The Biggest Differences Between The Pinocchio Remake And The Animated Movie

This article contains spoilers for the 2022 live-action remake of "Pinocchio" on Disney+.

For nearly a century, "Pinocchio" has endured across generations as a shining example of Disney storytelling and the art form of hand-drawn animation. (Even longer than that, "The Adventures of Pinocchio" by Carlo Collodi has endured as a world of literature since 1883.) Debuting in 1940 as only the second film ever produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios — the first being 1937's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" — "Pinocchio" is a timeless fairytale adapted to the screen that exemplifies the power of dreams and the importance of a moral compass.

The 2022 remake of the movie — directed by acclaimed filmmaker Robert Zemeckis — follows a long list of Disney animated classics transformed into live-action remakes. Tom Hanks stars as Geppetto, an elderly craftsman in storybook Italy whose wooden puppet comes to life.

A remake like this has its work cut out for it. Does the reimagining attempt to transcend its source material or celebrate it? Is it only the same story by title, or does it closely follow its predecessor's structure? Are there any necessary adjustments made to account for 80 years of changes in audience expectations? These questions are integral to any adaptation of an existing story, and "Pinocchio" is no exception. The 2022 live-action remake retains the foundation of the 1940 animated film with a few key changes. Let's take a look at some of the biggest differences between the two movies.

In the animated film, Geppetto creates Pinocchio simply because he wants to. While there is earnestness in Geppetto's wish to the wishing star for Pinocchio to become a real boy, any specific reason or backstory leading up to his dream is left to the imagination.

In the remake, Geppetto's history, and therefore his ambition for this venture, is made clear. Geppetto builds Pinocchio as he mourns the loss of his son, whose photograph sits on Geppetto's work desk. The boy seems to have been perhaps around six or seven years old when the photo was taken, making him around the age Pinocchio is when he comes to life.

After Geppetto pleads his wish to the wishing star, the Blue Fairy's magic beams down from the sky, refracts off of the framed photo of Geppetto's son, and bounces onto Pinocchio to give the limp puppet life. Despite this, it's made clear that Pinocchio is not the spirit of Geppetto's son but rather someone new entirely.

Kyanne Lamaya plays a new character who wasn't in the animated film altogether: a puppeteer named Fabiana, whose puppet, Sabina, performs alongside Pinocchio in Stromboli's act. In the 1940 film, there are other puppets who join Pinocchio onstage, but the audience only ever sees the puppets themselves, not their offscreen puppeteers. Furthermore, no individual puppets are given names, personalities, or an integral role in the story as Sabina and Fabiana have in the remake.

Pinocchio is distraught as he's held captive in Stromboli's troupe, and Fabiana consoles him — or, rather, Sabina does. Pinocchio is somewhat timid around Fabiana, but he's perfectly comfortable talking to her ballerina puppet, Sabina. Pinocchio seems to either not notice or not care that Fabiana controls Sabina, but all the same Sabina encourages Pinocchio several times throughout the film.

Additionally, Fabiana's inclusion in the remake brings closure to one of the story's villains. In a twist that the audience doesn't get to actually see, Fabiana leads a rebellion against Stromboli and takes over his traveling puppet act. Now she and her fellow puppeteers perform under fair conditions and call their own shots.

The Blue Fairy grants Geppetto's wish and gives life to Pinocchio. In the 1940 version of the story, the Blue Fairy has a repeated presence throughout the movie. She not only appears toward the beginning of the film in Geppetto's workshop but also returns to help Pinocchio escape from Stromboli's clutches. In the 2022 remake, in which Cynthia Erivo plays the iconic character, the Blue Fairy's first and only onscreen appearance is when she visits Geppetto's home to bring Pinocchio to life. Later, Pinocchio finds a clever way to bust out of Stromboli's carriage himself without requiring the Blue Fairy's assistance. The finale of the film, which sees Pinocchio's tears reviving a dead Geppetto and a radiant blue light guiding the pair's way home, implies that the Blue Fairy may still be helping the heroes from afar, even if she's not physically present.

Furthermore, the idea of Jiminy Cricket proving himself as worthy of the Blue Fairy's approval is dropped in the remake. In addition to showing Pinocchio wanting to become a real boy, the animated film sees Jiminy striving the entire movie to become Pinocchio's "official conscience," and the Blue Fairy ultimately grants him this distinction, complete with a shiny medallion.

Pleasure Island is the ultimate catfish. It's a place that promises glee and enjoyment to its visitors, but secretly the whole destination is a front for creating laborer donkeys from its children patrons. Big yikes. The moral within the context of the "Pinocchio" story is to not give into all of life's pleasures, or else — with a terrifyingly visual moral that no doubt has scarred countless childhoods over the years.

In the 1940 film, Honest John is in cahoots with the Coachman and swindles Pinocchio into going to Pleasure Island. Furthermore, while filmmakers briefly show an exterior wide shot of Pleasure Island, the location isn't really shown all that much. It's mostly reduced to an indoor scene taking place in a nondescript room where Pinocchio and his new pal Lampwick play pool and eventually become donkeys.

In the 2022 remake, Honest John has no connection to the Coachman. Instead, the Coachman merely swipes Pinocchio from off of a street corner as he passes by. The audience then very much sees the extent of Pleasure Island's many delights, from amusement park rides to unlimited root beer. The remake also includes girls in the Pleasure Island con, whereas the animated film only recruits boys.

In the original movie, Geppetto simply names his puppet "Pinocchio" without explanation. While viewers who really think about it may be able to put two and two together, in the remake Geppetto fully explains his reasoning out loud, just to make sure everyone is on the same page.

While Pinocchio is still inanimate, Geppetto speaks to his creation as if he's alive all the same. "I carved you out of wood," he says. "I made you out of pine." Thus, he dubs "Pinocchio" as the perfect name for his creation.

For as blatant as the film explains the name, there's still more to discover that it leaves out. A bit of research yields a double entendre play on words through translation that may not have been author Carlo Collodi's intention when naming the character in the 1800s, but fits within the new script regardless. In Italian, the suffix "-occhio" means "eye." So while "Pinocchio" literally translates to "eye of pine" or "pine eye," a looser translation means exactly what Geppetto spoke: "I made you out of pine."

Monstro the sea beast poses a dangerous threat to Pinocchio and Geppetto in both the animated and live-action versions of the story, but how the characters reach him and the chronology of narrative events are slightly different in each movie.  The original 1940 film sees Geppetto already swallowed by Monstro before Pinocchio finds him. To reach his father, Pinocchio travels with Jiminy Cricket underwater on the ocean floor, encountering various undersea creatures in the process. The 2022 remake has Pinocchio enlisting the help of Sofia the seagull, a new character, to find Geppetto. Sofia flies in the air and carries a rope in her mouth as she glides over the ocean, which Pinocchio hangs onto to form a makeshift jet ski. He reunites with Geppetto while Geppetto is still on the surface of the water, and Monstro swallows both of them together just as they reach each other.

In another slight difference around this part of the story, Pinocchio's donkey ears and tail from Pleasure Island stay with him for the duration of the animated movie until he becomes a real boy at the end. In the remake, the ears and tail disappear as Pinocchio demonstrates bravery, truthfulness, and unselfishness in beginning his quest to rescue Geppetto.