Bringing Pinocchio into ’the real world'
Netflix/Vanity Fair
It’s not just “Honest” John and “Giddy” who have been left out of “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio.” Other than Sebastian, the magical spirit that brings Pinocchio to life, and, obviously, Pinocchio himself, the film drops all the other famous fantastical elements associated with the fairy tale (including that horrifying bit about little boys being turned into donkeys and enslaved on Pleasure Island). As del Toro explained to Vanity Fair:
“I didn’t want magical creatures other than the wood spirit that gives him life, and Pinocchio himself. I didn’t want a talking fox and a talking cat and the magic of transforming him into a donkey. I wanted everything else to feel as close as we can to the real world.”
Indeed, “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” brings the classic story into 1930s Italy, setting it against the real-world historical backdrop of the National Fascist Party and dictator Benito Mussolini’s rise to power. The intent is to evolve the ages-old fairy tale from what del Toro described as a fable “in favor of obedience and domestication of the soul” to one that champions disobedience against the rising tide of fascism. It not only sounds like a great way of making “Pinocchio” feel timelier than ever, but it also reads as a welcome carryover of the motifs in del Toro’s fantastic Spanish-language films about the Spanish Civil War, “The Devil’s Backbone” and “Pan’s Labyrinth.”
“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” will begin streaming on Netflix in December 2022.
Here’s What You Won’t See In Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio
Disney
By Sandy Schaefer/June 14, 2022 12:57 pm EST
Like most of Disney’s previous live-action reboots of its animated movies (with exceptions like David Lowery’s lovely re-telling of “Pete’s Dragon”), Zemeckis’ “Pinocchio” looks to tell more or less the same story with the same characters as its predecessor did. Tom Hanks is starring in the film as the kindly toymaker Geppetto opposite a cast that includes Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the voice of Pinocchio’s mentor and “conscience,” Jiminy Cricket. Keegan-Michael Key also costars as the voice of “Honest” John Worthington Foulfellow, the trickster red fox who swindles the naive Pinocchio to serve his own ends.
Bringing Pinocchio into ’the real world'
Netflix/Vanity Fair
It’s not just “Honest” John and “Giddy” who have been left out of “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio.” Other than Sebastian, the magical spirit that brings Pinocchio to life, and, obviously, Pinocchio himself, the film drops all the other famous fantastical elements associated with the fairy tale (including that horrifying bit about little boys being turned into donkeys and enslaved on Pleasure Island). As del Toro explained to Vanity Fair:
“I didn’t want magical creatures other than the wood spirit that gives him life, and Pinocchio himself. I didn’t want a talking fox and a talking cat and the magic of transforming him into a donkey. I wanted everything else to feel as close as we can to the real world.”
Indeed, “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” brings the classic story into 1930s Italy, setting it against the real-world historical backdrop of the National Fascist Party and dictator Benito Mussolini’s rise to power. The intent is to evolve the ages-old fairy tale from what del Toro described as a fable “in favor of obedience and domestication of the soul” to one that champions disobedience against the rising tide of fascism. It not only sounds like a great way of making “Pinocchio” feel timelier than ever, but it also reads as a welcome carryover of the motifs in del Toro’s fantastic Spanish-language films about the Spanish Civil War, “The Devil’s Backbone” and “Pan’s Labyrinth.”
“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” will begin streaming on Netflix in December 2022.
Indeed, “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” brings the classic story into 1930s Italy, setting it against the real-world historical backdrop of the National Fascist Party and dictator Benito Mussolini’s rise to power. The intent is to evolve the ages-old fairy tale from what del Toro described as a fable “in favor of obedience and domestication of the soul” to one that champions disobedience against the rising tide of fascism. It not only sounds like a great way of making “Pinocchio” feel timelier than ever, but it also reads as a welcome carryover of the motifs in del Toro’s fantastic Spanish-language films about the Spanish Civil War, “The Devil’s Backbone” and “Pan’s Labyrinth.”
“I didn’t want magical creatures other than the wood spirit that gives him life, and Pinocchio himself. I didn’t want a talking fox and a talking cat and the magic of transforming him into a donkey. I wanted everything else to feel as close as we can to the real world.”
“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” will begin streaming on Netflix in December 2022.
