Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio is a rich and imaginative take on a familiar story that illustrates the importance of being able to process the reality of death – not just for yourself, but for your loved ones.
Like many Tuscan folk tales, Pinocchio has important moral lessons for children: e.g., disobedience does not pay, telling lies is seldom prudent, and boys who love and take care of their parents will be rewarded. Its pedagogical mission notwithstanding, the story remains a timeless classic.
Pinocchio, he says, is good; his "badness" is only a matter of inexperience," and also that "Pinocchio's wish to be a real boy remains the film's underlying theme, but "becoming a real boy" now signifies the wish to grow up, not the wish to be good."
The wooden puppet Pinocchio sacrificed his own life so that he could save Geppetto, and Sebastian J. Cricket was moved by the bravery and honor of that choice. Plus, Geppetto was finally accepting Pinocchio as his son, and Sebastian Cricket felt they should have more time to experience their father/son relationship.
Del Toro's 'Pinocchio': Finally, A Worthy Adaptation
What is the difference between Disney Pinocchio and Guillermo del Toro?
In Guillermo del Toro's design, Pinocchio looks more obviously carved out of wood, with rough edges and rings from the tree he was created from. Disney's rendition of the puppet is a more joyful, cartoon-like wooden boy. His joints make him look like a puppet, but the animated version of the wood is smooth and painted.
Yes, the real story of Pinocchio is indeed very dark and is meant to serve as a lesson for kids who are naughty. Collodi originally planned to show that Pinocchio, as a result of his carelessness, loses his life to the sly and evil Cat and Fox who hang him and steal his gold.
1940's Pinocchio may initially appear a harmless tale for families, but it also contains some of Disney's most troubling ideas. Its narrative follows the wooden boy named Pinocchio, who comes to life after Geppetto wishes for a child of his own, and goes to some very dark places.
The moral behind Pleasure Island (or Il Paese dei Balocchi,"The land of Toys", as it was called in the original) is that children who scoff at education and moral codes set forth by their parents, preachers and authority figures and will engage in "jackass" behavior instead, such as fighting, vandalism and underage ...
“In the original story, the puppet is a depiction of sinful bondage – dependence on external control. Pinocchio displays his rebellion to authority (and God) immediately at his creation, the very moment he can see, speak and walk. This is the doctrine of original sin.
Pinocchio, who had received holes in his wooden body earlier in the film, is spared. It was revealed earlier in the film that the cursed water transforms its drinker into an animal symbolic of his or her behavior. Therefore, the boys' "jackass" behavior causes them to actually physically transform into jackasses.
Other dark themes that pop up in the book include an attempt fry a puppet and eat it, a dead fairy, slavery, and a dead serpent. Finally, in the book, Pinocchio gets hung and dies.
There's a scene in the movie at Pleasure Island which depicts child slavery and animal cruelty with the boys turned into donkeys and being locked in cages and abused by the Coachman selling them into child slavery and ends on a cliffhanger which may be considered controversial by today's standard for modern audiences.
Tom Hanks played Gepetto in the 2022 live-action adaptation of the animated film, which was directed by Robert Zemeckis. In this film, Gepetto made Pinocchio in the memory of his late son and the clocks he carves in his shop are mementos to his late wife.
There are twelve symbols found in this novel: Pinocchio, the Talking-cricket, Geppetto, the Fox and the Cat,the Blue Fairy, the Coachman, Pinocchio's long nose, the donkey, the Dog- fish, the sea, the Land of Boobies, and the Village of Industrious Bees.
Pinocchio, an animated puppet, is punished for each lie that he tells by undergoing further growth of his nose. There are no restrictions on the length of Pinocchio's nose. It grows as he tells lies and at one point grows so long that he can not even get his nose "through the door of the room".
Parents need to know that Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio is darker and may be potentially scarier for some kids than other adaptations of the classic tale. It's set between World Wars in fascist Italy, and both kids and adults are killed by bombs.
As for Pinocchio, this version takes inspiration from the original 1883 story by Italian writer Carlo Collodi, with the setting transposed to the 1930s against the backdrop of the rise of Italian fascism. It's among the Top 10 most watched shows on Netflix.
How long did Guillermo del Toro work on Pinocchio?
It was 10 years in the making for Bulkley and Campodonico and 15 years for del Toro. Animators put together scenes by hand over a total of 935 days of filming, and 1,000 days of production, which doesn't include pre or post-production.
What happened to Lampwick in Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio?
Near the end of the film after Pinocchio starts to work at the farm, he finds Lampwick heavily wounded and exhausted from overwork at the farm, the donkey then shortly dies. The character is voiced by Italian actress Flaminia Jandolo.
During the conversation, the subject of religion also came up. Del Toro, who described himself as a “lapsed Catholic,” explained how the imagery of Catholicism worked its way into his latest animated film. “Pinocchio is like Jesus,” del Toro said, according to IndieWire.
The name Gepetto has its origins in Italian and has a symbolic meaning of God Will Increase. Historically, the name gained prominence through its association with the beloved character Geppetto in Carlo Collodi's famous fairy tale Pinocchio.
