Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

Guillermo del Toro has always been an interesting director and has continued to this day to be one that is hard to pin down yet is always praised without a second step. He has shifted between making films that can cater towards the general public who become entranced in his unique dark edge like Blade II, Hellboy, Pacific Rim and Nightmare Alley, but he’s also known for his more Oscar-bait material that also comes with its fair share of artistic creepiness like Pan’s Labyrinth or The Shape of Water. Bottom line is that he’s a well-known director by both casual audiences and hardcore audiences, and while he does have his own flaws as a film-maker, no one can deny that he attempts to shake up the norm of most movies and bring something unique from a visual and atmospheric angle, enough so that even when 2022 surprisingly became the year of Pinocchio with three films released, his version still managed to get people’s attention. After tragically losing his young son in a bombing during the Great War of Italy, carpenter Geppetto (voiced by David Bradley) chops down a pine tree in a drunken rage where an anthropomorphic cricket named Sebastian (voiced by Ewan McGregor) resides, and builds a wooden puppet in the image of his late son. Upon passing out before completing him, the wooden puppet is given life by the Blue Fairy (voiced by Tilda Swinton) who names him Pinocchio and instructs him to look after Geppetto and bring him joy. Upon discovering that this wooden boy has come to life, Geppetto is taken aback and not ready to move onto a new son with the loss of his last one still strong in his heart twenty years later, but Pinocchio (voiced by Gregory Mann) does everything in his power to connect with his new papa, which in turn gets the attention of those in the village. Some view him as a star attraction, like Count Volpe (voiced by Christoph Waltz) who believes Pinocchio could make him famous again, and others see him as an asset to the Royal Italian Army, but all Pinocchio wishes to do is be a good son, a task that proves to be much harder than expected and one that he will continuously try to complete in order to fulfill his purpose in life and bring joy back to a grieving father . Despite being the third Pinocchio film released in 2022, this version managed to win critics and audiences over pretty quickly, won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature and made for a nice yet dark new spin on the titular puppet’s story.

This film is definitely taking a lot more from the original 1883 Italian novel The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi in terms of spirit and pacing, but also the Gris Grimly design from the 2002 edition of the story, proving that this is more trying to replicate the original feel of the story rather than in any way attempting to replicate the 1940 Disney film. In comparison to the recent live-action remake that Disney released, this movie is leagues more impressive and inventive with its re-adaptation of the story, taking the tale to brand new areas and exploring brand new themes and ideas with the same base premise. The strongest aspect of this film is the script (written by del Toro and Patrick McHale), what it changes from the original story and how these changes are adapted into the Pinocchio tale. Elements like making 1930s Fascist Italy the setting for the story not only brings a whole new level of darkness to this grim fairy tale (an element that del Toro’s has proven to enjoy doing with something like Pan’s Labyrinth) but how that aspect alters the message and presentation of a lot of key scenes from the original story is pretty fascinating and adds that wonderful new coat of paint without making it feel too alien from its original source. Qualities like Pinocchio’s puppet show becoming a window for propaganda the more he takes part in it, or the idea of Pleasure Island actually being a recruitment camp for young child soldiers in the war is wonderfully twisted and allows this one to be a nice mixture between fantastical reality and harsh aggressive reality. It separates it very nicely from the original animated Pinocchio, which had its own sense of disturbance and creepiness, but this one does feel like it grounds itself in places and goes even further in the fantastical stuff in parts to make it its own thing. It definitely feels like a del Toro film, and his direction alongside co-director, Mark Gustafson, is pretty good and highlights a lot of his strongest qualities. With that in mind, the narrative written by del Toro and Matthew Robins isn’t the best laid out and gets a little messy as the film continues going. The opening act is handled very nicely, with the inclusion of Geppetto’s grief over his son’s death really bringing a lot of heart and bittersweet qualities to the rest of the story when Pinocchio shows up, and the eventual fallout he has with Geppetto and his interactions with the rest of the town feel like nice combinations between new and old material. However, the second half makes things feel a little less flowing and suddenly the dramatic changes feel more like elements del Toro really wanted to show off and animate and not so much like aspects that benefit the story of Pinocchio, not even in the way they changed it. The story’s tone, message and even themes are completely different from the original story, which isn’t a flaw, but when the finale goes relatively close to the story’s ending, it doesn’t click as strongly as it should and leaves it on a less impressive note.

The characters are definitely tweaked and even more tortured versions of the original story, and for the most part, that helps the experience and gives the movie a more aggressive and sullen feeling that gives it a whole new identity. Despite this, they feel close enough to their counterparts that they still fulfill their roles effectively and the voice cast especially help out and do wonders with their parts. This is a very impressive cast of unique performers that can portray that hopeful but cryptic sensibility that del Toro loves putting in his characters and his choice of actors. Supporting roles like Ron Perlman, John Turturro, and Finn Wolfhard do very nice in their bit parts, Ewan McGregor has a great voice and attitude that feels perfect for a Jiminy Cricket-type character, Christoph Waltz is wonderfully theatrical yet threatening as Count Volpe, Tilda Swinton as the Blue Fairy and another character later on is nice and mystical as well as pretty creepy as well, and David Bradley who is more known for his work as antagonists in stuff like Harry Potter or Game of Thrones gives a very emotional and human performance as Geppetto, delivering a portrayal that feels much more fleshed out, vulnerable and angrier than usual and provides (at first) a nice change in the relationship between the two characters. Gregory Mann is also a stand-out as Pinocchio; he gets that child-like sensibility and naivete very effectively but is also strong enough to give more than just the basic Pinocchio routine, there are moments where he can be bratty and even slightly mature, its very well done. However, while the voice-acting is very strong, the relationships between the characters feel a little underdeveloped and not strong enough to warrant the situations that happen in this movie. The relationship between Pinocchio and Geppetto at first seems quite fascinating; what is usually presented as a loving bond between a father and son is instead a feeling of bitter resentment from Geppetto towards the puppet for not being able to be with his true son and left with one who doesn’t fit the mold he wanted for his own child despite Pinocchio wishing to act as the new son, making him more feel like an example of ”replacement child” syndrome rather than a fresh start. That’s a great change to make, but the two are separated for the rest of the movie and it gives no more time for them to properly conclude their issues as the ending rushes to its expected conclusion. Sebastian the Cricket is in a similar boat; he barely interacts with Pinocchio throughout the movie and doesn’t even see him until the movie’s climax, and while each iteration of Jiminy has wavered in terms of relevance in each movie, this one barely talks or interacts with him whatsoever, so the end result doesn’t feel deserved.

For a movie all about a talking puppet, the component of making it a stop-motion movie feels like a perfect blend to show respect to the art-form that is sadly not given much attention, keep it very distant from the original 2D Disney animated film which del Toro greatly adores, and fits nicely with the movie’s more disturbed and unpleasant atmosphere as the movements, designs and structure of all the characters feel very different from other animation and makes it wholly its own thing. This movie looks spectacular and really brings a unique and creative visual style to the world of Pinocchio that is colorful, creative, and slightly imaginative, but also has that dark, muddy and even ugly and contorted side that stop-motion can bring to a lot of projects. The character designs are odd and moreso ugly and disturbing to look at rather than cute and charming (Pinocchio especially is fantastically creepy and unfinished looking, while still coming across as very charming and friendly), and this adds to the world rather than takes way from it, with the human designs helping to show some of the ugliness of this time period and part of the world, and the fantastical creatures showcase that nice balance between fantastical looking but also creepy as well (the Blue Fairy looks great, but she’s scary looking to). The environments are wonderfully released, the camera work feel very dynamic and fun for a stop-motion film, and the angles and lighting really bring in that gothic atmosphere that adds a nice spin to usually friendly and fun moments (Pinocchio’s creation is something right out of Frankenstein). The film features songs that were written by the same person who composed the film, Alexandre Desplat, and while they function nicely for the movie and are perfectly fine in general, they don’t bring much that regular music couldn’t do either, they are weirdly fast paced and finish relatively quickly, and most of the lyrics and melodies work better in small chunks and are memorable in pieces rather than as a whole (although Ciao, Papa is a nice little tune).

For the year of Pinocchio, Guillermo del Toro’s film is definitely the best out of the three. While that isn’t a lot to say as both other films were not very impressive in their own right, but regardless, this version of Pinocchio is distinct enough to stand out from among the rest, has its own unique spins and turns that make for a fresh new feel, but the memorable characters, striking visuals and more mature atmosphere makes it a great watch. Sadly the movie does still have its fair share of faults like the disconnect between the new ideas and the original tales intent, some of the characters not feeling properly utilized, and maybe some of del Toro’s usual qualities feeling more bizarre than satisfying (Cate Blanchett voices a monkey in this movie, but the monkey doesn’t even talk so it’s just monkey noises, it’s a little weird), but considering how many times del Toro has green-lit and then gone away from projects, and considering how much he loved the original story, it’s nice to see he managed to succeed with this film and it turned out to be a success. This movie may leave you feeling sad and even a little attacked in parts, but it will still be worth your while.