It’s a pretty tired observation at this point, but the fact is, originality is a dying concept in the modern movie business. While some adaptations fundamentally change the text and create some of the most important works of all time from their inspirations, others cynically ape the classics and try to steal some attention.
The Adventures of Pinocchiois an Italian children’s novel written by Carlo Collodi in 1883. The classic tale was first published in serialized weekly magazine columns before its adaptation into a full book. The work has been enduringly popular and beloved for over 140 years andhas inspired countless adaptationsin just about every art medium on Earth.
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ThePinocchioon everyone’s mind is unquestionablyGuillermo del Toro’s long-awaited forayinto stop-motion animation. The film was announced a whopping fourteen years ago and has been promised several times over the years. Directors and writers have joined and left the project, but since the beginning, del Toro has described the work as his passion project. Del Toro hardly needs an introduction, he’s one of the most beloved horror and fantasy directors of the modern age. His particular style is groundbreaking, yet immediately distinct. To imagine that the eleven films del Toro has crafted, each masterful in their own right, still land belowPinocchioin terms of the director’s passion tickles the mind with possibilities. Finally, courtesy of Netflix,del Toro has free reinto bring his dream film to life. Unfortunately, he’ll be doing so against a very different portrayal of the same work.
Disney is continuing their longcampaign of converting their classic talesinto modern live-action, or at least more realistically animated, features. The 1940 classic was the second animated feature crafted by the ever-growing empire. The original was a legend of animation, breaking ground in a number of fascinating ways.Pinocchioholds an impressive 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, and despite initially bombing on account of World War II, the film is treasured as one of the greatest movies ever made.
Despite the slightly fraught history of these recent remakes, thenew Pinocchio does havea decent pedigree behind it. Robert Zemeckis ofBack to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Forrest Gumpand much more is signed on to direct. Zemeckis is more recently regarded as an innovator of visual effects, with motion-captured hits likeThe Polar Expressand 2007’sBeowulfunder his belt. This newPinocchiois squarely in his wheelhouse and probably an exciting proposition for Disney fans, but it too has some competition.
Pinocchio: A True Storyis a 3D animated film coming to DVD and digital distribution on March 22nd. The film is produced by Lionsgate, the massive production company whose logo can be found oneverything fromJohn WicktoSaw, toTwilight. Little was known about this film until a brief trailer of it found its way onto social media and became the target of a truly apocalyptic amount of ridicule. The voice of the title character was the particular problem at hand. Pauly Shore delivers a couple of lines as the eponymous puppet, showing off a performance that is, unfortunately, wooden. The film looks abysmal as a whole, as it’s mostly a translation of a Russian take on the narrative. It would be very fair to point out that the film’s quiet release stinks a bit of the old Asylum Entertainment gamble.
So that’s three Pinocchio films. A hotly-anticipated passion project from a beloved director with an immediately moving visual style.A slightly cynical remakeof a beloved classic with a director who could pull something great out of it. A nightmarish cash-in with one of the most immediately rejected voice acting performances of all time. All adapted from the same endlessly iconic story. Maybe this speaks to the endless ability of artists to remix and recreate with the works that speak to them. Or maybe it’s a lesson on the best and worst-case scenarios when it comes to classic adaptations. Some artists live to show their audience the work that inspired them in all the glory they see it in. Others just hope to tell them the same story again and hope that it’ll succeed again.
Regardless of how many adaptations, good or bad, are created,Pinocchioisn’t going anywhere. The original novel stays in the cultural imagination over 140 years later, the Disney classic is beloved over 80 years later. MaybeGuillermo del Toro’s workwill stand the test of time and become an addition to that grand cultural history. Maybe Robert Zemeckis will craft a successor good enough to justify its presence next to the original. But with every classic story, comes a million people with their own version. Some are more worthwhile than others.
