If they want to save some time, they could just theatrically re-release the original Disney cartoon...except now with a new audio track featuring all contemporary celebrities doing the voices. Quite frankly, they could pull this lazy stunt once every 30 years with every animated classic...and the public would probably buy tickets.
Confession - I watched this movie, though many years ago. I remember thinking it was pretty decent for a straight-to-video horror movie (from the director of Wicthboard and Night of the Demons).
That's really not a bad idea. This is an old movie but a with a good story and quality animation. It used to be that that they did not use any known talent for cartoon type movies, they instead used voice talent. Now days, they hedge their bets by using voices that are already familiar to audiences. Even if who they are is not apparent to the audience. Why not do this? I think it would work as well as any other modern animated release.
The myth that Disney started using celebrity talent to market their movies during the Disney Renaissance or Toy Story is untrue. Fact is, Disney used celebrity talent to market movies even in their earlier days. These days, these older celebrities are not very well know so people assume they weren't big names during their time. Jungle Book used radio star Phil Harris as Baloo and jazz legend Louis Prima as King Louis. Alice in Wonderland used radio star Jerry Colonna as the March Hare and vaudeville star Ed Wynn as the Mad Hatter The movie in question, Pinocchio used musician Cliff Edwards as Jiminy Cricket and comedian Walter Catlett as Honest John.
I realize that Disney did use famous people from time to time. But I believe that Disney's focus was always on the right voice for the character. Not that they don't want to have a right voice for their modern day characters. But I don't think the older stuff was as much about having a voice that would resonate with the public as one they recognize the way they place that importance today. The new stuff revolves around well known talent more than perhaps necessary for the characters. But, that seems to be OK, as all of the voice overs I have heard seem to fit the animated characters.
A problem I see with using well-known actors is that they tend to overshadow the characters. An example of this is the movie Antz where it was difficult not to see the actors behind the characters, made more so by modeling the characters on the actors and also having them move like the actors portraying them. As an example, Z was Woody Allen in both voice and mannerisms it was difficult not to see him.
One issue I could see is that the lip movements wouldn't match the spoken dialog, which might distract some of the audience. However, this might be mitigated by the recent influx of anime, which is post dubbed, so that the lip movements not matching the spoken dialog might not be noticed as much...as long as they don't go with the Speed Racer method (fit two-to-three spoken words in the space of one word visual on screen).
I totally agree. I find that when I watch regular movies, I am not that consciously aware of the actors voice. Sometimes, using that voice in an animated movie can be overpowering to the animated character. My favorite example of this is Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. Steve Buscemi voices the character Neil. I don't have an issue with this, except that every time Neil speaks, it is not matching the person I see speaking. Drives me nuts! What they should have done was to at least make the animated character "look" like Steve Buscemi. That would work better for me.
I've said this before, but I'd be surprised if this film made a dime. I don't think anybody wants to see it, and the trailer only reinforces it (for me). I think Disney wants to believe they'll have the same big reaction that they did for Lion King, when Jon Favreau redid that in 2019 with photorealistic CGI animation. Despite a lot of skeptism from critics (including me), and a massive budget of $260 million, Lion King went on to make a whopping $1.663 billion dollars worldwide. Cartoon fans have derided it unmercifully on the net, but I saw it in the theater and didn't think it was that bad -- but I also don't think it was as good (or as emotional) as the 1994 original. I'd be extremely surprised if Pinocchio makes even a fraction of this, given that Pinocchio has been remade a dozen times in the last 80 years. My take is that this is gonna be another Mars Needs Moms or something like that, where it costs $150 million and makes only $39 million... which is very bad Hollywood math. I think Zemeckis is an immensely talented filmmaker and Tom Hanks is a world-class actor (and said to be The Nicest Guy in Hollywood), but I don't think their talents are well-suited to remakes of classic kids' films.
Given the lack of family movies currently in theatres I'm surprised Pinocchio is going straight to Disney + given the estimated budget of $150 million ! Dumbo released in 2019 grossed $353.3 million worldwide on a budget of $170 million.
Benigni has done it twice - once as Pinocchio (when he was obviously way too old to be playing the role) and once as Gepetto. (You may have been joking and knew this, but I couldn't tell)
I mean... there's a distinct lack of any movies that aren't superheroic or star Tom Cruise in theaters right now. In mainstream cinemas, at least. I'm exaggerating, but maybe not by much. Prey, which would have looked fantastic in a theater, went directly to streaming. Dumbo was pre-pandemic.
Another factor that works against redubbing is if the new voice actor isn't close to the original voice actor or if the new voice actor is well known for other voice acting roles. Some examples: Krillin (U. S. Dub of Dragonball Z): They replaced the original dubbing team after the first season. While most of the voice actors weren't too different from the original, the one standout for me was Krillin. The new voice actor for him was so different from the original that it was distracting and it took me a long time to get used to the new voice. David Kaye: He portrayed Professor Charles Xavier on X-Men Evolution but he was also the voice of Soun Tendo on the U. S. dub of Ranma 1/2. The characters were so different (Xavier was emotionally controlled, while Soun Tendo is an emotional wreck who at times cries so much that he floods the room) that to me the voice just didn't match Professor X. Scott McNeil: Was the original voice actor for Piccolo on Dragonball Z but was also the voice of Wolverine on X-Men Evolution. It just seemed strange to me to hear Wolverine sound just like Piccolo. From the Trailer it looks like they are going with voices that are close to the original...and that is likely a good thing.
With Benigni (in the first movie where he played Pinocchio), in the English dub they tried to deal with the issue by saying that in that world children look like adults.
I really didn't think that Dumbo was such a bad movie. The main problem with Dumbo as a character, is that he doesn't do very much. In fact, he does practically nothing at all. He is merely a baby elephant. That sort of precludes actually making a movie about Dumbo. It can only be a movie which is loosely centered on and around Dumbo.
I think the critic on Ebert's site got the gist of it well: Dumbo movie review & film summary (2019) | Roger Ebert I think Zemeckis' productions are wildly uneven: the animated ones like Polar Express, Christmas Carol, and Beowulf are just about unwatchable. And yet... you look at Roger Rabbit, and it's one of the most amazing films ever made. Check out this video somebody made on how bad Zemeckis' 2000s films were...
