Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio review: a remarkable new take on an old tale
Guillermo del Toro brings his signature macabre view to Pinocchio, finding new depth and meaning with a roughly carved puppet
Film Reviews Pinocchio
What a difference a director makes. In Robert Zemeckis’ recent remake of Disney’s Pinocchio, it felt like a downright creepy and unnecessary addition to give Geppetto a dead son as motivation for creating a wooden replica in his place. When Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (in select theaters now and on Netflix December 9) does the same, however, with a drunken Geppetto carving a grotesquely half-assed surrogate son replica he pledges to finish when he’s sober, only to have it come to life first … that feels appropriate. The director, known for his love of the grotesque, put his name in the title for a reason. Obviously, he wanted to distinguish it from the Disney films, but the full title also makes clear that this is distinctly his version of the classic. Carlo Collodi’s serialized story for kids may have inspired it, but del Toro isn’t going for fealty. He very much has a take, and if he creeps you out with it, so much the better.
Most of the broad strokes are still here. Pinocchio (Gregory Mann) does indeed have a cricket (Ewan McGregor’s Sebastian) imparting moral lessons, this time from literally inside the wooden boy’s chest, where the bug has nested. As always, Pinocchio finds the temptations of a traveling puppet show more intriguing than school, and eventually he will be swallowed by a sea creature. But all this also happens during the rise of Mussolini in Italy, with the local fascist authority figure the Podesta (Ron Perlman, who else?) taking interest in Pinocchio both as a potential troublemaker and as a possible military recruit. This time, Geppetto, carney Count Volpe (Christoph Waltz), and the Podesta are all aware of each other’s conflicting intentions towards the string-free marionette; it’s up to Pinocchio to make actual, informed moral choices, rather than being duped into the wrong ones, as most tellings have it.
Co-directing with Will Vinton Studios Claymation veteran Mark Gustafson, del Toro creates as fully designed a reality as he ever has in live-action; arguably more so, since he’s also creating actors from scratch as well. The humans, for the most part, are so caricatured that it’s remarkable you end up empathizing with them, yet the voice acting and the small gestures sell the illusion. Unlike the ultra-smooth stop-motion of Wendell & Wild, the animation here, presumably using a lower frame rate, retains the herky-jerky quality of older entries in the medium, which is of a piece with the many classic cinema allusions and references scattered throughout.
Biblical subtext inherent to the original story already included the Jonah-inspired climax and the notion of a carpenter’s son who magically transcends his physical limitations. This time around, there’s even more. Geppetto works on a giant wooden crucifix for the local church; Pinocchio, with nails sticking out of his unfinished form, wonders why the local religious fascists love that tormented-looking wooden figure but not him. The cosmology at play in this world, however, is far from typical Christianity, with coffin-toting bunnies hauling coffins to an afterlife presided over by a Tilda Swinton-voiced Sphinx. As in Hellboy II, del Toro incorporates both the modern notion of winged angels, and the ancient concept of them as many-eyed monstrosities.
He knows that you likely know other versions of Pinocchio already, and plays with that. In the original book, rather than Disney’s beloved conscience Jiminy, the talking cricket gets squashed and killed by a hammer the moment he tries to tell Pinocchio what to do. Most movie version have backed away from that; del Toro not only embraces it, but he makes up for lost time, with Sebastian J. Cricket constantly getting squashed in almost every scene, by mallets and other things. He’s a resilient bug, but sighs, “Oh, the pain!” as frequently as Professor Smith on the original Lost In Space. Mercifully, McGregor gets to use his natural Scottish accent; prior animated films that hired him to do his shaky American impersonation never made much sense.
To the extent that the movie missteps—and it does—it’s to the degree that it attempts to be a musical. Most of the songs cut off after the first verse, and are so decidedly unmemorable that when Pinocchio at one point sings parody lyrics to one of Geppetto’s previous numbers, it takes Geppetto noting that fact, out loud, to himself, to make it clear that’s what’s happening. Later, when Pinocchio adds a bunch of a bawdy jokes to a previous number, the film plays it as if he were singing South Park’s “Uncle Fucka,” when in fact it’s a rushed, overly forgettable thing, mostly notable for the impeccably English-accented Mann saying “poop” and “boogers.”
The sea monster finale also feels a touch forced, like it happens because it’s obligatory for Pinocchio, even though it doesn’t quite fit this Pinocchio. Del Toro cleverly substitutes a fascist military school for the Land of Toys; couldn’t a Nazi submarine have somehow replaced the Terrible Shark? The sequence also repeats a couple of irritating non-book tropes used in other adaptations, like Pinocchio using his lie-grown nose as a deus ex machina, or characters kicking the water so fast their legs become an outboard motor. (Zemeckis’ remake did both, though the Disney cartoon does not.)
Thankfully, the movie doesn’t end there, and goes to some other places that get pretty dark. So stylish and uniquely crafted is the whole that the missteps may stick out more, but this Pinocchio nonetheless makes for a worthy take. Frequent del Toro collaborator Matthew Robbins and Over The Garden Wall’s Patrick McHale co-wrote the script with the director, and it sometimes feels like there are conflicting voices in the chorus, but that doesn’t detract from a visual style that invokes everything from German expressionism to Terry Gilliam, propaganda newsreels to anime and back. In flashbacks to Geppetto’s happier times, the world feels like a European art film; as fascism descends, so does that Guillermo del Toro feeling of dark, moist rust-punk.
Pinocchio himself retains the unfinished, hand-made look, as does the film around him. Like Zemeckis’ version, this is a Pinocchio that wants to affirm that flawed people are fine just as they are; unlike him, del Toro can pull that off without betraying the aspirational nature of the story. No spoilers, but his way of maintaining that balance proves unexpectedly great.
For Collodi fans, the perfect Pinocchio adaptation remains elusive. But perhaps, as the roughly carved, open-nail protagonist of this version constantly reminds us, perfection is beside the point. And boring, to boot—an adjective nobody in their right mind would apply to the film at hand.
57 Comments
Biblical subtext inherent to the original story already included the
Jonah-inspired climax and the notion of a carpenter’s son who magically
transcends his physical limitations.TIL…In my defense, the last time I saw Pinocchio (it was the Disney version) I was…8 maybe? 9? And it’s not exactly something I’ve given much thought about since, either.
Seeing as this is Guillermo del Toro, does Figaro make it out of the movie alive?
He does, but he has several human hands sticking out from his body.
Has Guillermo del Toro finally made a good movie? Probably not!
Look at me with a straight face and tell me Pan’s Labyrinth isn’t good.
Look at this asshole’s posts. He’s a shit-slinging troll whom cums to his own farts.
and you don’t???…
Pan’s Labyrinth isn’t good.**Full disclosure: I was not looking at you when I typed the above sentence.
Or you know, a minor little picture of his that flew under most people’s radars — The Shape of Water. The best aquatic eldritch horror meets human love story since Stuart Gordon’s Dagon!
If you consider that The Shadow Over Innsmouth is the only time human authorities are capable in Lovecraft (because the FBI throws all the Innsmouthians into concentration camps and the Red Cross shows up to say, “yep, good job,”) it’s also a pretty provocative sequel.
With erections!
Pan’s Labyrinth was good, but Peter Pan’s Labyrinth was better.
I’m not making this up either – https://www.thevaults.london/peter-pans-labyrinth – It was all very silly, but also very fun too.
For me, Pan’s Labyrinth was two overwrought and uninvolvimg movies in one. Did not particularly enjoy.
I thought Pacific Rim and the Hellboys were watchable, but I just can’t really get into Del Toro’s work.
i don’t think he makes bad work i just think that work is consistently overrated.
Well I think it depends on if your a fan of his style. While not all of his movies have been great, or Oscar worthy, they all have a very IMO interesting look and feel. He excels in world building again IMO, and his creature designs are second to none.
oh yeah, i respect him as an artist who tries things, i just think he succeeds far less than people think he does.
Touche I mena I am a huge fan of his in general, as as I said not all of his movies are great but they are, to me, almost always entertaining. To be honest I think Pan’s Labrynth was his weakest, it just never meshed with me. Thouse his horror anthology on Netvflix is quite good. And I will never not defend Pacific Rim as pure dumb fun.
His weakest? That’s completely perplexing to me. His other films are significantly weaker.
Well weakest of his I have seen. But that’s just me.
i liked pans labrynth. i think hellboy is maybe his strongest overall work.pacific rim is a great example of a movie i went in wanting to like so badly and came out feeling a little disappointed. i think the world building was excellent, but the actual movie itself didn’t do it for me. if i’m being perfectly honest i think i preferred the sequel. but again – i respect del toro for being the only guy who could get that movie made (particularly at that time), even if i don’t love the movie itself.
Oh I didn’t hate Pans Labrynth it was just, umm different, than I was expecting. As for Pacific Rim, I thought it was a blast, was it dumb 100% was it a great story, no but good world building. But much as was mentioned here when it came out forever ago it’s a movie with giant freaking robots fighting giant freaking monsters lol. But your right about Hellboy it was such a good movie, and Pearlman will always be Hellboy. Harbours version was ok but he doesn’t have the “face” for prosthetics like Pearlman does. Pearlman has used full face prosthetics numerous times and works well in them.
I actually really like his early movie Cronos (1992). While a cheaply made horror movie clearly influenced by the Hellraiser series, del Toro’s style raises it above the material.
If you liek directors early movie you should check out Pi, it’s Darren Aronofsky second movie, I think. It’s black and white, really cool soundtrack, not horror but quite enjoyable IMO.
Oh yes, I actually saw it in the theater. I liked it, although I saw it in a group that included a couple of mathematicians and they were annoyed by some line (I can’t remember which) that showed some misunderstanding of math, I thought they were missing the point but then I get annoyed when movies say something wrong about biochemistry or genetics, so I get it.
What fucking dumb thing to say
He had already made a good movie with his first one. It’s his English language films that fall short.
I’ll see this but the real question is: will it traumatize my 8 year old?
If you take an 8 year old to a GDT movie, that’s on you.
True! But I thought this was streaming, which is much lower stakes.
Only way to know is to try it. If it doesn’t succeed in doing so, you can always follow it up with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
True, but if you want to turn them into a gore hound Terrifer 2 is the way to go. Or you can traumatize them in cartoon fashion with Watership Down lol. I kid, it’s not good to traumatize your kids, though the first movie I EVER watched in the single digits of age was The Exorcist so yeah haha.
I’m perfectly fine with traumatizing kids…as long as they do it on their own. First R rated film I watched was Excalibur at 6:00 in the morning on HBO when I was five years old. Parents and older brother and sister didn’t get out of bed until after it was over that morning. It was awesome for a kid who was just beginning to get into the Arthurian legend and mythology in general. And Watership Down?? I can’t believe this was marketed as a kids film, but I still watched it multiple times when it was finally released in the US at probably the same age. Pretty sure it was aired in the afternoon on Saturdays to target kids like me who had gotten their fill of the morning cartoons.
When I was 8, my father showed me The Godfather…Part 3
I’m sorry, that’s child abuse. Did he at least cover your eyes and ears during the Sofia Coppola bits?
My kids are 7 and 4 and I watched this movie with just my wife last night. It’s a hard “hellz no” on showing this to young kids. There is disturbing imagery throughout, which isn’t surprising for del Toro, but the real issue is the handling of Geppetto’s dead son. The father/son relationship is shown in much more detail than the recent Disney remake, and the son gets a death sequence, and the movie gets really dark as Geppetto sinks into depression afterwards before carving the puppet. I think it’s just too much for children to deal with.
Thanks! I saw it was rated PG (and is going to be appealing to kids based on the name) so thought maybe it would be more accessible than his other stuff. I have been waiting for family with a Netflix account to visit to watch it but it sounds like, what with my sensitive kid, it’s going to be an after bedtime watch.
Exactly, it’s the kind of deal where there’s no graphic violence, language or sex — but it’s still very much a movie for adults. Not aimed at kids at all.
Should we be as offended about non-Italians in these voice roles as John Leguizamo is about Italians playing Latinos?
It’s all very meta, if you ask me: a story about a puppet boy becoming real made with puppets given life through the magic of stop motion. Puppets all the way down.
Kinda disappointing that the most Pinocchio movies they’d throw at us in one year was two. Now I want versions from Keegan Michael Key, Wes Anderson, Alex Garland, Edgar Wright, Hideaki Anno, Sam Raimi, Ethan and Joel Coen, Charlie Kaufman, John Carpenter, David Cronenberg, David Fincher, Christopher Nolan, Kevin Smith, Joe Dante, and Mike Judge. And half of these would be rated R and fuuuuucked up. There will be a woman riding his nose somewhere in there.
Keegan Michael Key? You mean Jordan Peele?
God damn it. Why not both? Let’s have his directorial debut be a fuckin Pinocchio movie.
Keegan Michael Key has been outspoken about how he doesn’t want to direct.
Ya done messed UP, T-Gern!
Hey, let’s throw in one female director, you know, for variety’s sake.
No, that’s too crazy.
Okay, let’s see Greta Gerwig.
Is Geppetto the Adversary?
For Collodi fans, the perfect Pinocchio adaptation remains elusive.What was wrong with Matteo Garrone’s from a few years ago? Your review of the Zemeckis version said:
Matteo Garrone’s 2019 take probably struck the best balance between
fealty to the source material and cinematic spectacle, shying away
(perhaps necessarily) from some of Collodi’s darkest moments but
largely recreating what happens in the text with lavish makeup and
effects.
Judith Crist once famously said “Gene, can you please change seats! Your breath smells like rotting asshole!”
The occasion for her defamatory outburst (which should have been directed at Rex “shit breath” Reed, not good old Gene) was the screening of Roberto Beginininni’s Pinocchio, which proved (once again!) that nothing good comes out of Italy or Breckin Meyer. Luckily, Guillermo Del Toro (a name which means Fat Lucky Bull in Spanish) put together this fever dream of a holiday blockbuster without any Regis Philbin bullshit. Normally, the missus won’t go to kid films, but as soon as she heard me say “Ewan McGregor” and “wood,” she was in the car so fast I thought we were going to see “The Pillow Book” for the ninth time! Pinocchino didn’t get all of her waterworks going like that panty-soaker – but she was in such good spirits that, when I tried for a leg-boob-combo grab on the drive home, she didn’t cry OR hit me. 4 big stars!
“Roberto Beginininni”Good one, Mr. Shitit…
The Pillow Book. Wow, I had forgotten all about that film. Pretty sure that was the first time I ever saw Ewan in any film, even pre-Trainspotting. As in, saw -all- of him, lol.
I think I’m starting to feel puppet movie fatigue.
Co-directing with Will Vinton Studios Claymation veteran Mark Gustafson
Oh. ANOTHER reason to see this. Good deal. (Honestly the original story is dark and kinda twisted, so Del Toro is definitely the right one to bring this about.)
This is hands down one of the best movies in this year, and if it doesn’t get the 2023 Oscar for animated movie it will be a travesty, because we’re ending 2022 and there’s not a single other animated movie even remotely close of being as good as this, nor up-to-come before the Oscars.
Easily one of the best endings I have seen in a movie in a long time. And to each their own, but to me it was actually more heartwarming than the haunting/weird from GDT, because I read it as a message that, yes, nothing is forever, but that’s what makes life and the things we love in it special, and we should enjoy them while we can, and be grateful for having the opportunity.
And having the backdrop of WWII fascist Italy makes the story even better, because everybody loves a story where the villains get what they deserve in the ending, and even if it’s not shown we know for a fact how a certain villain got, well, let’s say, his world turned upside down…
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METRONET CREDIT SOLUTION was amazing working with. He helped us get
into our home without a huge payoff amount unlike another lender we inquired from.
She was asking us to pay down over 14k in debt and then closing costs. METRONET
helped us access the rate we needed, was very communicative with the process.
We were able to come in after work to get answers to questions about needed
documentation and he even invited us in to explain in detail underwriter
requests so we can ensure they got exact what was needed and how we could get
it. Most importantly, everything was able to be done via email. Quick responses
through email: METRONETCREDITSOLUTION AT GMAIL DOT COM. We were able to
close quickly. Highly recommend this friendly lender and credit repair expert.