'Age of Ultron' Trailer Was Unintentionally Funny

Well played, Marvel, well played. Or should I say well handled? Although we were told that the Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer would debut next Tuesday after Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., not only did the Avengers 2 trailer leak on Wednesday, but Marvel decided not to pursue legal action over it. Instead, the released a humorous tweet and then gave us an HD version of the trailer. Now that's how you handle a leak. However, when I eagerly watched the Age of Ultron trailer multiple times, I couldn't help but be... well, a little distracted. Don't get me wrong. The plot, the action, the visual effects, they were all on a grand scale and creepy as all hell. However, the Age of Ultron trailer samples Pinocchio for its background music and I'm sorry, but that's hilarious.

The song they chose fits in with the themes of the trailer. Ultron is busting loose of his "strings", so Pinocchio's "I've Got No Strings" was basically the perfect Disney song. Although, to be honest, the way they matched his speech up with the song makes me honestly wonder if they had this song in mind for the trailer long before they ever even started writing the script for the film. The trailer might have slowed the song down and given it a creepy cover on par with Maleficent's use of "Once Upon a Dream", but it didn't have the same effect on me. I mean, I've seen Pinocchio. This is the song.

As from the Disney movie, Pinocchio sings it as part of his performance — a performance that was not sanctioned by his conscience Jiminy Cricket — in which he dances around with a bunch of puppets who do have strings. And are also blatant cultural stereotypes, but really all I was picturing while hearing the song was dancing puppets. Ultron was trying to give the impression of being a dark version of a dancing puppet free from it's strings and the idea is an incredibly terrifying one. That song? Sorry, but it just doesn't terrify me. In fact, it kind of makes me want to laugh.

However, the song didn't detract too much from what was an otherwise awesome trailer. I respect what Marvel was trying to do, after all. And now we have another dark cover of what was originally a cute Disney song to add to our list. Age of Ultron made the song work as long as you don't watch the Pinocchio scene directly before watching the trailer, although perhaps the contrast between the two will make the effect better instead of worse. Meanwhile, I'll be sitting over here picture Pinocchio tap dancing in slow motion to this background music.

Check out the trailer below.

Image: YouTube