How can you tell the difference between Disney’s Pinocchio and Guillermo del Toro’s? Del Toro’s is the one with a surprising number of fascists. And is clearly made by the guy who gave us the twisted fairy tale Pan’s Labyrinth. This is one of his best pictures…. a stop-motion wonder that’s both charming and creepy. Which is so very del Toro.
The film is a familiar but cockeyed retelling of the Pinocchio story. I’d like to say it leans closer to the book, but I doubt the book has literal Mussolini in it. And yet we also get a smattering of familiar tropes… giant fish, going to school for the first time, the circus… we just also get the horrors of WW2 and an unsettling take on the afterlife. This movie is pretty f’ed up… while also being sweet.
The overall look and tone are a genuinely refreshing takes on what a goth kid would do with Pinocchio without feeling derivative of Tim Burton’s aesthetic. It’s dark and twisted and weird but not in an actually emo/goth kind of way. It’s chipper and happy and has some halfway decent songs while also having a drab brown color palette. Pinocchio himself is mildly unsettling since he looks like an actual wooden marionette carved from a tree… but his voice (performed by young Gregory Mann) and his actions are sweet and innocent (even when he’s excited about going to war… which might also be a way to differentiate the flick from Disney).
The voice cast was pretty inspired. David Bradley (who I’ve still not forgiven for The Red Wedding) gets a nice starring role as Geppetto and I’m happy for him. Christoph Waltz is suitably menacing as the circus owner, Tilda Swinton does her Tilda Swinton thing as otherworldly spirits, and Cate Blanchett plays a monkey with no actual dialog (<insert head scratching here>). Other famous voices pop up as well.
The film could have been better though with maybe a few trims to the branches and one or two fewer songs. The songs were weird since they don’t feel like professional singers lighting up the screen… more like these average voice actors putting their heart into it. They try, I’ll give ’em that.
Otherwise, this is an imaginative, dark movie that little children will probably be terrified of but older kids and adults who love stop-motion animation will love. This is my second favorite del Toro flick, just behind Pan’s Labyrinth.
Score: 90