The Evolution of Pinocchio
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VOICE OVER: Emily Brayton
WRITTEN BY: Nick Spake
The evolution of Pinocchio is as long as the puppet's nose. For this video, we'll be looking at this iconic character's growth throughout literature, film, and pop culture, spanning almost 140 years. Our video includes Disney, Guillermo del Toro, Pauly Shore, and more!
The Evolution of Pinocchio
Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re discussing the evolution of Pinocchio.
For this video, we’ll be looking at this iconic character’s growth throughout literature, film, and pop culture, spanning almost 140 years.
What’s your favorite version of Pinocchio? Let us know in the comments.
We all recognize the Pinocchio character, so much so that he has his own emoji with an elongated nose. Anyone can sum up the wooden puppet’s story in a few sentences. Carved by Gepetto, Pinocchio is given sentient life, although he’s still made of wood. Through a series of trials and adventures, though, he becomes a real boy. That’s Carlo Collodi’s 1883 children’s book in a nutshell. However, there are various details from the episodic source material that have been omitted from modern adaptations. Those who haven’t read the book might be shocked to know that Pinocchio kills the talking cricket with a hammer, he’s hung from a tree, and after turning into a donkey, fish eat the skin off! This was for kids!?
The first screen adaptation was a 1911 silent film starring Ferdinand Guillaume as Pinocchio. Although once considered completely lost, part of the film has since been restored. There was also a 1936 animated film that went unfinished with only a few frames surviving. Four years later, audiences were treated to what’s widely considered the definitive adaptation: Disney’s “Pinocchio.” This version introduced numerous elements that some might assume were always part of the story. In the film, the Blue Fairy brings Pinocchio to life. In the book, she’s called the Fairy with Turquoise Hair and she’s not the one who makes Pinocchio sentient. Geppetto merely carves a talking piece of wood. He later meets the Fairy, who takes Pinocchio in and makes him a real boy.
The Disney film named the talking cricket Jiminy. At the request of Walt Disney, animator Ward Kimball would strip away most of Jiminy’s insect qualities to the point he looked more like a little green man. Disney also sought to make Pinocchio a more likable character, meaning he wouldn’t crush the cricket, who comes back as a ghost in the original story. At the same time, Pinocchio remained mischievous and naive, having to prove himself worthy of being a real boy. Although they’re staples of the Disney film, phrases like “conscience” and “wishing star” are nowhere to be found in the original book. What’s more, Candlewick became Lampwick, the Land of Toys became Pleasure Island, and the Terrible Dogfish became Monstro the Whale.
Disney’s “Pinocchio” wasn’t initially a financial success due to its high production costs and World War II closing key oversea markets. However, it was critically acclaimed, won two Oscars, and, upon future re-releases, evolved into a certified hit. Disney’s “Pinocchio” became untouchable, although many still took a crack at adapting the novel. On television, there have been live-action versions starring Mickey Rooney, Sandy Duncan, and Paul Reubens, as well as animated adaptations like Rankin/Bass’ “Pinocchio’s Christmas.” The best TV adaptation is probably the 1972 Italian miniseries by director Luigi Comencini. Aspects of the story are ingrained in pop culture, most notably a growing nose signifying a lie. Ward Kimball even made an independent short called “Escalation,” criticizing President Lyndon B. Johnson’s stance on Vietnam.
As for feature films, most have struggled to get out from under the Disney’s shadow, the 1972 animated movie being one example. Some tried banking off the Disney movie. Filmation’s “Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night” paraded itself as a sequel of sorts to the 1940 classic. Disney naturally sued, although Filmation won since the book was in the public domain. The Mouse still got the last laugh, as the Filmation film didn’t even make back half of its $10 million budget. Funnily enough, Disney later planned to produce a direct-to-video “Pinocchio” sequel until John Lasseter pulled the plug. Little is known about that canceled sequel, but co-writer Robert Reece said, “It’s a story that leads Pinocchio to question why life appears unfair sometimes.”
Before his death in 1990, Jim Henson approached Disney about making a live-action Pinocchio movie, which they declined. Director Steve Barron held onto the idea, eventually leading to a 1996 film starring Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Martin Landau. Reviews were mixed and the box office returns weren’t much more encouraging, but the film spawned enough of a following to get a direct-to-video sequel. While the JTT film was seen as kind of creepy, it was nothing compared to “Pinocchio’s Revenge,” a horror version that came out the same year. 2000 gave us the more lighthearted TV movie “Geppetto” with Drew Carey as Pinocchio’s father and Julia Louis-Dreyfus as the Blue Fairy, although songwriter Stephen Schwartz envisioned Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews in the roles.
A satirical Pinocchio appeared alongside other fairytale icons in “Shrek.” That same year, Steven Spielberg and the late Stanley Kubrick gave the story a sci-fi twist in “A.I. Artificial Intelligence.” Although “Pinocchio” is a fantasy, the premise lends itself to science fiction. Even characters like Astro Boy or Ultron have a Pinocchio quality to them. In addition to “A.I.,” the puppet has been given the sci-fi treatment in 1965’s “Pinocchio in Outer Space” and 2004’s “Pinocchio 3000.” Those… were… pretty bad… but not the worst. For a while, that distinction went to Roberto Benigni’s “Pinocchio,” specifically Miramax’s English dub with Breckin Meyer voicing the titular character. Benigni and Meyer won a Razzie for portraying Pinocchio, although the original Italian dub was better received.
Benigni took another crack at Pinocchio in 2019, this time playing Geppetto. The response was much more positive with the film scoring Oscar nominations for its costumes and makeup/hairstyling. Audiences also started to look more favorably at the previous Benigni film after seeing 2021’s “Pinocchio: A True Story.” How true? Well, it’s truly awful, and that’s no lie. The English dub, which features the voice talents of Pauly Shore, Tom Kenny, and Jon Heder, quickly spawned an online following with some hailing the Russian film as so bad it’s good. Consider it “The Room” of foreign animated “Pinocchio” movies. And since everyone else seems to be making a new “Pinocchio,” Disney might as well throw their hat into the ring as well.
Directed by Robert Zemeckis with Tom Hanks as Gepetto, Disney’s live-action “Pinocchio” doesn’t stray far from its 1940 predecessor. Even Pinocchio’s design is almost identical. There are a few new characters like Kyanne Lamaya’s Fabiana and the ending is refreshingly left more open-ended. However, some critics felt Pinocchio himself was too innocent and the story wasn’t greatly improved upon. For many, the best version of the past few years, and arguably since 1940, is Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson’s “Pinocchio.” A longtime passion project that eventually received funding from Netflix, this stop-motion version is among the darkest, but also the most human. At its core is a story of grief as Gepetto loses his biological son Carlo, named after the source material’s author.
As Gepetto learns to be a better father, Pinocchio picks up lessons on empathy, death, and oppression. Del Toro sets his film in 1930s Fascist Italy, tying into the puppet theme as soldiers blindly follow orders. Del Toro omits the grimmest scene from the Disney film (Lampwick becoming a donkey) but seeing Pinocchio and other young boys recruited by a fascist government is perhaps even heavier. Pinocchio becomes a symbol of individuality, showing how sometimes being disobedient can be a positive thing. Rather than try to recreate the Disney masterpiece, del Toro creates a new classic. Just as del Toro’s film leaves us on an ambiguous note, we’re not sure what’s next for Pinocchio, but with no strings holding him down, he can go anywhere.
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