"Actor: Mohamed El Balti"

• The New Adventures Of Pinocchio | DVD | (09/05/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  The New Adventures of Pinocchio is the charming sequel to the 1996 live-action movie. With a largely brand-new cast, the most important returning actor is Martin Landau as Geppetto. His role is pared down, however, by a neat twist in the tale. Udo Kier is the other returning actor, this time in the new bad guy/girl role of Madame Flambeau, whose carnival sets itself up in Pinocchio's town and offers everyone a miracle elixir to change their lives. Pinocchio (now played as a real boy by Gabriel Thomson) hopes the elixir will make his papa feel better from a nasty cold, but it turns out Flambeau tricked him with puppet-making juice. So now it's Geppetto who's the wooden star of the show! Lots of surprises keep the story happily moving along, with secret identities waiting to spring from the likes of Warwick Davis as the ringleader Dwarf. The Jim Henson Studio puppets are first class as always, with some flawless computer graphics coming to the rescue every so often. There's a beautiful backdrop of Luxembourg countryside too for this pantomime where everyone looks as if they had great fun putting it together. --Paul Tonks

• The New Adventures Of Pinocchio | DVD | (21/03/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The New Adventures of Pinocchio is the charming sequel to the 1996 live-action movie. With a largely brand-new cast, the most important returning actor is Martin Landau as Geppetto. His role is pared down, however, by a neat twist in the tale. Udo Kier is the other returning actor, this time in the new bad guy/girl role of Madame Flambeau, whose carnival sets itself up in Pinocchio's town and offers everyone a miracle elixir to change their lives. Pinocchio (now played as a real boy by Gabriel Thomson) hopes the elixir will make his papa feel better from a nasty cold, but it turns out Flambeau tricked him with puppet-making juice. So now it's Geppetto who's the wooden star of the show! Lots of surprises keep the story happily moving along, with secret identities waiting to spring from the likes of Warwick Davis as the ringleader Dwarf. The Jim Henson Studio puppets are first class as always, with some flawless computer graphics coming to the rescue every so often. There's a beautiful backdrop of Luxembourg countryside too for this pantomime where everyone looks as if they had great fun putting it together. --Paul Tonks