Is Jiminy Cricket nosy or just an earnest observer of the travails of Geppetto? The insect was everywhere in the first trailer to Guillermo del Toro’s lush stop-motion Pinocchio, based on the classic Carlo Collodi novel. No top hat for him; this Jiminy is first seen journaling at home about his backpacking trips across the land, identifying one particular story worth telling. He recounts a tale of “imperfect fathers and imperfect sons … and loss and love†— the story of the wooden boy Pinocchio and his father, Geppetto. The newest trailer starts with a dose of Jiminy but then dives into Pinocchio’s perspective. And every single frame makes this year’s Disney “live action†remake look like ass (donkey transformation sequence pun). When his nose grows, it’s a verdant branch that crackles into life. When he meets the blue fairy, she’s a Pan’s Labyrinth creation, a manticore with an unmoving mask for a face voiced by Tilda Swinton. We’ll take an earnest little mustached cricket voiced by Ewan McGregor saying “Life is such a wonderful gift†over Joseph Gordon-Levitt saying, “Ay, it’s-a me! Jiminy! Wocka-wocka!†or whatever. Aptly, every single frame of this trailer is Italian-chef-hands bellissimo.
Directed by Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson, the movie features an impressive voice cast. David Bradley voices Geppetto and newcomer Gregory Mann takes on Pinocchio. Cate Blanchett, John Turturro, Ron Perlman, Tim Blake Nelson, Burn Gorman, and Christoph Waltz are also set to enchant. The whimsical film hits theaters in November before moving to Netflix in December.