As it so often goes with the twin film phenomenon, we have two adaptations of Pinocchio headed our way. But only one will remind us that Jiminy Cricket, soon to be voiced by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, is a registered trademark of the Walt Disney Corporation. See for yourself, and meet Ewan McGregor’s Sebastian J. Cricket, with the first teaser for Guillermo del Toro’s animated take on the classic tale.
In development as far back as 2008, del Toro’s version takes the designs of Grim Grisly’s illustrated Pinocchio and gives them the Laika-looking stop-motion treatment. It could be a charmer! If nothing else, it will almost certainly be better than Disney’s take, which lets The Polar Express director Robert Zemeckis once again give unnatural life to a dead-eyed boy.
Pinocchio hits Netflix this December.
