Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio - 2022
Rating - PG
Runtime - 121 mins
Directed by - Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson
Written by - Guillermo del Toro, Patrick McHale, and Matthew Robbins
Based on the 1883 novel ‘The Adventures of Pinocchio’ by - Carlo Collodi
Starring - Ewan McGregor, David Bradley, Gregory Mann, Christoph Waltz
Pinocchio (better known as Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio) is a 2022 fantasy stop-motion animation film created by Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, whose other works include anthology series Cabinet of Curiosities, and Academy Award-winning films like Pan’s Labyrinth and The Shape of Water.
Set during Mussolini’s fascist Italy in the 1930’s, the story is told from the perspective of Sebastian J. Cricket (voiced by Ewan McGregor), a well travelled writer who lives in the tree that woodcarver Geppetto (David Bradley) uses to make a wooden boy to deal with the loss of his son Carlo, who died in an air raid during World War One. When the wooden boy Pinocchio (Gregory Mann) comes to life and says he is his son, Gepetto has to finally face his grief and learn over time to love Pinocchio for who he is. But the boy has to overcome obstacles like the fascist government, the evil carnival owner Count Volpe (Christoph Waltz), and an enormous sea creature on his journey to be with his father, which he does with the help of Sebastian, who acts as his conscience.
This is del Toro’s first venture into animation and he played a big part in bringing his vision to life on-screen. The project has been in the works for nearly two decades, but it took until 2018 to go into production when it was eventually picked up by Netflix. The film took nearly 1,000 days to animate with a crew of over 40 animators, primarily filmed in del Toro’s home country Mexico. The amount of heart and dedication put into this film by its creators really shows throughout. The accompanying documentary, Pinocchio: Hand-carved Cinema, is essential viewing for a deeper insight into the creative process of the film.
The use of stop-motion animation in this film is truly breathtaking, taking advantage of both the benefits and flaws of the art form. The designs of the models and sets are so intricate in detail and required years to develop fully. This is the longest stop-motion animated film ever to date which is an impressive feat. Even though this is an animated feature, it is so uniquely recognisable as one of del Toro‘s creations. His iconic creepy style is part of what makes this such an anomaly. He is said to have over 20 scripts prepared for future projects, which truly shows his creativity during what many consider to be his ‘golden age‘ in filmmaking.
The gorgeous animation is accompanied by an eclectic and extremely talented voice cast, which includes Cate Blanchett as Spazzatura, Tilda Swinton as the life and death sprites, and Ron Perlman and Finn Wolfhard as the podesta and his son Candlewick.
The story is, as Sebastian J. Cricket says, one of loss and love, and is presented in an incredibly meaningful and moving way. I praise the ingenuity put into this reimagining of one of the most well known stories in history. It was a bold choice to set the story in 1930’s fascist Italy, especially for a film intended for people of all ages, but the story surprisingly works really well in this time period.
The songs throughout the film, composed by Alexander Desplat, are a hit or miss. Count Volpe’s song is there entirely to fill a gap, but songs like ‘Ciao Papa’ and ‘My Son’ are weaved fittingly into the story. ‘Better Tomorrows’, the crickets song, is also really fun. To keep with the theme of the film, all the instruments featured on the soundtrack are made out of wood.
This has been an eventful year for the stop-motion genre, with other films released this year including Wendell and Wild, The House, and the brilliant Marcel the Shell with Shoes on, but Pinocchio is arguably the best on this list by a mile. This may even be my favourite stop-motion film since Wes Anderson’s amazing 2007 film Fantastic Mr. Fox. This is the third Pinocchio film released this year, the other two being the Russian animated film Pinocchio: A True Story, which became a meme due its English dub led by Pauly Shore, and Disney’s live-action remake of their original animated classic from 1940. Both of these films were really disappointing and paled massively in comparison to del Toro’s Pinocchio.
Guillermo del Toro‘s Pinocchio is a wonderous piece of cinema (despite the film's worldwide release being on Netflix). The darker take on this beloved story may be quite shocking to fans of the more grounded versions, but it is brutally honest and, therefore, truly beautiful. This is the kind of films that we should see more of in modern cinema: not another CGI-fuelled, dumbed down rehash of another successful film; we need films that make you think, made by humans, not machines. Films that tell stories that people can identify with and make you feel. This film gives me hope that we can continue to see such creativity more again in this wonderful art form, which now can only be seen in small glimpses like this.
Score - 10/10
Guillermo del Toro‘s Pinocchio is available to stream now on Netflix.
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