The song “Ciao Papa” from Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio has been released and offers us another glimpse at the stunning stop-motion animation on display as the director brings to life the beloved literary classic using his unique imagination. Released courtesy of Variety, the song finds Pinocchio bidding farewell to his father, with the song conjuring a haunting atmosphere around the innocent vocals of newcomer Gregory Mann as the voice of the title character. You can check out “Ciao Papa” below.

Composer Alexandre Desplat has revealed some insight into the creation of “Ciao Papa,” stating how essential it was to show Pinocchio’s innocent nature within the “very sad and utterly melancholic moment.” He continued explaining that the song is “the farewell to childhood, the farewell to his new home that he just discovered, the farewell to his father — who still doesn’t know how to love him. So in the first draft, we had all the elements that are in the song — and then with Katz, we added a bit more innocence and poetry.”

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Desplat crafted the song in such a way that “any child could sing” it. “The combination of these two words — ‘Ciao,’ which is Italian, and ‘Papa,’ which works in any language — I felt that if the melody was as simple as these two words, it would be very easy to remember and to catch for anyone,” he said.

This latest version of Pinocchio will differ greatly from previous iterations. A retelling of the famous Carlo Collodi fairytale about a wooden puppet who comes to life and dreams of becoming a real boy, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio takes place in 1930s Fascist Italy. When Pinocchio comes to life, however, he turns out not to be a nice boy but instead the opposite, causing mischief and playing mean tricks. Heading into the world, Pinocchio is a story of love and disobedience as he struggles to live up to his father’s expectations, learning the true meaning of life.

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio Has Already Received Critical Acclaim

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Pinocchio has already been seen by some and has since been met with critical acclaim. Currently sitting at a very fresh 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, Bloody Disgusting’s Meagan Navarro calls Pinocchio “a deeply enchanting journey full of heart, breathtaking craftsmanship, and poignant themes set against a backdrop of Fascism.”

Rafael Motamayor of indieWire meanwhile heaped praise on the movie saying, “a decades-long passion project results in a classic tale given new life with exquisite craftsmanship and a poignant story of rebellion.” While TheWrap’s Nicholas Barber summed things up by describing Pinocchio as “a soulful stop-motion masterpiece.”

Pinocchio has amassed a stellar cast alongside Gregory Mann, including Ewan McGregor as Sebastian J. Cricket, David Bradley as Master Geppetto, Christoph Waltz as Count Volpe, Tilda Swinton as the Wood Sprite, Ron Perlman as the Podestà, Finn Wolfhard as Candlewick, Cate Blanchett as Spazzatura, Burn Gorman as The Priest, Tim Blake Nelson as The Black Rabbits, and John Turturro as The Dottore.

Directed by Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson in his feature directorial debut, and from a screenplay by del Toro and Patrick McHale, Pinocchio was released in select cinemas on November 9, 2022, and is scheduled to be released via streaming on December 9, by Netflix.