Barely three months after Robert Zemeckis' version with Tom Hanks for Disney+, Netflix is also offering its adaptation of
Pinocchio,
the famous tale by Carlo Collodi written in 1881. At the controls, Guillermo del Toro, the Oscar-winning director of
The Shape of the
, and Mark Gustafson reimagine the story of the puppet in
stop
motion
(stop-motion animation, with objects and figurines).
If the markers of the fable are all present (the sea monster, the growing nose, the traveling theatre, a few musical numbers…), the duo takes a few liberties with the original material.
The historical context changes to anchor itself in the Fascist Italy of Mussolini;
Geppetto lost a first child killed in a bombardment;
the Blue Fairy has a "twin", a sort of angel of death... This reading by the Mexican filmmaker is also much more melancholy and dark than the famous Disney studio classic released in 1940: behind the humor, hope and the tenderness also present, a reflection on mourning, the acceptance of difference and the monstrosity of humans takes shape.