Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio debuts on Netflix on Dec. 9, 2022. Review by Hanna Flint.
Guillermo del Toro sprinkles his signature dark whimsy on a fairytale classic with stunning puppetry and catchy original songs. Filled with heart, humor, and historical grounding, it’s a phenomenal feat of animated cinema.
When it comes to Pinocchio there's Arguably a surplus of movies about the Mischievous puppet boy now Guillermo del Toro has served up the 22nd adaptation His passion project an animated feature Using stop-motion puppets that uses the Tail as a jumping off point to weave in Historical fact with Fantastical fiction Its existence does however beg the Question do we need another Pinocchio Movie and in the case of del Toro's Offering the answer is hell yes this Latest take on the iconic character is a Majestic work of art I want to tell you A story it's a story you may think you Know but you don't A story [Music] Of the wooden boy Animation Studio McKinnon and Saunders has brought to Life gorgeous eye-popping textured Puppets whose Dynamic personalities have Been carved into every Groove limb and Feature you can see the dirt under Geppetto's nails and the tiredness Around his eyes from his decades-long Career of carpentry in a small Hillside Town in Italy he's become a sad and Lonely drunk after the death of his Charming son Carlo during the Great War A relationship the story spends joyous Time with early on to emphasize just how Profound a loss it is he Fashions a Wooden stand in for his Lost Boy like a
Mad scientist during a drunken stupor And the result is rather Rough Around The Edges but when Tilda swinton's Feathered Wood Sprite gives it life and Names it Pinocchio his slap Dash body Matches his haphazard outlook on life The Wood Sprite is a wondrous sight She's a mythical looking creature whose Vibrant color palette and eye-shaped Plumage seem inspired by the Nazar of Arabic folklore Sebastian J Cricket's Appearance is also on the blue Spectrum But a darker more Regal huge to match His rather inflated sense of self as a Traveling writer looking to pen his own Memoir Ewan McGregor Sebastian is both a Narrator and guiding supporting Character to the willful naive and Boisterous wooden boy whose funniest Moments come at the cricket's own Expense I had so much to say About imperfect fathers and imperfect Sons British accents are a little Jarring as most of the background Characters have Italian accents but McGregor David Bradley and Gregory Mann Never fail to imbue Sebastian Geppetto And Pinocchio with warmth vulnerability And emotional Gusto man especially During some Sensational singing scenes His high-pitched musical theater range Has a lovely husk to it when performing Catchy songs that use thematically Suited wood instruments the story hits
Lots of the same beats as previous Retellings Christoph waltz's Opportunistic Carnival showman count Volpo tricks Pinocchio into leading his Roadshow forcing Geppetto on a rescue Mission and in turn needing rescuing From a massive sea creature Waltz knows All too well how to seamlessly switch This antagonist between sweetness and Malice this is by no means a sanitized Version of the story and its Anti-fascist messaging is pretty timely Set predominantly during the 1930s when Mussolini's regime infected the furthest Reaches of Italy various citizens live In quiet fear podesta is the fascist Enforcer in Geppetto's town and voiced With spine tingling Menace by Ron Perlman he introduces the other Dysfunctional father-son relationship in A story about grief love and accepting Each other for who we are rather than Rejecting each other for who we are not You boys Guillermo del Toro sprinkles his Signature dark Whimsy on a fairy tale Classic with stunning puppetry and Catchy original songs filled with heart Humor and historical grounding it's a Phenomenal feat of animated Cinema for Yet another take on the famous wooden Boy check out what we thought of Robert Zemeckis's Pinocchio and for everything Else stick with IGN
Dreams Roll you [Music] Bring him back to me Pinocchio [Music]
