Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Composite Score: 86.77
Starring: Ewan McGregor, David Bradley, Gregory Mann, Burn Gorman, Ron Perlman, John Turturro, Finn Wolfhard, Cate Blanchett, Tim Blake Nelson, Christoph Waltz, and Tilda Swinton
Directors: Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson
Writers: Guillermo del Toro, Patrick McHale, and Matthew Robbins
Genres: Animation, Adventure, Drama, Family, Fantasy, Musical, Coming of Age
MPAA Rating: PG for dark thematic material, violence, peril, some rude humor, and brief smoking
Box Office: $109,846 worldwide
My take on Watching This Film:
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio is exactly what its title presents, the film adaptation of Carlo Collodi’s novel The Adventures of Pinocchio from acclaimed writer/director Guillermo del Toro. This particular version features intricate stop-motion animation and some story flairs typical of del Toro’s other films, setting the story of the puppet brought to life in Italy during the rise of fascism under Mussolini in Italy. The animation draws heavily on del Toro’s dark fantasy style, and the story also bends strongly in an anti-fascist direction like so many of his films that have come before. The film won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, marking the first win for a streaming service in the category and the second win for a stop-motion film in the category (following Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit).
Between the fun musical numbers, talented voice cast, compelling story, and beautiful animation, Pinocchio is one of the best films of the century so far with very little to knock it for. Some might find its heavier themes and darker style to be too mature for the younger audiences typically targeted by adaptations of Pinocchio’s story, but I think the fact that they are presented in such a safe vessel as a widely available animated film is particularly what makes the film so great. This is a digestible film for children that’s still stimulating for adults and with themes that can actually spark meaningful conversations between those who watch it. It also helps that it does have such strong voice acting behind it, like Ewan McGregor as narrator Sebastian J. Cricket, Christoph Waltz as the conniving Count Vulpe, and Tilda Swinton as the Wood Sprite and Death, not to mention the rest of the stellar cast. The biggest actual detraction from the film comes, for me, in the form of its rapid pacing. In order to get all the story beats into the film, it moves quite quickly from moment to moment, rarely letting any scene sit for too long before moving on to the next, which works well in the more expository sequences but holds some of the film’s more emotional moments back from delivering their full punch. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a fairly emotionally engaging film, but with a few more moments to breathe it could be a cathartically devastating film about parenthood and childhood wrapped into one. Those beats about family and the nature of fathers and sons really are poignant and I would like to see giving them just a little bit more room to breathe.
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio is ultimately a triumph of both the animation craft and of storytelling, though, more than deserving of a place among the greats. It tells a story that’s relevant for all audiences of all ages and compositions. Even if its story misses the opportunity to be as emotionally poignant as it possibly could be, it’s still compelling and entertaining beyond most films of the last decade. You can currently stream this film on Netflix if you’re interested in checking it out.
