Reviews (540)

Simply Astounding
This movie has a very simple message and you read it in the title Life is Beautiful taking place during the holocaust in Italy no one could ever guess that this movie could be so touching and honest...Roberto Benigni who I believe won the Academy Award for his performance does the wonderful job in the role as a happy go lucky man who's whole life changes during the holocaust and it is up to Benigni to keep his family together...Another refreshing thing to see was the fact that this movie takes place in Italy during the holocaust and what is was really like for jewish families in Italy during the holocaust and very few history students know today that Italy was allies with Germany for a time...I love Benigni and enjoy watching his struggles and watching his love for his son and his wife. Why can't there be more guys like Benigi out there? The DVD features an English language track and of course English subtitles...I prefer the subtitles myself so I can get a real feel for the movie.I have been moved by this movie and you should rent or buy this movie for...by the end of this DVD you'll either be in tears or screaming life is beautiful!

Life is Beautiful, Movies can be Weird
After skimming the reviews here, Roberto Benigni has obviously struck a chord with a lot of people.
I would not argue with them but I found myself with the reviewer who called this film MR. BEAN GOES TO AUSCHWITZ. Actual history proved just too distracting for me to get caught up in this "fable."

Actually, the film I kept thinking of has never been seen: Jerry Lewis' THE DAY THE CLOWN CRIED. I've read the script and I can only imagine the reviews of that film if it was ever released! (Now there's a film in itself: a daffy but deranged filmmaker, popping pills and performing pratfalls, producing his movie about a German clown entertaining Jewish kids on their way to the ovens. Yikes.)

LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL doesn't go that far, but I found myself constantly distracted by Benigni's rubbery slapstick taking place in a concentration camp. Yeah, it's sweet that he wants to spare his son the horrors of the camp...but they're in a camp, a concentration camp.
The first half of the film actually plays like a whimsical, slightly-more-witty Jerry Lewis movie. Then the Nazis arrive. Individual scenes manage to touch and charm, but overall it just feels very odd.

Jerry Lewis must have gone nuts when Benigni won the Best Actor Academy Award (William Goldman, the sage of screenwriters, certainly did in print by saying this was the greatest Oscar abomination since THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH won Best Picture in the 1950s). I admit I was put off at Benigni's antics at the Oscars--"I LUFF YOU, I LUFF YOU ALL, I MAKE LUFF TO YOU ALL!" I can't even picture Jerry Lewis carrying on that much if he'd won Best Actor for THE BELLBOY. Now that I think about it, maybe he would....

Yes, movies are a great escape from reality--but there are some realities that shouldn't be part of that escape.
We have new generations of kids coming up who are quite removed from the terrifying reality of the Holocaust and the near-slapstick version of it portrayed in LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL could diminish the true horror of it.
That heaviness, that memory, made buying into the humor nearly impossible.

"I want to make love to all of hollywood"
The pride of Italy Roberto Benini in his WWII masterpiece, tastefully combining comedy with drama in an oscar winning foreign film. A must have. Make sure you watch it in Italian with the subtitles.

ETMR - Life is Beautiful
1. Humanity: How does Guido express the human quality of endurance?

2. Implications: Life is Beautiful expresses the need for family strength. What does this mean for today?

3. Evolution: Life is Beautiful employs a style that is at first jarring to watch, and then succeeds on its own as a force of comedy. How has this affected cinema since its release in 1998?

4. Realism: Is the game Guido plays with his son feasible realistically?

5. Stageplay: The basic story is one of a man trying to remain optimistic during a time of intense suffering. How does the light-heartedness of the plot change the realistic consequences of the Holocaust?

A Beautiful film
Never before has such a brilliant hybrid of comedy and the tradegy of war been so skillfully woven togen. The film, although disjointed slightly in its early stages, presents a delicate balance between the otrocities of the second world war and the genuine warmth and kindness of its protagonist. There are times when you will you laugh, others that you will feel deeply saddened by the plight of the characters, with the comfortable compromise reached at the film's conclusion leaving a pleasant after taste in spite of the circumstances. Brilliantly acted and filmed, Life is Beautiful presents a different take of what life was like in that dark period of history whilst leaving intact the integrity of the central themes and the brutality of war. This is a movie that can be enjoyed on multiple levels and is a worthy Oscar winner. ... Read more

Reviews (38)

Benigni's funniest movie
This is one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. Benigni is a genius when it comes to comedy, the modern Charlie Chaplain. After "Life is Beautiful", this is probably his best movie.

A sex-crazed serial killer is on the loose and has already killed a dozen women. When the goofy Loris (Benigni) is mistaken for the killer and the local police launch a 24-hour surveillance of his crazy life, the laughs begin and never end. Benigni's real-life wife, Nicoletta Braschi, also in "Life is Beautiful", stars in this one as well as a police officer who goes undercover to catch him in the act. She sublets (illegally) his apartment and movies in with him to try to entice him into his sexual psychosis. When normal life fails, she then must dance around the apartment naked shoving her genitalia right into his face.

It's a little on the edge, but in the tradition of Benigni comedy, is still quite tasteful. 17 and over only though. Sexually explicit scenes all over the place, but no nudity.

Monstrously Funny
Roberto Benigni is irrepressibly hilarious in this movie. I can honestly say that for me there is never a dull moment in the movie, and I have seen it at least five times. An adventerous, cretive crook Loris, played by Benigni, is suspected of being a serial rapist and murderer. The police is closing in on him, using a soulful police detective, Jessica, played by Benigni's real-life wife, Nicoletta Braschi. But Jessica turns out to be a savior for Loris rather than a bait. She falls in love with his sense of humor, imagination, and kindness. In the meantime, the supposed pillars of society--the chief of police, the professor of criminal psychiatry, and the foreign language professor--turn out to be extemely flawed human beings. However, you won't leave this movie hating any of its characters. Probably not even the Chinese professor who, rationally speaking, deserves hatred from a decent human being. The magic of Benigni ensures that you have fun and a chance to reflect, but you never leave his movie with a bad taste in your mouth.

The comic scences in this movie, from beginning to end, are first rate. I have seen movies produced in all kinds of countries--and this one is one of the funniest. If you have not seen it yet, do not miss out any longer and get a copy. And believe me, it is worth seeing more than once.

European style funny
I think people who experienced living in Europe may find this movie much funnier than those who did not. It should be of no surprise that this is probably the highest grossing movie in Italy whereas in the US it received sub-par reviews.

"Loris...a normal name. It warms the heart..."
There are a lot of people out there who do not like to watch subtitled movies. They'll base what they see and what they don't on this alone. If you are one of these people, and I must say that I understand how aggravating it is to have to read the whole movie, and that is why you have never seen The Monster, and insist you never will, I must say that you are missing out on something really good.
As for those who have simply never heard of The Monster, let me say that it is one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. Roberto Benigni is an excellent actor, and a hilarious one too. He is like an Italian version of Jim Carrey, only ten times better.
The Monster, or Il Mostro as it is called in Italian, is about a man named Loris who is a sane enough man, if not a little bit strange. But he is by no means a decent human being. He steals, he lies, he cheats his landlord out of potential buyers of his apartment (yet he won't pay the rent). He places supermarket items on other shoppers at the local grocery as a way to make the alarm systems go crazy, so that he can easily get away with a coat full of stolen goods. At the same time that Loris is doing all these illegal things, another man is going around raping and killing off the female population. Due to some hilarious misunderstanding, Loris is focused in on as being the main suspect. After watching a tape that the police have made of Loris on a "normal day", it is easy to understand why. In order to catch Loris "with his hand in the cookie jar", a policewoman named Jessica is assigned the job of seducing him, and once he responds to her sexual innuendoes, she is to slap on the cuffs and haul him in. After all, that will prove he is some kind of sex maniac, right?
I recommend this movie to Italians who enjoy a good laugh, fans of Benigni and any one else with a sense of humor. I first saw this movie a couple of years ago at my grandparents' house. I have loved it ever since.

GREAT SLAPSTICK
I love this sort of silly, lightweight comedy. Like many farces, the comedy comes from the misunderstandings and deceptions between characters. Although the movie is not perfect, it has some hilarious scenes that will leave you gasping for breath.

Benigni reminds me of a speaking version of Harpo Marx. Like Harpo, he is a loveable satyr and trickster. Both men are short and are not handsome, but they have wonderfully expressive faces and are masters of physical humor.

I have seen two other Benigni films: Johnny Toothpick and Life is Beautiful. The Monster and Johnny Toothpick are somewhat similar in style and content, although I prefer the former to the latter. In any case, if you enjoyed one, you probably will enjoy the other. Life is Beautiful is an entirely different sort of movie, deftly blending comedy and drama. Life is Beautiful is an outstanding film, but if that is the only film of Benigni's you have seen, you should understand that the Monster is much less serious and much more crass. ... Read more

Reviews (24)

If Somebody Else Played Pinocchio ....
[The following review refers to the original version.] Let's face it. I don't want to say this, but Roberto Begnigni's new film, live-action version about the story of Pinoccio is a huge disappointment.

Not that everything in it is bad, I tell you. On the contrary, you have Danilo Donati (famous for Felini's films) as production/costume designer. You also have Academy-nominee Dante Spinotti as photographer, whose works in such as "The Last of the Mohicans" "The Insider" "LA Confidential" are all memorable. Plus, Nocola Piovani gives good soundtrack as in "Life Is Beautiful," and even people from America help immensely with Rob Hodgson ("Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"). But the result is quite unsatisfactory, even though we hear that this film became a big hit in Italy. But why?

It's Roberto Benigni as the star (not the director) of the film who should be blamed. You just cannot accuse the people at The Golden Raspberry Awards of giving him an award. If they find that Benigni's decision to cast himself as the titular wooden puppet unacceptable, that is only natural. I share their thought, too, and while I was watching the film, I tried to find any reason that he should be in the title role. I do not object his jumping around or talking fast itself. It is just that he is NOT that puppet, Pinocchio, no matter how he does.

In his country where films are more influantial than in Japan or in USA, Benigni has been seen as a sort of cultural icon, not just a comedian. That makes his decison understandable to take up a beloved story of Pinocchio as subject matter, but it is also an undeniable fact that he could have made the film better and more accesible internationally by staying back behind the camera, not in front of it. If the film is meant only for domestic market, his appearance could be justified, but as he is now known world-wide after the success of "Life Is Beautiful," he should have been more cautious.

A few words about the way of adapting the story. The film, unlike classic Disney animation or the recent live-action made in 1996 (starring Martin Landou), follows pretty faithfully the original story by Carlo Collodi. But as the original story was serialized in a periodical for children, and twice entended because of its huge popularity, the original book has some inconsistency in the plot. (Believe or not, Pinocchio is once killed after 15 chapters of the book, but given another life later to continue the story!)

As a consequence, in this film, you may not be sure whether or not The Talking Cricket is really dead; moreover, the identity of The Blue Fairy is very ambiguous. These apparently incoherent elements are brought into the film without being modified much from the original. The film adaptations of "Pinocchio" in the past solved the problem by simply smoothing out the jarring factors, simplifying the story, but Benigni just didn't follow suit. If you have read the original book recenty, you will see his point; otherwise, you may be irritated by the story's a bit redundant nature.

I don't think that the film is as bad as some people say. Still, it is true that Benigni's portrayal as Pinocchio is ineffective and often annoying. I like him and his partner Nicoletta Braschi (as The Blue Fairy); I really admire their sweet and creative relations represented in "Life Is Beautiful." But "Pinoccio" just doesn't show that to me.

Not bad at all!
Ok, I was expecting this film to be bad based on all the bad (press) reviews but it actually isn't bad at all. As a Benigni fan I had to buy it and it's very much worth seeing, and I'm sure many other adult Benigni fans will agree. Much beautiful scenery and I laughed aloud through many scenes, such as the lollipop scene and a scene with Pinocchio along with the puppets and Fireeater... Benigni's facial expressions make it all worthwhile. Ok, so Benigni seems a little "out of place" playing a young boy, but it's fun and different. One thing though, best seen in the Italian with English subtitle version... Haven't even bothered to watch the English dubbed version. In my opinion, dubbed movies lose much and arent worth watching.
*Note* This movie is not based on the Disney version so things can be unexpected unless youve read other versions.
...Oh and why don't my copies come with an insert? That part disappointed me, not the movie.

This film is underappreciated
This is a very well crafted and entertaining movie, but of course must be watched in Italian, with the subtitles. If you like Benigni you will certainly enjoy this film--as usual he shines with comedic brilliance. The movie is absolutely hilarious in some parts, and very touching in others. Benigni's acting is great, but there are also great performances by the supporting cast members. This movie is beautifully photographed and cleverly written and it's a shame it was released in 'dubbed' form in the U.S. Dubbed movies are always bad, but the actor who did the voice for Benigni's Pinocchio was just not a good choice at all!

Interesting ideas, but falls flat on all levels.
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.

Missed its potential, but not as bad as critics say...
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. ... Read more