Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio review

GUILLERMO DEL TORO’S PINOCCHIO: 

STOP-MOTION ADAPTATION FULLY EMBRACES BOTH THE WHIMSICAL AND DARK THEMES OF ITS SOURCE MATERIAL! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** ½ out of 4

NETFLIX

The wooden puppet comes to life (For the second time this year!) in Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

 

            Visionary filmmaker Guillermo del Toro (Hellboy 1 and 2, Pan’s Labyrinth, The Shape of Water) brings his take on the classic story about a wooden puppet’s quest to become a real boy in Pinocchio (or Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio to be more accurate), the second adaptation of the story released this year only this time in stop-motion animation. Adaptations of Carlo Collodi’s The Adventures of Pinocchio have been very polarizing over the years with the 1940 hand-drawn Disney film being universally beloved and a timeless classic while others such as the 2002 Roberto Benigni version and Robert Zemeckis’ live-action remake of the Disney film released earlier this year failing to impress to say the least. 

            Which is why I was intrigued when I heard del Toro was doing an adaptation of the story as his first venture into animation. Apparently, this film also has an interesting production history as it was originally announced back in 2008 and initially for a 2013-2014 release, but the project went into development hell and no major studios were interested in financing or distributing it. 

            Netflix to the rescue! After they acquired the rights, the project was revived and given a limited theatrical release followed by a Netflix release soon after. 

            I was excited when I first saw the trailer, I think Guillermo del Toro is a brilliant filmmaker who puts a lot of craftsmanship in his films and creates has an overactive imagination when it comes to his characters and worlds. Given the darkly whimsical nature of the original book, I felt he was an excellent choice to helm a Pinocchio adaptation…and I was totally right! 

            This might very well be the best adaptation I’ve seen of Pinocchio since at least the original Disney film. The stop-motion animation done by Robot Chicken’s ShadowMachine, artistry, and character designs are stellar as if you’re watching pages of a gothic fairy tale come to life, the setting of a 1930s Fascist Italy really makes the adaptation stand out narrative wise, and unlike most modern animated features this one rightfully earns the PG rating. 

            This is not a Disney PG rating where it’s practically a G movie but with a few risqué jokes thrown in or some scary images. I’m talking Coraline and Beetlejuice PG with haunting imagery, disturbing and intense subject matter, death, and even some brief scenes of animal abuse (Nothing graphic though). 

            The film follows Geppetto (voiced by David Bradley-Harry Potter franchise, Cornetto trilogy, Game of Thrones), a heartbroken woodcarver grieving over the sudden death of his son Carlo who builds a wooden puppet boy that magically comes to life by a mysterious fairy known as the Wood Sprite (voiced by Tilda Swinton-The Chronicles of Narnia franchise, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Three Thousand Years of Longing). The puppet, now called Pinocchio (voiced by newcomer Gregory Mann) dreams of becoming a real boy but struggles to live up to his father’s expectations. 

            With the help of a talking cricket acting as his conscious named Sebastian J. Cricket (voiced by Ewan McGregor-Star Wars franchise, Big Fish, Doctor Sleep), Pinocchio embarks on a quest to become a real boy. Along the way, he becomes a sensation at a circus run by a ruthless  ringmaster known as Count Volpe (voiced by Christoph Waltz-Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained, Alita: Battle Angel), gets drafted into a war by fascist government official Podestà (voiced by Ron Perlman-Blade II, Hellboy 1 and 2, Nightmare Alley), and rescues his father from a whale while also learning the true meaning of life. 

            The film also features the voices of Finn Wolfhard (Stranger Things, It: Chapters 1 and 2, Ghostbusters: Afterlife) as Candlewick, Cate Blanchett (The Aviator, Thor: Ragnarok, Tár) as Spazzatura, Burn Gorman (The Dark Knight Rises, Game of Thrones, Pacific Rim 1 and 2) as the Priest, John Turturro (The Big Lebowski, Transformersfranchise, The Batman) as Il Dottore, Tim Blake Nelson (O Brother Where Art Thou?, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Lincoln) as the Black Rabbits, and Tom Kenny (The Powerpuff Girls, SpongeBob Squarepants, Adventure Time) as Benito Mussolini. 

            Overall, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio is a visual marvel that captures both the whimsy and dark nature of its source material with flying colors. For the most part, the plot is pretty much the same as other Pinocchio adaptations with some major differences. 

            For instance, there aren’t any children getting turned into donkeys in this version nor does Pleasure Island exist here either, there’s a recurring theme about war and fascism, and the evil ringmaster is more prominent as the main antagonist than in other adaptations of the story. I think these are all very effective directions to take the story and help differentiate it from the more iconic Disney film without ever feeling out of place. 

            Visually, I’ve never seen a Pinocchio adaptation that looked like this before, the scenery has sort of this Tim Burton/Henry Selick or Laika Animation vibe that manages to be both lovely and bleak at the same time. The character designs and puppets reminded me of films like Coraline or ParaNorman, and Pinocchio himself has a very unique appearance that’s more wooden and resembles how the character is often illustrated in publications of the original book. 

            I also love every scene involving del Toro’s stand-in for the Blue Fairy and the character’s sister Death both vocally portrayed brilliantly by Tilda Swinton with some audio effects added in. They’re a lot more mysterious than other depictions of the Blue Fairy and feel incredibly Guillermo del Toro in terms of appearance and presence, almost like creatures from Pan’s Labyrinth or the fairytale world from Hellboy II: The Golden Army. 

            I really appreciate how this film has a lot of intense and horrific subject matter without going the full PG-13 to the point where I was uncertain of what this film was rated during certain scenes. It’s a film that isn’t rated PG just for a few risqué jokes thrown into a G film, there is some messed up things that happen in this movie that could potentially terrify your children so I would not advise taking little kids to this, but if you know your kids and that they can handle intense and scary material, then by all means. 

            Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio is easily the best Pinocchio adaptation released this year and among the best retellings of the story. It’s a magical, otherworldly journey with just the right amount of weirdness.