Sabina is a character featured in the 2022 Disney remake of Pinocchio. She is a ballerina puppet who is controlled by her faithful puppeteer Fabiana.
Background[]
Sabina is a ballerina puppet used by her puppeteer Fabiana. Though she is a non-sentient puppet, Sabina can also make expressions depending on what situation she faces (for example, when Stromboli scolds Pinocchio for performing on stage for free to his cruel orders). In spite of working for Stromboli, she also shows a kind personality in helping Pinocchio where he earns her trust from her. Later after Stromboli is revealed to have been arrested, Sabina later becomes part of Fabiana's own puppet show the New Marionette Family Theater.
Role in the film[]
When Pinocchio meets Fabiana in Stromboli's puppet theater, he stares at a ballerina puppet which Fabiana introduces him to Sabina, thinking that she might be a good friend to him. Soon as Fabiana gets ready to perform on stage, Sabina waves at Pinocchio, telling him to get ready for him to perform while Stromboli is introducing the audience to Pinocchio just as the musical number "I've Got No Strings" begins. Sabina then watches Pinocchio walking on stage only from him trip, getting his nose stuck on a plank of wood just as Sabina helps Pinocchio get the plank off his nose just before leaving the stage. Pinocchio then performs the song "I've Got No Strings" again in front of the audience and after performing, puppets representing cancan dancers appear in front of him and after the cancan puppets leave, Sabina appears on stage dancing with Pinocchio while being controlled by Fabiana. While Pinocchio dances with Sabina, she then pirouettes in front of the audience just as Pinocchio tries to copy her performing her solo waltz. After the waltz, Sabina exits the stage and Cossack puppets dance in front of Pinocchio where the "I've Got No Strings" musical number resumes and after the song, the audience cheers for Pinocchio's performance.
Later at Stromboli's Caravan, Pinocchio encounters Sabina in the room where Fabiana is reciting for the next area where the puppet theater would perform at during the musical number "I Will Always Dance" where Pinocchio encounters Sabina dancing in solo while being controlled by Fabiana and as Pinocchio dances with her, Stromboli finds Pinocchio dancing with Sabina where he tells him that nobody in his show performs for free, much to Sabina angrily hearing Stromboli's harshness to Pinocchio just as Stromboli throws Pinocchio in a cage while telling Fabiana to pack up for the next area where the puppet theater will perform at. With Pinocchio caged, Sabina appears next to Pinocchio, complementing on his dance moves, explaining to him that she and Pinocchio haven't been formally introduced where Sabina introduces herself to him. When Pinocchio comments on her wonderful dances, she explains that she must live under Stromboli's harsh orders and while asking about Geppetto, Pinocchio explains that she would trust her for being helpful and upon showing Pinocchio a key on the wall, she devises a plan to get the key to open the cage and while asking, she explains that she and Pinocchio will take the money Stromboli stole from the puppets and escape the caravan only for the conversation to be interrupted with Stromboli entering the area where Pinocchio is caged at.
Later when Pinocchio hides under a dock while Jiminy Cricket decides to ask Sofia the Seagull to know where Geppetto went, a large figure whom he confuses for as the Coachman walks on the docks just as Sabina appears next to Pinocchio and upon noticing the donkey ears and tails he has and the figure is revealed to be none other than Fabiana controlling her ballerina puppet Sabina. Sabina explains to Pinocchio that she and her puppeteer Fabiana are now part of a new puppet show known as the New Marionette Family Theater introducing a new proposition where it is then revealed that the Carabinieri arrested Stromboli for his cruel treatment, resulting him put in jail. Sabina then asks Pinocchio that the new puppet theater would be honored if he gets the opportunity of joining the new show, asking him to be the headliner. However, Pinocchio then asks her that he must find his father, just as Sabina explains that something tells her the decision he made follows his goal to find Geppetto, which results in Pinocchio's donkey ears and tails disappearing. Before leaving, Sabina explains to her that she and Fabiana have a show to perform, explaining that the two will see him next year when the show performs at Siena which Pinocchio agrees of possibly performing there, causing Sabina to happily hug Pinocchio which Fabiana and her ballerina puppet Sabina return to the caravan where it takes the two to the area where the New Marionette Family Theater will perform at. She and her puppeteer Fabiana do not make any further appearances after that.
Trivia[]
- During the scene where Pinocchio dances with Sabina during the "I've Got No Strings" sequence, the castle backdrop that appears where Sabina performs her act resembles the castle from the Walt Disney Pictures logo.
- Sabina was created exclusively in the 2022 Disney remake of Pinocchio and does not appear in the original 1940 animated film but might have a counterpart from Carlo Collodi's original book in the form of Mangiafuoco's puppets (albeit they were implied to be alive like Pinocchio and not animated by unseen puppeteers).
