Movie review: ‘Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio’ a gorgeous work of stop-motion touching on serious themes
“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”
Rated: PG, for dark thematic material, violence, peril, some rude humor and brief smoking. Running time: 2:01. ★★★ (out of 4)
All that’s missing is Tom Hanks. Landing on Netflix almost exactly three months after Disney’s live action-meets-computer animation update of its 1940 animated classic, “Pinocchio,” debuted on Disney+, “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” is at least a little stronger in just about every way but one.
With apologies to David Bradley, who voices Master Geppetto in the new version — recently released in select theaters — we really liked what “America’s Dad” brought to the role in the film helmed by his “Forrest Gump” director, Robert Zemeckis.
Bradley (the “Harry Potter” movies) is perfectly fine, though, and so much of “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” is more than that, a work of stop-motion animation (enhanced by topnotch digital elements) that constantly astonishes visually while providing a few chuckles and heartwarming moments, along with some life lessons for young viewers.
As its name suggests, it is a work by the filmmaker behind memorable works including 2006’s “Pan’s Labyrinth,” 2017’s Academy Awardwinning “The Shape of Water” and last year’s excellent “Nightmare Alley.” Del Toro co-directed it with Mark Gustafson and co-wrote it with Patrick McHale,
This latest take on the wooden puppet who wants to be a real boy — the 1880s creation of Italian novelist Carlo Collodi — introduces us to woodworker Geppetto before the loss of his beloved son, Carlo.
“Geppetto lost Carlo during the Great War,” says our tiny narrator, Sebastian J. Cricket (Ewan McGregor), the middle initial, we assume, standing for “Jiminy.” “They’d been together only 10 years, but it was as if Carlo had taken the old man’s life with him.”
We witness the death of Carlo (13-year-old British actor Gregory Mann), still inside a church where his father moments earlier had been working on its large wooden crucifix, as planes high above the Italian village release bombs merely to lessen their weight for the flight back to base. Geppetto attempts to run back inside, but he’s too late, the explosion knocking him back several feet from the church entrance, from which the “perfect pine cone” Carlo had found rolls out to him.
(The film’s opening shot of a pine cone is, in its way, as strikingly beautiful as the image Geppetto sees of the planes navigating the dark-and-rainy night sky.)
Geppetto buries the pine cone near Carlo’s gravesite, spending his time there drinking heavily even after a pine tree has grown tall. On another rainy evening, in an angry stupor, Geppetto cuts down the tree — now Sebastian’s home — and drags it back to his stop to construct a wooden substitute for Carlo.
The next morning, a confused Geppetto is terrified to learn his creation has come to life, a gift given it overnight by one of two magical creatures performed by Tilda Swinton in the film, who charges Sebastian with watching over the new being.
“Good morning, Papa!” exclaims Pinocchio (also voiced by Mann), who proceeds to sing a curiosityfueled song, “Everything Is New to Me,” one of a handful of decent musical numbers in the film.
Geppetto reacts by locking him in a cupboard and proclaiming, “You are not my son!”
What follows is an adventure that hits many of the familiar story beats, including the not-so-obedient Pinocchio being lured into skipping school in favor of performing at a traveling show by a nefarious hustler, in this case Christoph Waltz’s Count Volpe, who is aided by sidekick monkey Spazzatura (Cate Blanchett of “Nightmare Alley”).
Pinocchio also becomes of interest to the fascist war machine, embodied by a no-nonsense man named Podesta (del Toro favorite Ron Perlman), who is hard on his son, Candlewick (Finn Wolfhard, “Stranger Things”).
The voice work is solid across the board, with Waltz (”Inglourious Basterds”) and, especially, McGregor (”Christopher Robin”) being particularly well-cast. Aided by having a strongly written — and often physically abused — character, the latter offers touching line deliveries and lands his laughs.
However, the real star of “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” is the stop-motion wizardry. It’s the kind of work that always amazes, as it did recently with another Netflix cinematic release, “Wendell & Wild.” This latest example of the patience-demanding artform impressively looks modern and classic at the same time.
Del Toro’s interest in stop-motion animation stretches back to his childhood in Guadalajara, Mexico. It was during his teenage years that he first worked with Gustafson, who since has built a career in the medium.
Although a little long at two hours and a bit clunky in spots, the film nonetheless plays like a labor of love, right down to the unusual but impactful design of the already long-nosed Pinocchio. The movie stems from the Jim Henson Co. acquiring the rights to a 2002 edition of Collodi’s novel featuring illustrations by Gris Grimly, whose work greatly influences the film, according to its production notes.
It also is, at times, the pleasantly odd-and-quirky fare we’ve come to expect from del Toro.
By the time “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” reaches its expected climax during a harrowing sequence set at sea, the film has touched on themes including honesty (of course), identity and, perhaps more importantly, death. This is not to say parents should not let young kids watch the PG-rated film, but they should know the concept of death is addressed beyond Carlo’s early passing.
Although Zemeckis’ Disney update has its selling points beyond Hanks, this latest version better reminds us why the story of Pinocchio has meant so much to people such as del Toro for so long.