the uncut version doesn't change the fact that this movie is a disappointing experience. It's gorgeous to look at, but it's certainly not a classic by any means.

This movie's notoriety as the "worst film of 2002" peaked my curiosity. I was actually disappointed to hear how bad it was because I grew up loving the original Italian Collodi story of the live wooden puppet. Having seen the SUBTITLED version of the DVD, I must say the film is not nearly as horrific as some critics would have people believe. While I agree that it is very hard to buy Roberto Benigni in the title role as a young boy/puppet, much of the film is presented as 'theater' and thus asks the audience to suspend belief. The characters of the Fox and Cat, and many others rely not on actual animal makeup but features which create an illusion of their characteristics. In this sense, the film is quite ingenius and imaginative. The sets and costumes are beautiful and the script and story line are very faithful to the original book. That said, this film is a hard one to market to any audience because it is an adult (or 'art')version of a children's story, produced in another language. Sadly, in spite of its strengths, the film was doomed to fail in America because most children know only the animated Disney version of the story, and most parents do not wish to see a 50-year old playing the lead in a children's fairy tale. A shame, because while far from perfect, the film is not the disaster that many have proclaimed it to be.

I must admit I actually liked this version of Pinocchio. :-) The out-of-sync dubbing, I suppose, is to be expected. You can't expect to make English-speaking voices and Italian-speaking mouths match up perfectly.

I personally would have much preferred to see it in the original Italian. I think that would have made a huge difference -- just like it does with any movie in a language other than English.

Another thing -- FORGET Disney! It is nothing at all like the Disney story. And I think it is very nice to see an alternate version. And this one is made in Italy, by Italians, so it has a very homegrown touch to it. ;-)

The only problem I could see was that it is a bit more childish than Benigni's last film, "Life Is Beautiful". He goes from a touching Holocaust tragedy to a fanciful straight-up comedy. So I suppose that might pose a difficulty.

Other than that, I did like it! My advice is, again, to try to see it in the original Italian, subtitled in English. And try to steer clear of the Disney-propagated Pinocchio image.

Roberto Benigni received extremely harsh critical attack for his recent rendition of Collidi's classic fairy tale of a puppet who wished to become a wooden boy. Part of this is because Miramax decided to cut the film from 110 minutes to 99(!) -- often a bad mistake, as it can damage the effect of a film. But they added another slapping blow by overdubbing the character voices. In a foreign animated film, this works more successfully because an animation cel stands on its own. Unfortunately, it's not so in the case of live action. The line-readings of the voice actors clash horrendously with the moving mouth of the foreign language, and, here, in PINOCCHIO, it's just really awful. I only listened to bits and pieces of the dub, and although the voice cast is certainly talented and does a respectable job (except for Breckin Meyer as Pinocchio himself), their words are so poorly synchronized with the moving mouth that the results come across as disastrous.

Although the film holds well together in its native tongue and uncut version, one cannot help but wonder just what went wrong with this production. PINOCCHIO is definitely an ambitious picture; the costumes, set designs and cinematography are all strikingly beautiful. There are also lots of staggering special effects shots, from a carriage drawn by mice to an enormous shark in the sea. Such effects made the movie the most expensive in Italy --$45 million in total--; and Benigni should consider himself fortunate that it broke even in box office receipts. In America, however, it didn't have the same reception. Either because of the cutting and disastrous dubbing (despite the presence of big names in the cast such as John Cleese, Eric Idle, Cheech Marin, and Glen Close), or the fact that people could not accept this version, the movie was a dismal failure.

Part of the problem is the decision of having Benigni himself playing Pinocchio. I mean, come on! Benigni is WAY too old for Pinocchio, and a lot of the other "kids" in this picture are played by grown-ups! Somehow it didn't come off on me as glaring that such was the case, but I can just imagine why critics and film buffs would slamdunk this film for that cause. There are plenty of interesting concepts and ideas for the film; the Blue Fairy's costumes are gorgeous, and the image of a butterfly present in the film is very nice, but that's not enough to save this poor, troubled picture. There's hardly a sympathetic character in the movie; Pinocchio is supposed to be disobedient, yes, but here he's portrayed as a crazy maniac, refusing to behave or do anything good until he is goaded into it. The Talking Cricket is not much better. If you were spoiled by Jiminy Cricket from the (far superior) Disney version, prepare to be shocked - he not only looks a man with artificial antennas placed on his head, he also acts condescendingly. Instead of being encouraging, he comes across as a sarcastic, unhelping little jerk who just badmouths the "boy" instead of coaching him. Granted, I'm aware that this is true of the original Collidi tale (Disney "softened up" Pinocchio's personality for his film), yet here it's executed so awkwardly that it becomes difficult to become involved in this film. It also is not a very clear, focused picture: it's too dark and menacing for youngsters and too insane to appeal to older audiences.

A modern misfire, this version of PINOCCHIO is more likely to be remembered for its cinematography rather than its misguided story and below-average dubbing. (Even on the Italian original, there is some gratingly bad acting.)

Surprisingly, even though Miramax butchered this film in its theatrical release, they certainly produced a great package with this DVD. It's a two-disc set, complete with a very gorgeous transfer, and two different versions of the movie. One disc is the horribly recut U.S. release while the other is the uncut Italian version. Strangely, even an English language track is offered on the second disc as well, and it includes all the stuff that was cut from the U.S. premiere! Very interesting indeed, even if the dubbing still can't hold a candle to some of the better ones I've heard (mainly from animation films, because they don't have the same lip-sync problem that live-action ones do). Sadly, though, even the presence of the uncut version doesn't change the fact that this movie is a disappointing experience. It's gorgeous to look at, but it's certainly not a classic by any means.

This movie's notoriety as the "worst film of 2002" peaked my curiosity. I was actually disappointed to hear how bad it was because I grew up loving the original Italian Collodi story of the live wooden puppet. Having seen the SUBTITLED version of the DVD, I must say the film is not nearly as horrific as some critics would have people believe. While I agree that it is very hard to buy Roberto Benigni in the title role as a young boy/puppet, much of the film is presented as 'theater' and thus asks the audience to suspend belief. The characters of the Fox and Cat, and many others rely not on actual animal makeup but features which create an illusion of their characteristics. In this sense, the film is quite ingenius and imaginative. The sets and costumes are beautiful and the script and story line are very faithful to the original book. That said, this film is a hard one to market to any audience because it is an adult (or 'art')version of a children's story, produced in another language. Sadly, in spite of its strengths, the film was doomed to fail in America because most children know only the animated Disney version of the story, and most parents do not wish to see a 50-year old playing the lead in a children's fairy tale. A shame, because while far from perfect, the film is not the disaster that many have proclaimed it to be.

I must admit I actually liked this version of Pinocchio. :-) The out-of-sync dubbing, I suppose, is to be expected. You can't expect to make English-speaking voices and Italian-speaking mouths match up perfectly.

I personally would have much preferred to see it in the original Italian. I think that would have made a huge difference -- just like it does with any movie in a language other than English.

Another thing -- FORGET Disney! It is nothing at all like the Disney story. And I think it is very nice to see an alternate version. And this one is made in Italy, by Italians, so it has a very homegrown touch to it. ;-)

The only problem I could see was that it is a bit more childish than Benigni's last film, "Life Is Beautiful". He goes from a touching Holocaust tragedy to a fanciful straight-up comedy. So I suppose that might pose a difficulty.

Other than that, I did like it! My advice is, again, to try to see it in the original Italian, subtitled in English. And try to steer clear of the Disney-propagated Pinocchio image.

Roberto Benigni received extremely harsh critical attack for his recent rendition of Collidi's classic fairy tale of a puppet who wished to become a wooden boy. Part of this is because Miramax decided to cut the film from 110 minutes to 99(!) -- often a bad mistake, as it can damage the effect of a film. But they added another slapping blow by overdubbing the character voices. In a foreign animated film, this works more successfully because an animation cel stands on its own. Unfortunately, it's not so in the case of live action. The line-readings of the voice actors clash horrendously with the moving mouth of the foreign language, and, here, in PINOCCHIO, it's just really awful. I only listened to bits and pieces of the dub, and although the voice cast is certainly talented and does a respectable job (except for Breckin Meyer as Pinocchio himself), their words are so poorly synchronized with the moving mouth that the results come across as disastrous.

Although the film holds well together in its native tongue and uncut version, one cannot help but wonder just what went wrong with this production. PINOCCHIO is definitely an ambitious picture; the costumes, set designs and cinematography are all strikingly beautiful. There are also lots of staggering special effects shots, from a carriage drawn by mice to an enormous shark in the sea. Such effects made the movie the most expensive in Italy --$45 million in total--; and Benigni should consider himself fortunate that it broke even in box office receipts. In America, however, it didn't have the same reception. Either because of the cutting and disastrous dubbing (despite the presence of big names in the cast such as John Cleese, Eric Idle, Cheech Marin, and Glen Close), or the fact that people could not accept this version, the movie was a dismal failure.

Part of the problem is the decision of having Benigni himself playing Pinocchio. I mean, come on! Benigni is WAY too old for Pinocchio, and a lot of the other "kids" in this picture are played by grown-ups! Somehow it didn't come off on me as glaring that such was the case, but I can just imagine why critics and film buffs would slamdunk this film for that cause. There are plenty of interesting concepts and ideas for the film; the Blue Fairy's costumes are gorgeous, and the image of a butterfly present in the film is very nice, but that's not enough to save this poor, troubled picture. There's hardly a sympathetic character in the movie; Pinocchio is supposed to be disobedient, yes, but here he's portrayed as a crazy maniac, refusing to behave or do anything good until he is goaded into it. The Talking Cricket is not much better. If you were spoiled by Jiminy Cricket from the (far superior) Disney version, prepare to be shocked - he not only looks a man with artificial antennas placed on his head, he also acts condescendingly. Instead of being encouraging, he comes across as a sarcastic, unhelping little jerk who just badmouths the "boy" instead of coaching him. Granted, I'm aware that this is true of the original Collidi tale (Disney "softened up" Pinocchio's personality for his film), yet here it's executed so awkwardly that it becomes difficult to become involved in this film. It also is not a very clear, focused picture: it's too dark and menacing for youngsters and too insane to appeal to older audiences.

A modern misfire, this version of PINOCCHIO is more likely to be remembered for its cinematography rather than its misguided story and below-average dubbing. (Even on the Italian original, there is some gratingly bad acting.)

Surprisingly, even though Miramax butchered this film in its theatrical release, they certainly produced a great package with this DVD. It's a two-disc set, complete with a very gorgeous transfer, and two different versions of the movie. One disc is the horribly recut U.S. release while the other is the uncut Italian version. Strangely, even an English language track is offered on the second disc as well, and it includes all the stuff that was cut from the U.S. premiere! Very interesting indeed, even if the dubbing still can't hold a candle to some of the better ones I've heard (mainly from animation films, because they don't have the same lip-sync problem that live-action ones do). Sadly, though, even the presence of the uncut version doesn't change the fact that this movie is a disappointing experience. It's gorgeous to look at, but it's certainly not a classic by any means.

This movie's notoriety as the "worst film of 2002" peaked my curiosity. I was actually disappointed to hear how bad it was because I grew up loving the original Italian Collodi story of the live wooden puppet. Having seen the SUBTITLED version of the DVD, I must say the film is not nearly as horrific as some critics would have people believe. While I agree that it is very hard to buy Roberto Benigni in the title role as a young boy/puppet, much of the film is presented as 'theater' and thus asks the audience to suspend belief. The characters of the Fox and Cat, and many others rely not on actual animal makeup but features which create an illusion of their characteristics. In this sense, the film is quite ingenius and imaginative. The sets and costumes are beautiful and the script and story line are very faithful to the original book. That said, this film is a hard one to market to any audience because it is an adult (or 'art')version of a children's story, produced in another language. Sadly, in spite of its strengths, the film was doomed to fail in America because most children know only the animated Disney version of the story, and most parents do not wish to see a 50-year old playing the lead in a children's fairy tale. A shame, because while far from perfect, the film is not the disaster that many have proclaimed it to be.

I must admit I actually liked this version of Pinocchio. :-) The out-of-sync dubbing, I suppose, is to be expected. You can't expect to make English-speaking voices and Italian-speaking mouths match up perfectly.

I personally would have much preferred to see it in the original Italian. I think that would have made a huge difference -- just like it does with any movie in a language other than English.

Another thing -- FORGET Disney! It is nothing at all like the Disney story. And I think it is very nice to see an alternate version. And this one is made in Italy, by Italians, so it has a very homegrown touch to it. ;-)

The only problem I could see was that it is a bit more childish than Benigni's last film, "Life Is Beautiful". He goes from a touching Holocaust tragedy to a fanciful straight-up comedy. So I suppose that might pose a difficulty.

Other than that, I did like it! My advice is, again, to try to see it in the original Italian, subtitled in English. And try to steer clear of the Disney-propagated Pinocchio image.

Roberto Benigni received extremely harsh critical attack for his recent rendition of Collidi's classic fairy tale of a puppet who wished to become a wooden boy. Part of this is because Miramax decided to cut the film from 110 minutes to 99(!) -- often a bad mistake, as it can damage the effect of a film. But they added another slapping blow by overdubbing the character voices. In a foreign animated film, this works more successfully because an animation cel stands on its own. Unfortunately, it's not so in the case of live action. The line-readings of the voice actors clash horrendously with the moving mouth of the foreign language, and, here, in PINOCCHIO, it's just really awful. I only listened to bits and pieces of the dub, and although the voice cast is certainly talented and does a respectable job (except for Breckin Meyer as Pinocchio himself), their words are so poorly synchronized with the moving mouth that the results come across as disastrous.

Although the film holds well together in its native tongue and uncut version, one cannot help but wonder just what went wrong with this production. PINOCCHIO is definitely an ambitious picture; the costumes, set designs and cinematography are all strikingly beautiful. There are also lots of staggering special effects shots, from a carriage drawn by mice to an enormous shark in the sea. Such effects made the movie the most expensive in Italy --$45 million in total--; and Benigni should consider himself fortunate that it broke even in box office receipts. In America, however, it didn't have the same reception. Either because of the cutting and disastrous dubbing (despite the presence of big names in the cast such as John Cleese, Eric Idle, Cheech Marin, and Glen Close), or the fact that people could not accept this version, the movie was a dismal failure.

Part of the problem is the decision of having Benigni himself playing Pinocchio. I mean, come on! Benigni is WAY too old for Pinocchio, and a lot of the other "kids" in this picture are played by grown-ups! Somehow it didn't come off on me as glaring that such was the case, but I can just imagine why critics and film buffs would slamdunk this film for that cause. There are plenty of interesting concepts and ideas for the film; the Blue Fairy's costumes are gorgeous, and the image of a butterfly present in the film is very nice, but that's not enough to save this poor, troubled picture. There's hardly a sympathetic character in the movie; Pinocchio is supposed to be disobedient, yes, but here he's portrayed as a crazy maniac, refusing to behave or do anything good until he is goaded into it. The Talking Cricket is not much better. If you were spoiled by Jiminy Cricket from the (far superior) Disney version, prepare to be shocked - he not only looks a man with artificial antennas placed on his head, he also acts condescendingly. Instead of being encouraging, he comes across as a sarcastic, unhelping little jerk who just badmouths the "boy" instead of coaching him. Granted, I'm aware that this is true of the original Collidi tale (Disney "softened up" Pinocchio's personality for his film), yet here it's executed so awkwardly that it becomes difficult to become involved in this film. It also is not a very clear, focused picture: it's too dark and menacing for youngsters and too insane to appeal to older audiences.

A modern misfire, this version of PINOCCHIO is more likely to be remembered for its cinematography rather than its misguided story and below-average dubbing. (Even on the Italian original, there is some gratingly bad acting.)

Surprisingly, even though Miramax butchered this film in its theatrical release, they certainly produced a great package with this DVD. It's a two-disc set, complete with a very gorgeous transfer, and two different versions of the movie. One disc is the horribly recut U.S. release while the other is the uncut Italian version. Strangely, even an English language track is offered on the second disc as well, and it includes all the stuff that was cut from the U.S. premiere! Very interesting indeed, even if the dubbing still can't hold a candle to some of the better ones I've heard (mainly from animation films, because they don't have the same lip-sync problem that live-action ones do). Sadly, though, even the presence of the uncut version doesn't change the fact that this movie is a disappointing experience. It's gorgeous to look at, but it's certainly not a classic by any means.

This movie's notoriety as the "worst film of 2002" peaked my curiosity. I was actually disappointed to hear how bad it was because I grew up loving the original Italian Collodi story of the live wooden puppet. Having seen the SUBTITLED version of the DVD, I must say the film is not nearly as horrific as some critics would have people believe. While I agree that it is very hard to buy Roberto Benigni in the title role as a young boy/puppet, much of the film is presented as 'theater' and thus asks the audience to suspend belief. The characters of the Fox and Cat, and many others rely not on actual animal makeup but features which create an illusion of their characteristics. In this sense, the film is quite ingenius and imaginative. The sets and costumes are beautiful and the script and story line are very faithful to the original book. That said, this film is a hard one to market to any audience because it is an adult (or 'art')version of a children's story, produced in another language. Sadly, in spite of its strengths, the film was doomed to fail in America because most children know only the animated Disney version of the story, and most parents do not wish to see a 50-year old playing the lead in a children's fairy tale. A shame, because while far from perfect, the film is not the disaster that many have proclaimed it to be.

I must admit I actually liked this version of Pinocchio. :-) The out-of-sync dubbing, I suppose, is to be expected. You can't expect to make English-speaking voices and Italian-speaking mouths match up perfectly.

I personally would have much preferred to see it in the original Italian. I think that would have made a huge difference -- just like it does with any movie in a language other than English.

Another thing -- FORGET Disney! It is nothing at all like the Disney story. And I think it is very nice to see an alternate version. And this one is made in Italy, by Italians, so it has a very homegrown touch to it. ;-)

The only problem I could see was that it is a bit more childish than Benigni's last film, "Life Is Beautiful". He goes from a touching Holocaust tragedy to a fanciful straight-up comedy. So I suppose that might pose a difficulty.

Other than that, I did like it! My advice is, again, to try to see it in the original Italian, subtitled in English. And try to steer clear of the Disney-propagated Pinocchio image.

I just bought this tape and found that all 57 or so minutes of it are crammed onto a few feet of tape because it was duplicated in EP mode instead of SP. (We all know that most movies come in SP mode.) The quality suffers a lot.

The video cassette in this case is mostly empty space. I really don't get it. Why ruin such a fun cartoon this way? Does that extra video tape really cost so much? Why why?

This wild cartoon is great for younger viewers. The animation is very good and each character well drawn. An original and entertaining show, it's basically about the monsters themselves and the secret world that they live in underground and in the sewers. Their jobs in life are to scare happless humans. The focus of the show itself is on three monsters in particular; Oblina, Ickes, and Krum. Each of the characters have a unique personality and are quite likeable (but not obnoxiously cute). With Tim Currey as the voice of the Grumble (the teacher at the monster's Scare Academy), and various other celebrity voices, Real Monsters is a real treat.

I ordered: Best of Saturday Night Live (1975) and instead I got the Best of Saturday Night Live from 1992. The description says 1975, yet my order form came out 1992, and the video I received is from 1992. I didn't think to check the order form for 1975. There is obviously an error on the website, since they list something from 1992 as 1975. DO NOT ORDER THIS TAPE IF YOU WANT THE BEST OF SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE FROM 1975.

I loved this video! It showed many of my favorite skeches, cast members and hosts. A must buy. Great sketches like Church Lady, Coonches the Cat who could drive, and Wayne's World, I love it.

This may be the worst collection of Farrell clips they could've put together. I loved The best of Chris Farley, but this was a mess. The skits we're weak and nothing we haven't seen before in their many compilation shows.. How many times has he played Trebek? Do we really need to see the same one with Sean Connery, Burt Reynolds, and French Stewart again? And not even the whole skit on top of it all.. What a waste of money this was! What a shame......

I must say that this video is worth every cent. Talk about a knee-slapper! For all of you with a great sense of humor I really just can't say enough! Will Farrell may be one of the funniest actors ever.

My favorite part of every classic beginning on Saturday Night Live television history during the seventies is when he falls down or trips over things that were waiting to happen for Chevy himself. As he says in every opening credits to this show was "LIVE FROM NEW YORK IT'S SATURDAY NIGHT! And don't forget his zany antic on weekend update as he was the news anchor person.