Since 2015, Walt Disney Pictures has produced live action recreations of their most beloved movies. They have continued this year by releasing a remake of “Pinocchio.”

This live action CGI remake is extremely, but not entirely, different from the original Disney version.

It is also rather confusing in what message it wants to send to its audience.

In this remake, it begins with Jiminy Cricket, he contributes nothing major to the story. But he is assigned as Pinocchio’s conscience by the Blue Fairy. He does not try to explain the difference between right and wrong like in the original, rather the story immediately focuses on the bond between Geppetto and Pinocchio.

After Pinocchio leaves for school, Jiminy wakes up late, and finds Pinocchio after five minutes, he then convinces Pinocchio to go to school.

Pinocchio is a story about a wooden boy becoming human by proving he is brave, truthful, and unselfish. He learns to be these things by experiencing the consequences of not listening to his conscience.

If he is easily willing to listen to Jiminy at the start and knows right from wrong without Jiminy being there, then what is his journey supposed to show? What is Jiminy supposed to do?

The answer is nothing. Jiminy is constantly thrown to the side to show how good of a person Pinocchio already is.

As Pinocchio is going home to his father, he is whisked away suddenly by a stick.

He falls into the Coachman’s cart where he is told about Pleasure Island. Instead of being tempted, Pinocchio declines and says he would rather go home to his father.

Pinocchio also says that he doesn’t trust the Coachman. The Coachman is visibly infuriated at this and begins a song where he gets the children to pressure Pinocchio into saying he wants to go.

Throughout all of this, Jiminy is stuck on the ground while trying to get up into the cart. This foreshadows the theme presented.

Finally, at the end of the movie, after Pinocchio saves Geppetto from Monstro it is not shown whether or not he turned into a real boy. It is hinted at, but it is not shown through a magical transformation like the original.

The symbolism of Pinocchio becoming a real boy as him becoming a real, good person was swapped for a “love yourself, you’re perfect as you are” message.

The new movie butchers the message so much in place of a more child-friendly message. When it tries to add something new, it butchers that too. The scene changes are so sudden and fast-paced that you never get to take in the new characters or new themes the writers tried to add in.

This form of rushed and child-friendly writing makes it difficult for other people to understand what the lesson of the movie was.

I asked freshman Christiano Ramirez  what he thought about the lesson of the story he made an unsure reply.

“Don’t lie,” Ramirez answered.

I then asked if he liked the character Pinocchio. “No, he was annoying!” Ramirez replied.

Another freshman, Janiya Powell, thought the movie was okay.

“I thought it was decent. I really liked Tom Hanks,” Powell voiced.

When I asked if she understood the lesson of the remake, she explained she really didn’t understand.

“No, not really. Being truthful, I guess,” Powell admitted.

Students, myself included, can agree this remake’s message was not clear, and overall poorly written.