Pinocchio by Guillermo del Toro is the second Pinocchio film of the year. But while Robert Zemeckis and Disney remastered the live-action animated adaptation, Del Toro returned to the original Carlo Collodi book for a stop-motion shot. However, it took him 14 years to bring it to life Pinocchio by Guillermo del Toro is now streaming on Netflix after debuting on December 9 and reaching the top 10 in 79 countries.
Del Toro first announced the film in 2008. In 2011, he hired Mark Gustafson and artist Gris Grimley, who illustrated a 2002 edition of the Collodi book, to direct a stop-motion adaptation. Del Toro produced but eventually replaced Grimley as co-director. It wasn’t until 2018 that the project landed on Netflix and began animation.
The faithful adaptation will probably be darker than the Disney version. It introduces Geppetto (voiced by David Bradley) and his 10-year-old son Carlo (Gregory Mann). Carlo is killed in a World War I bombing of their church in an Italian villa. Geppetto plants Carlos pine cones, which grow in the tree from which he cuts Pinocchio.
In his introduction to the Animation is Film Festival screening, del Toro said his Pinocchio is not specific to children – he said children can see it as long as their parents talk to them about it afterwards. He also proudly shared videos of the stop-motion dolls, some of which were larger than humans for closer details. (He later took her on the ride to Deadline’s Contenders Movie: Los Angeles event last month.)
Pinocchio by Guillermo del Toro also returns to Collodis Sebastian J. Cricket (Ewan McGregor). Jiminy was a Disney invention. True to the book, poor Sebastian is repeatedly thrown into slapstick comedy – which was one of del Toro’s duties on the film. This Pinocchio is also a musical, but with original songs by composer Alexandre Desplat. Del Toro co-wrote the lyrics with Roeban Katz.
Pinocchio by Guillermo del Toro premiered at the BFI London Film Festival and played at AFI Fest before hitting theaters on November 11. It has already won Best Animated Feature from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the Chicago Film Critics Association, and has received nominations from the Golden Globes and more.
Click below to read the script, which Del Toro co-wrote with Patrick McHale.
Author: Fred Topel
Source: Deadline
Ashley Root is an author and celebrity journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a keen eye for all things celebrity, Ashley is always up-to-date on the latest gossip and trends in the world of entertainment.
