Pinocchio Movie Review: Guillermo del Toro Is at the Top of His Game in This Beautifully Dark Stop-Motion Animated Adventure! (LatestLY Exclusive)

Pinocchio Movie Review: Dubbing this year as the great Pinocchio-off in my previous review of Robert Zemeckis’ underwhelming Pinocchio, we finally come to a close of the event as Guillermo del Toro brings his inspired vision to this age-old tale. With striking visuals and a tendency to break your heart at every step, del Toro has not only crafted the best animated film that I have seen this year, but also one of the best films in general to grace the screens in 2022. Pinocchio Movie Review: An Inspired Tom Hanks Performance Can’t Save Robert Zemeckis’ Dispirited Remake of Disney's Classic (LatestLY Exclusive).

When the woodcarver Geppetto (David Bradley) loses his son, he loses all purpose in his life. Unable to move on from this great loss, on one drunken night he decides to cut down a pine tree and make a puppet resembling his son. Passing out after building the puppet, a bluish fairy comes around and breathes life into the pine-made toy and makes Sebastian (Ewan McGregor), a cricket, his guiding light. Giving him the name of Pinocchio (Gregory Mann), she promises Sebastian fame if he can guide the puppet into becoming a good soul, and so begins the adventure that is filled with greed and love.

The most striking part of Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio is the stop-motion animation. Throughout the years we have seen films like Kubo and the Two Strings and the much recent Wendell & Wild utilise the art-style in wonderful ways, yet del Toro pushes it a bit further with his animation team resulting in something truly spectacular. A tangible clay-like feel on every character that is brought to life in such inspired ways by the director’s peculiar eye for character design, this is one pretty film to look at. Never a film since Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse has wowed me like this with its animation. The animation just bolsters everything else in the film by complimenting the voice performance of the actors so well.

David Bradley in particular plays a flawed Geppetto who is trying to come to terms with the death of his beloved boy, which is established very well in the opening minutes of the film that gave me the same feeling I had when watching Up for the first time. Giving additional context to his story where we see his earlier life with Carlo, also voiced by Gregory Mann, Bradley brings so much heartbreak to the role that the scenes with Pinocchio make for some contrasts that had me tearing up in many occasions.

Gregory Mann too brings a child-like curiosity to the wooden-puppet that makes for an interesting dynamic as the character grows. Asking questions to his father every now and then, it showcases the frustration of raising a child, while also honing in on concept of trying to love someone you never expected to.

Watch The Trailer:

Ewan McGregor’s Sebastian shines with a wonderful performance as well. Driven by a need for fame, his arc is something that feels natural as he comes around into doing his best, as that’s all one can do. The cast is a great ensemble, and that’s not even touching on actors like Cate Blanchett, Finn Wolfhard, Tilda Swinton and Ron Perlman who make up some of the small characters of the film. Christoph Waltz for instance plays the aristocratic Count Volpe, and he is someone that you will just love to hate.

The backdrop of Italy during the Great War of 1900s makes for an interesting setting. With themes of fascism, capitalism and greed at the forefront, Pinocchio tries to hone in on the most important subject matter, that of finding solace in the most unexpected circumstances. This gives the world so much personality as a fascism ravaged Italy touches on some dark subject matters that were quite unexpected to see. Kids are there in army training learning to kill their enemies or random bombings taking place in a city – these are scenes that had me floored and added a sense of emotion that I honestly never expected from Pinocchio. Pinocchio: Guillermo del Toro Breaks Down the Stop-Motion Animation in This New BTS Clip of His Netflix Animated Film! (Watch Video).

Pinocchio does though come under the scrutiny of running a bit too long, and the songs here never really were able to connect with me, yet with del Toro’s directing and his style defining so much of the film, it had my attention throughout the entire runtime. A finale that brings everything together in a tensely packed set piece with an emotional payoff that will have you in tears, this is a passionate love letter penned by Guillermo del Toro told in the best animation medium possible.

Yay!

The Cast

The Animation

Nay!

Songs Failed to Impress

Final Thoughts

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio is a great example of a storyteller at the top of his game. A treat on the eyes and a spectacular ode to this classic story, the film broke my heart, repaired it and then broke it all over again. There is no doubt that Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio is one of the finest releases of the year. The film is streaming on Netflix right now.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 09, 2022 07:55 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).