The series overall follows closely the plot of the original novel, but shifts slightly away from the more fantasy elements in favour of a more realistic and grim tone. It's also notorious for being the version of Pinocchio where the titular protagonist alternates between his child and puppet form, rather than becoming a real boy only at the very end.
A critical success back in the day, The Adventures of Pinocchio boasted an All-Star Cast, such as Nino Manfredi (Geppetto), Gina Lollobrigida (The Fairy with Turquoise Hair), Ugo D'Alessio (Master Cherry), comedy duo Franco and Ciccio (The Cat and the Fox) and Lionel Stander (Mangiafoco) among others.
The Adventures of Pinocchio features these tropes:
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: In the novel, when Pinocchio is swallowed whole by the Terrible Dogfish, he finds Geppetto still alive there but short on supplies, so that they're obviously both eager to escape from there. In the show, Geppetto isn't willing to escape the Terrible Dogfish at first. He managed to build a comfortable life inside of it thanks to the supplies constantly eaten by the Dogfish (such as books and food), and remembers very well how the outside world was never kind to him nor Pinocchio. It takes quite some time for Pinocchio to persuade him to jump on the Tuna Fish and reach the shore.
- Adaptation Distillation: The series takes various liberties and ends right after Pinocchio and Geppetto escape from the Terrible Dogfish. They reach the shore, see the house of the Fairy in the distance and happily run to there, and that's when the end credits kick in. The whole plot of Geppetto and Pinocchio learning about the Cat's and the Fox's fate or Geppetto falling ill are absent. In particular, Pinocchio becomes permanently a real boy inside the Terrible Dogfish and not after escaping.
- Adaptational Dumbass: Downplayed, but Pinocchio remains illiterate for the whole story, having to ask a passerby to read the gravestone of the Fairy for him. In the novel he does that on his own as he managed to learn to read.
- Adaptation Expansion: While the series has various distillations and changes that come with its more grounded approach, the things that do stay faithful are pretty much word for word like the book, and sometimes are even slightly expanded upon. For example, Geppetto is given more scenes that show how he is doing while Pinocchio is away or lost, the doctors the Fairy calls to check on Pinocchio leave after expressing more over the top conflicting opinions, and when Donkey!Pinocchio breaks his leg at the circus after seeing the Fairy in the crowd, she has a final moment with him backstage in which she expresses a saddened "The Reason You Suck" Speech before saying goodbye, which makes the overlooking Repulsive Ringmaster emotional.
- Adaptational Mundanity: Several fantasy element of the original novel are removed or at least toned down; for example Talking Animal characters were turned into humans with very few exceptions.
- Adaptation Species Change:
- Pinocchio himself is a notorious example here. Rather than spending the entire story as a puppet and becoming a real boy only at the end, this version has him alternating between the puppet and the boy form, as a punishment or reward for his behaviour.
- Most Talking Animal are portrayed as actual human beings. The Cat and the Fox are literally humans dressed as cat and fox. Those are costumes they kept from their previous job as circus hucksters for Mangiafoco. The Crow and the Howl are simply reimagined as two doctors. The Snail who works for the Fairy with Turquoise Hair is portrayed simply as an unsettling and unattractive housekeeper. The Weasels who attack the farmer who keeps Pinocchio on a leash are replaced by unnamed brigants.
- Agony of the Feet: After breaking the portrait of Geppetto's deceased wife/Fairy in the attempt of killing the Cricket, Pinocchio is turned back into a puppet and his feet get burned by the fireplace he was sitting in front of.
- Bait-and-Switch: Despite the "The Reason You Suck" Speech the Fairy gave Pinocchio at the circus before he's sold to the man who wants to drown him at sea and make a drum with his skin, she still intervenes by sending fish that eat off the donkey exterior and save Pinocchio by turning him back into a puppet.
- Become a Real Boy: Unlike the original novel, Pinocchio becomes a real boy at the very beginning of the story. The plot is altered instead so that he alternates between his human and puppet form, depending on how he behaves. His reward for being an obedient child is to remain permanently human.
- Big Shadow, Little Creature: Downplayed. The Talking Cricket is indirectly shown through his shadow, cast by the hearth in Geppetto's house.
- Canon Foreigner:
- Fire-Eater appears to have a female partner in this adaptation.
- During his first encounter with Lampwick, Pinocchio helps him hide from his mother who's looking for him.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: One of the clueless doctors who visits Pinocchio argues that he must stay a real boy so that he can get Corporal Punishment when he misbehaves, rather than being a wooden creature that doesn't feel pain. The man revels how much that backward approach worked with him in such ostentatious manner that his colleague can't take him seriously.
- Not too long after, the Snail Maid suggests beating Pinocchio with a stick after he angrily called the Blue Fairy a witch for making his nose grow, but the Fairy rejects that because while she was taken aback by the insult, she states that Pinocchio is still shaken from the bad experience he just had, and gently talks reason to him instead.
- Demoted to Extra: The Talking Cricket is killed for good in his first and only appearance and doesn't return as a ghost. His role is subsequently fulfilled by other characters.
- Drowning My Sorrows: When Pinocchio goes missing, Geppetto gets drunk at a pub to cope with the despair before resolving that he'll go search for him.
- Dude, Not Funny!: Pinocchio's reaction when he realizes that the fire-breathing snake that blocks his path is only children pulling a prank.
- Extreme Omnivore: Pinocchio almost starts eating soap after Geppetto is arrested.
- Filching Food for Fun:
- When he first transforms into a real boy and runs from home, Pinocchio steals and eats the cheese of man that was fishing, who promptly joins Geppetto in The Chase.
- Pinocchio befriends Lampwick while helping him steal doughnuts.
- Follow the Leader: In-universe. Geppetto is inspired to build himself a puppet to make some money with it after seeing an advertisement for Fire-Eater's puppet show.
- Kangaroo Court: Pinocchio tries to have the Fox and the Cat arrested after they robbed him with the Grows on Trees scam, but gets unfairly blamed for falling for it and put in prison.
- Karma Houdini: The Fox and the Cat are last seen digging up the money Pinocchio buried, then they're never shown again making it seem they got away with it, while in the novel they get Laser-Guided Karma in the form of the Fox becoming a cripple and the Cat blind.
- Lampshade Hanging: Happens twice towards the Sea Monster, with the men that watch it swallow Pinocchio and then later Pinocchio himself wondering if it's a whale or a dogfish since its appearance doesn't make it too clear.
- The Lost Lenore: The unnamed deceased wife of Geppetto (who's eventually reincarnated in the Fairy with Turquoise Hair). Her death gives further depth to his lonliness and his joy in having a child of his own.
- Obscured Special Effects: Part of the reason why the series has such a realistic tone is the fact that special effect are never used. If there's a Talking Animal or Animate Inanimate Object, a simple voice-over is added. When Pinocchio alternates between his two forms, the camera conveniently cuts so that his transformation doesn't happen onscreen. When the children in the Land of Toys are turned into donkeys, they're all seen entering a room as children and coming out as donkeys.
- Parental Substitute: The Fairy with Turquoise Hair is this even more than in the novel. It helps that in this version she's the ghost of the late wife of Geppetto, she always manifests in this form during the whole story and it's her who first turns Pinocchio into a real boy.
- Power Dyes Your Hair: As a puppet, Pinocchio's hair color is black, but whenever he turns into a real boy he's got Andrea Balestri's blonde hair.
- Re-Cut: Twice within the year of release:
- First the series was extended from 280 minutes in 5 episodes to 320 minutes in 6 episodes. This version was first released for home-video and now is the one aired on TV during re-runs.
- Finally a shortened, 135 minutes version was released as a theatrical film. Needless to say that this version is an extreme case of Compressed Adaptation.
- Redubbing:
- Pinocchio's actor had to redub some of his own lines in post-production because he recited them with a too shrill voice during filming.
- The actors of Master Cherry and Candlewick spoke with a very thick Neapolitan accent and their lines were redubbed by different actors in post-production.
- Related in the Adaptation: Played With: the Fairy with Turquoise Hair is reimagined as the ghost of Geppeto's late wife reincarnated as a Fairy.
- Talking Animal: The Talking Cricket, the donkeys from the Land of Toys and the Tuna Fish are examples of this. Then the majority of talking animals from the novels were altered into human beings.
