HOME | DD

Description
Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio
Director: Guillermo Del Toro, Mark Gustafson
Studio: Netflix

Cast:
Ewan McGregor
Gregory Mann
David Bradley
Tilda Swinton
Christoph Waltz
Cate Blanchett
Ron Perlman
Finn Wolfhard
Tom Kenny

Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio

Today's review is the first of a small batch of stand alone reviews of four animated movies I watched back in 2022 and before anyone asked, the four are not Disney/Pixar films, but are two films from DreamWorks and two from Netflix.

The first film of Today's review is the third and last of a small theme 2022 simultaneously had and that 2022 was suddenly the year of the wooden boy, Pinocchio, as we got not one, not two, but Three different movies based on Pinocchio.

Early last year, the first one was a weird imported Russian animated retelling of the story, Pinocchio: A True Story. A film that became a viral sensation in meme culture due to its laughably bad English dub with Pauly Shore as the title character in what was probably the most meme-worthy movie of last year with such memorable lines like....

"Father, when can I leave to be on my own? I've got the whole world to see."

The second was a live action remake of the 1940 Disney film, that was directed by Robert Zemeckis and starred Tom Hanks as Gappeto and was dropped onto Disney+. And while personally, I didn't hate it as much as most people, it was an utterly forgettable and subpar retelling at best and at worst, is a pale imitation of the original film that misses the point of that film and felt like it was rushed into production just to compete with the movie of Today's discussion...

And that movie is the third and final iteration,

Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio

A long awaited passion project stop motion animated retelling of the story by the acclaimed filmmaker that was in production for fourteen years and was finally picked up by Netflix and presented for all to see and after seeing it when it came, the wait was definitely worth it and I don't think I'll get heat when I say that this movie is by a landslide, the best of the three Pinocchio films and maybe the Pinocchio film we've gotten in recent memory, even since the original Disney version!

POSITIVES

The overall way the movies tells the classic Pinocchio story is what makes it as good as it is and stand out as Del Toro's version. I love how the movie takes the familiar story and skeleton of that classic Pinocchio story but does a unique twist on it and makes it a more contemporary and mature version of that story compared to previous adaptations with its setting and time period being within Facist Italy during WWII and having a military camp in the place of Pleasure Island, which brings about some natural political subtext to the background of the story without taking over the narrative, and especially how it reimagines and adds to characters we know from the story and even crafts its own unique elements as well and even having a tone thats more akin to the original story that most adaptations usually shy away from in favor of being more kid friendly. And while most of those adaptations from the past are good for what they are and do, this film adaptation, despite being a PG movie in 2022, is not afraid to get dark and mature with some of its subject matter and even the way its story is told and even how it ultimately concludes the story is unlike stuff you see from most animated films these day and a prime example that animation can tell any type of story for any age, and isn't just for kids like certain simpletons like to claim. Looking at you, Academy.

Even the way the characters are portrayed is unique from other versions. Pinocchio in this version, while still having that child like naivete and optimism, is a rather unruly, disobedient and uncontrollable troublemaker who can be a handful especially for Gappeto and it helps make his growing arc of becoming more of a real boy all the more engaging as well as the way he is designed as being a very rough looking wood puppet, which narratively is fitting seeing as Gappeto crafted him during a drunken rage, and helps him stand out from previous depictions of the character who were designed to be more cute and also the new element added to him of not being able to come back from temporarily dying due to not being a real boy is a very cool new twist to his character and the story as a whole and even comes into play for the ultimate crescendo of his character arc towards the end.

As for his papa Gappeto, this has to be the most tragic portrayal of Gappeto at least that I've seen. From the start, we see him as this loving and compassionate man who shared a lovely bond with his son Carlo up until a tragedy involving a bomber plane came and took the latter's life. After that, Gappeto became a drunken and emotionally broken shell of the man he was and carved Pinocchio out of drunken rage and desperation to have his son back and unlike most adaptations, when Pinocchio comes alive, Gappeto doesn't immediately become joyful at that moment. Instead, he's a bit freaked out and confused as anybody would be seeing a walking talking puppet and even when he gets over the initial reaction and tries to see Pinocchio as his son, he is so consumed by the thought of his former son Carlo and wanting Pinocchio to be like him and Pinocchio himself being frustrating and a handful for Gappeto to control, which adds a welcome element of drama with the father/son aspect of the story and makes this Gappeto a very emotionally tragic and sympathetic character as he goes out to find/make amends with his wooden son.

The (Jiminy) Cricket of this version, Sebastian J. Cricket also acts as a brilliant supporting character and is a very well done reimagining of the character, thanks to his vocal performance by Ewan McGregor and also is a surprisingly good comic relief with his two running gags of always being Interrupted as he's about to sing and ending up being flatten more than once, another small inspiration from Carlo Callodi's original story.

The other characters are just as great as the three leads with the villain Count Volpe, who is like a brilliant amalgation of Honest John and Stromboli as this sleazy and vain puppet master alongside his monkey assistant Spazzatura, who the latter gets a nice subversive twist with his role. The Podesta who is like the village's strict authoritarian and somewhat of a tertiary antagonist as well as his son, Candlewick, who has a brief friendship with Pinocchio during the military camp portion of the film which acts as the "Pleasure Island" of the story. Even Benito Mussolini makes a small appearance in the middle of the film and voiced by Tom Kenny surprisingly enough.

You know if I had a nickel for every time Tom Kenny voice acted in a Pinocchio film in 2022, I'd have two nickels which isn't a lot but its weird how it happened twice, right?

And there are the "Blue Fairies," the Woodsprite and her sister Death. They are by far the most unique of the familiar characters with how the Woodsprite is benevolent yet mysterious and serves the role as the traditional Blue Fairy of the story who gives life to Pinocchio in the beginning and end, while her sister Death is this mysterious and somewhat dark entity who is the keeper of the afterlife who keeps track of Pinocchio's time in limbo, and how they are very mysterious, ethereal and other wordly with their designs and their portrayals that make them stand out as one of the more memorable aspects in a movie full of memorable aspects.

The stop motion animation is nothing short of revolutionary here and the craftsmanship and attention to detail with the characters and movements is brilliant and shows the amount of effort in all those 14 years of production. Stop motion in general is an art medium that I find fascinating due to the amount of time, work and effort needed to craft the characters and everything and move them one frame at a time to get a clear motion that must require a crap ton of patience, but the end results are always admirable and show the effort on full display. The set design, character designs, effects, lighting is all on point and expertly crafted, almost akin to a film from Laika and is evident of the pure passion Del Toro and the team had, to the point where in the end credits, they credit the animators before the voice actors. Talk about dedication right there.

And finally, this movie has quite the doozy of an ending in the best ways. If you know the Pinocchio story or have seen any of the other Pinocchio movies, you'd know how it would normally end, with Pinocchio turning into a real boy by the end after saving Gappeto from Monstro (or the Terrible Dogfish in this case) and they live happily ever after. Well here, there's a bit more than that. Without spoiling exactly what happens, It technically does give a happy ending you'd expect from this type of movie at first but then the ending continues for a few minutes with a timeskip and the actual ending of it creates a wave of mixed emotions where one moment you're satisfied, then you're suddenly sad and overall the ending leaves you with a rather bittersweet final note that you don't see very often if at all especially in animated films and so, its because of the emotionally conflicting ending that this movie shows how its not afraid to go there and take risks, once again proving the meaning of animation as a story telling medium.

MIXED

This movie is a musical and the songs themselves are pretty good in their own rights and even some like My Son and Ciao Papa are very emotional and adds to the movie's more tender and heartfelt moments, however aside from those two, the rest of the songs aren't quite as memorable or are songs that I will be humming after seeing the movie. Again, very good songs and are well done but not the most memorable songs I've heard before.

As much as I do really enjoy and love this movie and think it is the best adaptation of Pinocchio we've recently gotten, its not the most rewatchable movie to where its one I see myself rewatching on repeat like other fun movies that I am more inclined to pull out. Not to say this wasn't fun, its still a good film that I am happy finally is a thing especially given its decade and a quarter long production history, but because its a bit more of an emotional story, its a movie that I think is worth watching every couple years or so but not one that I'm going to go out of my way to continuously revisit despite knowing its a masterpiece.

NEGATIVES

This is a small thing but whatever happened to Candlewick near the end as we never see him again despite knowing he's still active last time we saw him?

FINAL THOUGHTS

"Masterpiece" is a word that many would use when talking about this movie upon release and for good reason. Del Toro's Pinocchio is definitely a passionate and masterfully crafted adaptation that reimagines the classic Pinocchio story in a familiar but fresh and unique way and is easily the best Pinocchio film of 2022, not that it was a high bar, this could have just been a plain good movie and still would have likely been the best anyways and as is, this is definitely a great movie that was certainly worth the wait and even if its not the most rewatchable or the most perfect film in the world, this film like Pinocchio himself still remains a wooden masterpiece!

9.5/10

Description
Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio
Director: Guillermo Del Toro, Mark Gustafson
Studio: Netflix

Cast:
Ewan McGregor
Gregory Mann
David Bradley
Tilda Swinton
Christoph Waltz
Cate Blanchett
Ron Perlman
Finn Wolfhard
Tom Kenny

Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio

Today's review is the first of a small batch of stand alone reviews of four animated movies I watched back in 2022 and before anyone asked, the four are not Disney/Pixar films, but are two films from DreamWorks and two from Netflix.

The first film of Today's review is the third and last of a small theme 2022 simultaneously had and that 2022 was suddenly the year of the wooden boy, Pinocchio, as we got not one, not two, but Three different movies based on Pinocchio.

Early last year, the first one was a weird imported Russian animated retelling of the story, Pinocchio: A True Story. A film that became a viral sensation in meme culture due to its laughably bad English dub with Pauly Shore as the title character in what was probably the most meme-worthy movie of last year with such memorable lines like....

"Father, when can I leave to be on my own? I've got the whole world to see."

The second was a live action remake of the 1940 Disney film, that was directed by Robert Zemeckis and starred Tom Hanks as Gappeto and was dropped onto Disney+. And while personally, I didn't hate it as much as most people, it was an utterly forgettable and subpar retelling at best and at worst, is a pale imitation of the original film that misses the point of that film and felt like it was rushed into production just to compete with the movie of Today's discussion...

And that movie is the third and final iteration,

Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio

A long awaited passion project stop motion animated retelling of the story by the acclaimed filmmaker that was in production for fourteen years and was finally picked up by Netflix and presented for all to see and after seeing it when it came, the wait was definitely worth it and I don't think I'll get heat when I say that this movie is by a landslide, the best of the three Pinocchio films and maybe the Pinocchio film we've gotten in recent memory, even since the original Disney version!

POSITIVES

The overall way the movies tells the classic Pinocchio story is what makes it as good as it is and stand out as Del Toro's version. I love how the movie takes the familiar story and skeleton of that classic Pinocchio story but does a unique twist on it and makes it a more contemporary and mature version of that story compared to previous adaptations with its setting and time period being within Facist Italy during WWII and having a military camp in the place of Pleasure Island, which brings about some natural political subtext to the background of the story without taking over the narrative, and especially how it reimagines and adds to characters we know from the story and even crafts its own unique elements as well and even having a tone thats more akin to the original story that most adaptations usually shy away from in favor of being more kid friendly. And while most of those adaptations from the past are good for what they are and do, this film adaptation, despite being a PG movie in 2022, is not afraid to get dark and mature with some of its subject matter and even the way its story is told and even how it ultimately concludes the story is unlike stuff you see from most animated films these day and a prime example that animation can tell any type of story for any age, and isn't just for kids like certain simpletons like to claim. Looking at you, Academy.

Even the way the characters are portrayed is unique from other versions. Pinocchio in this version, while still having that child like naivete and optimism, is a rather unruly, disobedient and uncontrollable troublemaker who can be a handful especially for Gappeto and it helps make his growing arc of becoming more of a real boy all the more engaging as well as the way he is designed as being a very rough looking wood puppet, which narratively is fitting seeing as Gappeto crafted him during a drunken rage, and helps him stand out from previous depictions of the character who were designed to be more cute and also the new element added to him of not being able to come back from temporarily dying due to not being a real boy is a very cool new twist to his character and the story as a whole and even comes into play for the ultimate crescendo of his character arc towards the end.

As for his papa Gappeto, this has to be the most tragic portrayal of Gappeto at least that I've seen. From the start, we see him as this loving and compassionate man who shared a lovely bond with his son Carlo up until a tragedy involving a bomber plane came and took the latter's life. After that, Gappeto became a drunken and emotionally broken shell of the man he was and carved Pinocchio out of drunken rage and desperation to have his son back and unlike most adaptations, when Pinocchio comes alive, Gappeto doesn't immediately become joyful at that moment. Instead, he's a bit freaked out and confused as anybody would be seeing a walking talking puppet and even when he gets over the initial reaction and tries to see Pinocchio as his son, he is so consumed by the thought of his former son Carlo and wanting Pinocchio to be like him and Pinocchio himself being frustrating and a handful for Gappeto to control, which adds a welcome element of drama with the father/son aspect of the story and makes this Gappeto a very emotionally tragic and sympathetic character as he goes out to find/make amends with his wooden son.

The (Jiminy) Cricket of this version, Sebastian J. Cricket also acts as a brilliant supporting character and is a very well done reimagining of the character, thanks to his vocal performance by Ewan McGregor and also is a surprisingly good comic relief with his two running gags of always being Interrupted as he's about to sing and ending up being flatten more than once, another small inspiration from Carlo Callodi's original story.

The other characters are just as great as the three leads with the villain Count Volpe, who is like a brilliant amalgation of Honest John and Stromboli as this sleazy and vain puppet master alongside his monkey assistant Spazzatura, who the latter gets a nice subversive twist with his role. The Podesta who is like the village's strict authoritarian and somewhat of a tertiary antagonist as well as his son, Candlewick, who has a brief friendship with Pinocchio during the military camp portion of the film which acts as the "Pleasure Island" of the story. Even Benito Mussolini makes a small appearance in the middle of the film and voiced by Tom Kenny surprisingly enough.

You know if I had a nickel for every time Tom Kenny voice acted in a Pinocchio film in 2022, I'd have two nickels which isn't a lot but its weird how it happened twice, right?

And there are the "Blue Fairies," the Woodsprite and her sister Death. They are by far the most unique of the familiar characters with how the Woodsprite is benevolent yet mysterious and serves the role as the traditional Blue Fairy of the story who gives life to Pinocchio in the beginning and end, while her sister Death is this mysterious and somewhat dark entity who is the keeper of the afterlife who keeps track of Pinocchio's time in limbo, and how they are very mysterious, ethereal and other wordly with their designs and their portrayals that make them stand out as one of the more memorable aspects in a movie full of memorable aspects.

The stop motion animation is nothing short of revolutionary here and the craftsmanship and attention to detail with the characters and movements is brilliant and shows the amount of effort in all those 14 years of production. Stop motion in general is an art medium that I find fascinating due to the amount of time, work and effort needed to craft the characters and everything and move them one frame at a time to get a clear motion that must require a crap ton of patience, but the end results are always admirable and show the effort on full display. The set design, character designs, effects, lighting is all on point and expertly crafted, almost akin to a film from Laika and is evident of the pure passion Del Toro and the team had, to the point where in the end credits, they credit the animators before the voice actors. Talk about dedication right there.

And finally, this movie has quite the doozy of an ending in the best ways. If you know the Pinocchio story or have seen any of the other Pinocchio movies, you'd know how it would normally end, with Pinocchio turning into a real boy by the end after saving Gappeto from Monstro (or the Terrible Dogfish in this case) and they live happily ever after. Well here, there's a bit more than that. Without spoiling exactly what happens, It technically does give a happy ending you'd expect from this type of movie at first but then the ending continues for a few minutes with a timeskip and the actual ending of it creates a wave of mixed emotions where one moment you're satisfied, then you're suddenly sad and overall the ending leaves you with a rather bittersweet final note that you don't see very often if at all especially in animated films and so, its because of the emotionally conflicting ending that this movie shows how its not afraid to go there and take risks, once again proving the meaning of animation as a story telling medium.

MIXED

This movie is a musical and the songs themselves are pretty good in their own rights and even some like My Son and Ciao Papa are very emotional and adds to the movie's more tender and heartfelt moments, however aside from those two, the rest of the songs aren't quite as memorable or are songs that I will be humming after seeing the movie. Again, very good songs and are well done but not the most memorable songs I've heard before.

As much as I do really enjoy and love this movie and think it is the best adaptation of Pinocchio we've recently gotten, its not the most rewatchable movie to where its one I see myself rewatching on repeat like other fun movies that I am more inclined to pull out. Not to say this wasn't fun, its still a good film that I am happy finally is a thing especially given its decade and a quarter long production history, but because its a bit more of an emotional story, its a movie that I think is worth watching every couple years or so but not one that I'm going to go out of my way to continuously revisit despite knowing its a masterpiece.

NEGATIVES

This is a small thing but whatever happened to Candlewick near the end as we never see him again despite knowing he's still active last time we saw him?

FINAL THOUGHTS

"Masterpiece" is a word that many would use when talking about this movie upon release and for good reason. Del Toro's Pinocchio is definitely a passionate and masterfully crafted adaptation that reimagines the classic Pinocchio story in a familiar but fresh and unique way and is easily the best Pinocchio film of 2022, not that it was a high bar, this could have just been a plain good movie and still would have likely been the best anyways and as is, this is definitely a great movie that was certainly worth the wait and even if its not the most rewatchable or the most perfect film in the world, this film like Pinocchio himself still remains a wooden masterpiece!

9.5/10