Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio – Review
117 Minutes, Rated PG
Written by Guillermo del Toro and Patrick Mchale
Directed by Guillermo del Toro
**NOTE: You can read Mark’s review below, read Ryan’s review HERE, then listen as they discuss the movie in more depth (along with Bones and All).**
Synopsis:
A darker version of the classic children’s fairy tale of a wooden puppet that transforms into a real living boy.
Well, kids, this isn’t your mother’s Pinocchio.
Guillermo del Toro is a singular director, whose vision is often unsettling, but which is never uninteresting.
His Pinocchio is no exception. As you might expect, this version is darker than the recent Disney live-action version. It’s use of stop-motion animation somewhat counter-intuitively lends the production a sense of life and energy that isn’t found in that recent Disney version.
It is a remarkable conundrum, but one which serves the story, including del Toro’s adaptations, very well.
Speaking of those adaptations, one of the major side-struggles for our wayward marionette is replaced, as the time period has been updated from “generic fantasy” to early 20th century.
I know what you’re thinking: “this guy hates when directors do this garbage! What a hypocrite!”
You’ve be half right: I hate it when directors do it for no reason; this version has a reason. I swear. Running from just pre-World War I to the inter-decade period between World Wars, this story maintains the meaning of the escapades, if not the exact form.
Speaking of exact form, Pinocchio is, as you may have noticed from the poster and/or trailer, not a perfect wooden boy. He is, rather, the product of… well, let’s just say he springs from a darker place than the version you might be accustomed to.
And that’s the joy of del Toro; he can take the familiar and make it magical, and if it’s already magical, he can spin it in such a way as to be even more magical with his unique vision.
There’s that word again: vision.
The voice cast is exceptional, with a surprising star in a very unexpected role. As Sebastian J Cricket, Ewan McGregor imparts a bit more snark than the classic version, and Christoph Waltz perfectly captures the villainy of Count Volpe, leader of the travelling show.
If you’re a fan of GDT, you won’t be disappointed, and if you were disappointed with the Disney live-action version from earlier this year, you may want to watch this one to cleanse your cinematic palate, if you will.
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio is rated PG, and it’s darker aspect may make it unsuitable for children under… say 9 or 10, so consider yourself warned.
To be fair, though, your mileage may vary.
This may very well get my vote as the Best Animated Movie of the year, though it’s going to be tough to beat Marcel the Shell With Shoes On, lol.
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio will be in select theaters Friday, November 18, before hitting Netflix on December 2 and features the voices of Gregory Mann, Ewan McGregor, Ron Perlman, Finn Wolfhard, Cate Blanchett, David Bradley, Tim Blake Nelson, Tilda Swinton, John Tuturro, Christoph Waltz, and Burn Gorman.
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