A Darker Pinocchio…
We’re all familiar with Disney’s 1940 adaptation of Pinocchio, and Pinocchio’s conscience Jiminy Cricket, complete with formal clothing and umbrella. In a new retelling of the Pinocchio tale by Guillermo del Toro, the cricket is just as verbal but far more insectile, telling his audience that he “lived in the heart of the wooden boy.” Vaguely chilling, right? He’s even got a revised name…Sebastian J. Cricket! Plus this bug looks almost alien.- – I Iike him already!
Set in Italy in the 1930’s with Mussolini’s fascist power rising, this Pinocchio is depicted as a lost soul in a world he cannot understand. Disney sanitized the original Carlo Collodi tale, which included the cricket being killed early on and his ghost serving as Pinocchio’s conscience! Guillermo del Toro promises to return some of the original Frankenstein or nightmarish elements to the story, which included boys being turned into donkeys on Pleasure Island.
So for a darker, scarier version of Pinocchio that’s “about as far removed from Disney as you can get,” you may want to check out this Pinocchio coming to Netflix in December 2022…and tell them that Sebastian J. Cricket sent you,buwahahaha!
Tags: Guillermo del Toro’s “Pinocchio”
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FOXSYLVANIA 
January 29, 2022 at 11:50 pm
With all due respect to Don Guillermo, I’ll stick with the highly sanitized Disney version.
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January 31, 2022 at 2:05 pm
No one sang, “When You Wish Upon A Star” like the Disney Jiminey Cricket (*sniffles*). But label me an iconoclast… 🦊
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January 31, 2022 at 8:45 pm
OK. “You’re an iconoclast.” 😉
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February 2, 2022 at 11:16 am
Thank you…now I feel validated! 😸
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January 31, 2022 at 2:15 pm
At least Pinocchio isn’t portrayed in either version as a motivational speaker.
Pinocchio: “Everywhere I look, I see POTENTIAL!”
Sebastian J. Cricket: “Oh brother! Gotta lot of work to do on this one!”
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February 1, 2022 at 5:04 pm
I can’t wait to see what you have planned for Groundhog’s Day!
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February 2, 2022 at 11:21 am
Sadly, not much of anything! Watch the rodent at Punxsutawney, perhaps…
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February 2, 2022 at 3:26 pm
Even sadder? There’s no google-doodle for Punxsutawney Phil….or anything else Groundhog Day-related! :-O
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March 13, 2023 at 4:25 pm
Belated congrats to Guillermo Del Toro on his Oscar for Best Animated Feature.
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