The overriding theme for del Toro is the unfairness of children being bossed about by adults. In Collodi's novel, Pinocchio is punished every time he is disobedient, and ultimately learns to do what he is told. "We tried to very pointedly avoid that," says del Toro. "I really wanted to make a disobedient Pinocchio, and make disobedience a virtue. I wanted everybody to change but him. As the movie progresses, the cricket learns from Pinocchio, and Pinocchio learns very little from the cricket. I was being contrarian in a way, but it was more truthful to what I felt as a kid. I felt all this domestication was daunting and scary."
