On paper, there isn’t a whole lot that would seemingly connect Guillermo del Toro’s newest film, “Nightmare Alley,” with his upcoming animated feature, “Pinocchio.” And when del Toro was asked about that by Rotten Tomatoes, the filmmaker is quick to point out the obvious connections with their carnival settings, but he is also able to explain just how “Pinocchio” differs. And in doing so, he breaks down one of the major thematic elements of his upcoming stop-motion animated Netflix film.
“They do have parallels. Obviously, ‘Pinocchio’ has big sections at a carnival, so there are straight little echoes between the two [films],” said del Toro. “And ‘Pinocchio’ deals with a different thematic. ‘Pinocchio’ is about what makes a human a human and what makes a human a puppet. Or a puppet a human because it’s set during the rise of Mussolini in Fascist Italy. So, it’s a really interesting thematic exercise, that one.”
For those unaware, del Toro has been working on his animated “Pinocchio” film for a long time already. Obviously, he’s taking on the classic fairy tale about the wooden puppet who dreams of becoming a real boy. Except, clearly del Toro is using that tale to introduce a bit of political and societal commentary about the differences and similarities between puppets and humans, utilizing a contentious time in world history to further hammer that point home.
“Pinocchio” stars the vocal talents of Gregory Mann, Ewan McGregor, David Bradley, Ron Perlman, Tilda Swinton, Christoph Waltz, Cate Blanchett, Tim Blake Nelson, Finn Wolfhard, Burn Gorman, and John Turturro. A release date for the film has yet to be announced.