Movie Details
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (2022)
Director: Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson
Cast: Ewan McGregor,David Bradley and Gregory Mann
Movie type: Fantasy/Musical
Release date: 15 October 2022
IMDB Rating: 7.6/10
Languages: English and Italian
Duration: 1 Hour 54 Minutes
Trailer
Synopsis
When I reviewed Disney’s Pinocchio by Robert Zemeckis a few months ago, I kind of didn’t understand why the wooden boy is so popular among filmmakers and we have to see him in two adaptations during the year. The sterile Disney movie convinced me that nothing new can be found in this well-worn material and it can only be a completely folded and interchangeable fairy tale full of songs and family kitsch. But now this year’s second Pinocchio is coming to the Netflix stream, from Guillermo del Toro himself, who promised a darker and more mature spectacle and, in short, a vision that we wouldn’t expect from a well-known fairy tale. And strangely enough, he didn’t poop, and I have to take back my original words about folded fabric after all.
Yes, once again we get the classic story of Pinocchio who wants to be like a normal boy, and his relationship with his father Geppetto and Cricket, this time appearing as Sebastian, who is the hero’s guide. But this time, traditional properties are enriched with significantly more mature themes. We have a very strong motif of the transience of life, death, and faith, Geppetto’s paternal relationship with Pinocchio is a bit more complicated and there are also elements of fascism and propaganda. The film is situated in the period of Mussolini’s Italy. And that’s quite a lot of strong and mature themes for a children’s fairy tale about a wooden shot.
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, however, not only knows how to work excellently with these mature motifs and complement them with his traditional creative handwriting but also perfectly manages to combine them with children’s poetry and grateful humor, which is mainly in charge of the distracted and constantly falling Cricket. And in addition, he can bring more than one surprise to a well-known story, move it in an unexpected direction, and vary the classic twists and turns with original and aptly fitting plots. And it works better than I expected from the trailers. Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio gives the original a completely new flavor and perspective and works with all the motifs in a mature enough way, but at the same time completely comprehensible and digestible for a children’s audience, which should not be boring. And, of course, there will also be classic Del Toro monsters and stylizations, when, for example, various fairies or ghosts remind you of the Faun’s Labyrinth.
Of course, a properly developed whole is also helped a lot by the wonderful, unique, and in many ways magical stop-motion animation, which is moved to the smallest detail. Fans of similar animations, who like, for example, Tim Burton or Henry Selick, will be blown away by the visual stylization and individual ideas from the very beginning. It is the animation’s playfulness and the flow of ideas that carry the viewer through this wooden world even in moments when the chain falls a little in the middle of the picture.
Even though Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio tries to differentiate himself from the children’s role model as much as possible, he too sometimes runs into barriers in the form of the predictability of the entire plot. And as with a number of his previous titles, here too he is unable to work with emotions enough and there is a certain measuredness and coldness. Even if, by the standards of fairy tales, a relatively strong and satisfying conclusion can save this misfortune.
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio fulfilled his promises almost to the letter and showed all the viewers (including my little one) that it is possible to create an adult and gloomy story with strong themes from children’s material that has been filmed x times, in which creative vision and playfulness will be perfectly combined with a children’s atmosphere. This resulted in an eye-catching and imaginative mix that all generations will enjoy and it shows an incredible love for the original. Unlike the routine Zemeckis, this adaptation has its heart in the right place. And with his creative style, despite the dark themes, he can charge you with positive energy and charm you in every shot. Which I haven’t experienced in animated films on Fridays.
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