Un Burattino di Nome Pinocchio (A puppet called Pinocchio) is an Italian Animated Adaptation of the book The Adventures of Pinocchio. It was made in 1972 by Giuliano Cenci. An English dub of the film was also released in 1978 in the United States.
The original Italian version can be viewed here
, and an English Dub from 1978.
Tropes:
- Abuse Mistake: Geppetto is blamed for being an abusive dad, but he just was the victim of his son's mischiefs.
- Adaptational Attractiveness: While the Green Fisherman is still creepy, he is far better looking than his book counterpart.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: The film mostly doesn't shy away from Pinocchio's misbehavior, but when he was on the Busy Bee Island, his rude rejections of help requests were cut and while he helps a lady (the Blue Fairy disguised) with hesitation, he is far less confrontational.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: Geppetto's hair is blonde instead of greying (he is an elder). That's made to replace Geppetto's wig, which in the book, the people use it to mock him by calling him Polentina. He has a full hair on his head and a beard.
- Adapted Out: The Owl and the Crow doctors who tried to diagnose Pinocchio in the book, Medoro and a snail maid.
- Anachronism Stew: Downplayed. The book came out in 1883 thus Carlo Collodi most certainly didn't envision the Land of the Toys to resemble Disney's Coney Island-inspired amusement park, and while this faithful cartoon adaptation doesn't go that far, it does feature playground slides,
which showed up in the early 1900s. - Big Ol' Unibrow: Mangiafuoco, the Green Fisherman, the Ringmaster and Giangio. Played for creepiness in the earlier examples.
- Composite Character: The eagle who informs the Fairy about Pinocchio's status while he is hanged also brings Pinocchio. The latter role was originally of Medoro, but he was adapted out for storytelling purposes.
- Dedication: In the Italian version, the film ends with the following text before showing a montage of various locations shown in the film while the theme song is playing."questo film è dedicato ai bambini di tutto il mondo ea quegli adulti che hanno conservato la semplicità del cuore, il senso di giustizia e lo spirito di fraternità" note
- Demoted to Extra: The Cricket is a downplayed example. He doesn't help to heal Pinocchio.
- Gravity Is a Harsh Mistress: Occurs when Alidoro the bulldog is chasing Pinocchio and runs off a cliff.
- Intermission: The Italian version had an intermission after Pinocchio jumps into the ocean when he see's Geppetto leaving on a boat.
- Lighter and Softer: Downplayed. The attack done by the Fox and the Cat isn't as violent as in the book and Pinocchio doesn't bite off the Cat's paw as he's defending himself. The Coachman/The Little Man is much less violent with the boys-turned-donkeys.
- She's a Man in Japan:
- The Parrot that mocks Pinocchio at The Field of Miracles and Pigeon that Pinocchio meets after believing the Fairy is dead are females in the English Dub. In the original Italian version, both characters were male.
- The Little Goat (actually the Fairy in disguise) that warns Pinocchio about The Monster preparing to swallow Pinocchio was female in the original Italian version. Similar to The Parrot and Pigeon, The Goat was changed to a male in the English dub.
- Tall Poppy Syndrome: Like in the book, the boys trick Pinocchio to skip school telling him that the Terrible Dogfish would come, and since this involves his father, Pinocchio comes and gets framed for hurting one of those boys.
- Title Drop:
- The theme song from the original Italian version name drops the film's name.
- The dove searching Pinocchio asks him about "a puppet called Pinocchio".
- True Beauty Is on the Inside: Geppetto tells Pinocchio that if he is good, his physical appearance is not important. This implies Geppetto loves Pinocchio for what he is, whether he is a human or a puppet.
- Truer to the Text: More than any other screen adaptation, it even has dialogue taken directly from the book.
