Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio Teaser: Prepare For A New Twist On A Familiar Tale

Some projects have been so long in the making that one would be forgiven for thinking that they might never actually happen. If you've been following along, we've been reporting on director Guillermo del Toro's planned stop-motion take on "Pinocchio" for well over a decade by now – a journey that's been full of maddening stops and starts and moments where it certainly seemed as if the entire project would fall apart. Then, in a twist worthy of a fairy tale in its own right, Netflix stepped up a few years back and finally made this dream into a reality. One might wonder what new ground anyone could possibly unearth in a retelling of a story as famous and beloved as "Pinocchio," but the answer to that would seem to be, well, a heck of a lot. What, you didn't think the classic Disney movie covered every facet of the original 1883 novel about a puppet who wishes to be a real boy, did you?

From the animation style to the messaging to the sumptuous voice cast to the filmmaker himself who's behind it all, our first look at del Toro's "Pinocchio" is finally here and we couldn't be more excited for it. Check out the brief teaser below!

"I want to tell you a story. It's a story you may think you know, but ... you don't. Not really."

Meet Sebastian J. Cricket, the character who appears to be the narrator throughout this new story. Gone are the familiar trappings of Jiminy Cricket and all other hints of Disney's pervasive take on the tale, confidently replaced with Guillermo del Toro's much different-looking approach. The altogether too-brief footage doesn't give us much to go on, but consider our appetites thoroughly and properly whetted in advance of the stop-motion animated film's release at the tail-end of this year. The trailer comes courtesy of Netflix, who posted the teaser on Twitter earlier today.

Everyone will recognize Ewan McGregor's voice as the cricket, himself no stranger to the animated realm after starring in 2018's excellent "Christopher Robin." He's joined by an absolutely stacked cast the includes big names such as Finn Wolfhard, Cate Blanchett, John Turturro, Ron Perlman, Tim Blake Nelson, Burn Gorman, Christoph Waltz, Tilda Swinton, David Bradley as Geppetto, and Gregory Mann's very first role as the eponymous Pinocchio. Netflix also released a brief synopsis for the film, which reads as follows:

Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro reimagines the classic Italian tale of PINOCCHIO in a stop-motion musical adventure. Follow the mischievous adventures of Pinocchio in his pursuit of a place in the world.

For those looking for even more information on what sets this film apart from the Disney one, del Toro previously discussed his intent to go even deeper in using the famous puppet to explore themes about heart and humanity, with the setting of fascist Italy at the onset of World War II as an evocative backdrop.

Expect the film to premiere on Netflix in December of 2022.