Disney's Geppetto (Film)

***Geppetto*** is a ***2000*** made-for-television remake of the popular novel *The Adventures of Pinocchio*. It featured original songs written by ***Stephen Schwartz***. Schwartz had developed the songs as a reunion for ***Mary Poppins*** stars ***Dick Van Dyke*** and ***Julie Andrews***, but Andrews was undergoing throat surgery so the idea was dropped.

## Plot

Geppetto (***Drew Carey***) is a kind toymaker who desperately wishes to become a father. One night, after selling his new spring toys to the children of Villagio, his wish is granted by the Blue Fairy (***Julia Louis-Dreyfus***), who brings his wooden puppet, Pinocchio (***Seth Adkins***), to life with her magic saying that someday, if he proves himself brave, truthful and unselfish, he will become a real boy.

At first, Geppetto is delighted to have his wish come true, but runs into a string of problems, such as Pinocchio asking unnecessary questions when trying to get to sleep, getting into mischief and wandering off when introducing him to the townspeople, and showing no interest in being a toymaker. The next day, Geppetto sends Pinocchio off to school, telling him to just act like all the other children and he will do fine. However, Pinocchio gets into a fight at school, in which he was imitating all the other children. A disappointed Geppetto takes him home where an unsuccessful puppeteer named ***Stromboli*** (***Brent Spiner***) becomes interested, thinking he would make him a fortune in his puppet shows. Still furious about Pinocchio's misbehavior, Geppetto tries to reason with the Blue Fairy, but she does not believe him. He returns home to apologize to Pinocchio, only to find out he ran away to live with Stromboli. Geppetto decides to say goodbye to Pinocchio by watching him perform in Stromboli's puppet show.

Stromboli is pleased with Pinocchio as his star puppet which has made him much money. But when Pinocchio asks to let him go, Stromboli refuses, stating it would violate a contract they signed. When Geppetto arrives backstage, hoping to say goodbye, Stromboli explains that Pinocchio left after the show, claiming that he wanted to see the world. After he leaves, Stromboli is outraged when he notices that Pinocchio escaped from the cage and spots him boarding a stagecoach to ***Pleasure Island*** (Usher has a cameo as the Ring Leader of Pleasure Island). He decides to recapture him while Geppetto goes out to rescue him as well, with the Blue Fairy following him, attempting to assist him in his quest. Along the way, he meets an inept magician named Lezarno (***Wayne Brady***) and Professor Buonragazzo (***René Auberjonois***) who lives in the town of Idyllia, where he and his son make perfect and ideal children who always obey their parents.

Pleasure Island is not all that it seems to be and Geppetto and Stromboli both arrive at Pleasure Island where Geppetto finds out all the boys turn into donkeys after riding a rollercoaster. But because adults are not allowed in Pleasure Island, Stromboli is kicked out while Geppetto arrives just in time to take Pinocchio home, but Pinocchio refuses, saying he did not want him because of what a big disappointment he was to him and immediately turns into a donkey once he gets on the rollercoaster and is shipped off to sea by boat.

Trying to keep up with the boat, Geppetto accidentally gets swallowed by ***a monstrous whale***. Pinocchio jumps off the boat and into the water where he gets swallowed by the whale as well and the donkey curse washes away. They make up and, noticing that they are inside the whale, they attempt to get out by having Pinocchio tell several lies, causing his nose to grow and tickle the whale's uvula to throw them up. They manage to escape and forgive each other for their wrongs. Afterwards, they return to the toy shop where Stromboli arrives to take Pinocchio back, still keeping him under the contract. Geppetto offers him his whole shop in exchange for Pinocchio. As Stromboli captures him, Geppetto begs and pleads to the Blue Fairy, who can no longer help, to grant him one last wish. The Blue Fairy then turns Pinocchio into a real boy, shoos Stromboli away with her magic, and changes the words on the sign of Geppetto's shop to "Geppetto & Son".

## Cast

* ***Drew Carey*** as Geppetto
* ***Julia Louis-Dreyfus*** as the Blue Fairy
* ***Brent Spiner*** as ***Stromboli***
* ***René Auberjonois*** as Professor Buonragazzo
* Seth Adkins as Pinocchio
* ***Usher Raymond*** as ***Pleasure Island Ringleader***
* Ana Gasteyer as ***Signora Giovanni***
* ***Wayne Brady*** as ***Lazardo V***
* Anthony Crivello as Bernardo

### Featured

* Dennis Bendersky
* Anton Yelchin
* Taylor Emerson
* ***Myles Jeffrey***
* Christopher Marquette
* Kyle Sullivan
* ***Josh Zuckerman***
* Camille Winbush
* ***Sara Paxton***
* ***Janel Parrish***
* ***Renee Olstead***
* Alberto Rosende

## Musical numbers

1. "Once Upon a Time" - Geppetto
2. "***Toys***" - The Cast
3. "***Empty Heart***" - Geppetto
4. "***And Son***" - Geppetto, Pinocchio
5. "***Just Because It's Magic***" - The Blue Fairy, Geppetto
6. "***I've Got No Strings***" - Pinocchio
7. "***Bravo, Stromboli!***" - Stromboli
8. "Toys" (Reprise) - Geppetto, The Magician
9. "***Satisfaction Guaranteed***" - Professor Buonragazzo, The Cast
10. "Just Because It's Magic" (Reprise) - The Blue Fairy
11. "***Pleasure Island***" - Ringleader
12. "And Son" (Reprise) - Pinocchio, Geppetto
13. "***Since I Gave My Heart Away***" - Geppetto, The Blue Fairy
14. "Since I Gave My Heart Away" (Single Version) - Sonya Isaacs

The soundtrack for *Geppetto* is available from Walt Disney Records, and it features songs from the film composed by Stephen Schwartz, as well as the single, "Since I Gave My Heart Away" performed by Sonya Isaacs (as heard in the end credits of the movie).

## Trivia

* Carey's role in the film became a recurring butt-of-jokes on his series *Whose Line is it Anyway?*, which also featured fellow cast member Wayne Brady as a regular performer.
* ***Steve Martin*** and ***Robin Williams*** were both considered for the role of Geppetto.
* Seth Adkins would again voice Pinocchio in the video game ***Kingdom Hearts***.
* The film has an adaptation for the stage called ***My Son Pinocchio: Geppetto's Musical Tale***, featuring all of the songs, plus a few more, yet slightly changed and expanded plot-line.

## Gallery

Geppetto Cast.jpgCastGeppetto in Workshop.jpg2000-geppetto-2.jpg2000-geppetto-3.jpg2000-geppetto-1.jpg
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