Like many children all over the world, my first introduction to the story of Pinocchio was the 1940 Disney movie. It was sweet, it was cute, and it was cautionary without being violent. Imagine my surprise when my 11-year-old self discovered the original Carlo Collodi story in a bookstore, not knowing how much Disney changed the story. Pinocchio is an impudent little bastard, Geppetto hates children, people are trying to use him as firewood, Jiminy Cricket is smashed by a hammer, and Pinocchio is eventually hanged by bandits. My innocence broke.
In 2002, Tor Books published Collodi's original text accompanied by new and expressive drawings by illustrator Gris Grimly. Now Grimly is co-directing a stop-motion version of the tale, to be exec produced by Guillermo del Toro.
The look of the film version will be based on Grimly's illustrations, to be co-directed by Sundance Short Filmmaking Award winner Adam Parrish King. The short that won him the award, The Wraith of Cobble Hill, was animated in stop-motion. Pinocchio will be his first feature. The idea is to adapt Collodi's original tale of the living puppet, which is much darker than what most people are used to.
The puppets themselves are being made by the Jim Henson Company. No doubt they would look pretty awesome. We need more stop-motion animated films these days. There's a certain three-dimensional weight to them that's missing in CG animated movies, no matter how similar they may appear to be.
