Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio

This review will be kept fairly brief as I have a busy weekend (and will be skipping some disappointing theatrical releases like Empire of Light). 

Pinocchio is a tale I never really connected all that much with as a child. I certainly saw all the Disney-animated films, many of which I think sit home in their bulky VHS plastic containers. While I enjoyed them all to certain degrees, Pinocchio never resonated with me like The Lion King, or Toy Story, or even Snow White (for an older example). 

That should be taken into consideration with this review because I'm often less a part of any excitement for yet another retelling of this story. Hell, there were two alone this year so that director Guillermo del Toro had to stamp his name in the title of his, just to distinguish it!

That name means something though, and is the main reason I leaned into watching this and skipping the [apparently abysmal] Disney live-action one earlier in the year. del Toro is an incredible and unique filmmaker, and even some of his lesser films are packed with imagery and creativity. Throw in a ton of praise for early showings of this film and the ease of watching it on Netflix despite a busy weekend and you've got my attention. 

For what it's worth, this is a pretty incredible animated tale for lots of reasons. My disinterest in the main story still remains so again - take that with a grain of salt - but otherwise my issues with the film are few. The main one being that the singing felt completely unnecessary both because it happens so infrequently and because the songs are just not great. They're not memorable or catchy and just feel...there. They also tend to add fuel to my flame of belief that Pinocchio is kind of an annoying character for large portions of this iteration. I'm not a parent, but I've heard enough about the kid show Caillou to know he's a twerp and at times Pinocchio can feel similar. Eventually, my annoyance of the character and his voice waned, but the first 20 minutes it was something I was wondering if I'd be able to get past. 

"Grand papa, your nose is short as s**t!"

Otherwise, Pinocchio is a definitive del-Toro retelling of this story. It's rated PG, but I'd be cautious for parents as there are some very dark themes (death, war) and weird elements that I'm not sure smaller children would know how to interpret. It's for those reasons though that this 5,678th retelling of the story feels a little more unique and brings del Toro's imagination to the forefront more often than not. Particularly any aspect of Pinocchio's learnings of death, time, and grief feel particularly poignant, well-crafted, and fresh for a tale where I honestly don't remember much of that. Our cast brings these characters to life well, with the standouts being Ewan McGregor, David Bradley, and Christoph Waltz. Tilda Swinton makes a mark as a weird but mesmerizing Wood Sprite, while I felt like Cate Blanchett's star power was mostly wasted. 

The most impressive part about Pinocchio by far is the animation. It's stop-motion "clay"(?)-mation, but with a clear CGI overlay. To be honest, I'm not sure how all it was created - there is a Netflix special that details it - but the result is an impressive combination of old school techniques with modern day technology. It looks distinctly different than many other animated films out there and the level of detail is impressive, especially when you add del Toro's creature-creations on top of that. Weirdly, it makes me want a remake of Pan's Labyrinth in this animations style...wouldn't that be awesome?

So yes, the new Pinocchio is worth seeking out if you're a fan of this classic tale or looking for one of the better animated features of the year OR just looking to support del Toro in all of his adventures. I definitely fell into that latter camp and my disinterest related to the first two camps should only be considered as context to my final score. 

CONS

• The overall story of Pinocchio never enthralled me + this is like the 80th movie we have of it but...(see related Pro)
• The singing portions are unnecessary, drag out the length, and not memorable. They should have been cut completely
• Pinocchio is an annoying character for the first ~20 minutes
• Tad overlong for an animated film

PROS

• ...I really appreciated the lengths del Toro went to differentiate his story from what we know. Familiar beats are largely still here, but there's a lot of his storytelling skill throughout
• A thematically dense PG film. Not for little children, and heavy for older kids, there's an element about the "gloves off" themes around death and time and war that I appreciated
• Strong cast for the most part, with some clear MVPs
• Visually impressive animation that is a joy to watch. Takes a little getting used to, but otherwise very cool
• del Toro's creature "Weirdness" comes out to play, adding to the uniqueness of the film

Rath's Review Score | 7.5/10