Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022)

Top comments

1. 

   Keejtch

   What a difference between Zemeckis his debacle that was a non-imaginative rip-off of the animation of the original.
   
   I absolutely loved this one.
   Breathtaking set and character designs, gorgeous musical performances, a gut-punching father-and-son dynamic where you can really feel how passionate GDT is about this wooden fellow.
   
   When in doubt, please choose this one. 5 months 2 weeks ago
2. 

   Siskoid

   Set in Fascist Italy - because of course it is - Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio is a beautiful and well-designed - of course it is - stop-motion extravaganza loosely based on the 1883 fantasy novel. Gepetto, reeling from the death of his own son, recreates him in wooden effigy while in a drunken frenzy, and... well, just from this opening you can tell it's going to be an "adult fairy tale". Del Toro doesn't pull any punches in terms of characters being killed, for example, though the camera often cuts away when a "hit" happens. His designs are slightly creepy and tend to horror, in the same way many of older fairy tales do. But it's by making Pinocchio an immortal construct (who wants to be a real boy, and therefore mortal) that he seizes upon a most intriguing theme - the value of life in a mortal world. The war time setting there takes its full depth, and that final line (at least before the in-credit number) really brings it all together, a final gut punch that made me raise my evaluation a notch. Pinocchio is an annoying brat, that's always going to be a component of this story, and the singing voices are only middling, so I won't remember this as a musical, but the movie definitely enchants, dazzles and ultimately, hits you in the feels. 5 months ago
3. 

   frankqb

   Heartbreaking and vivid! The backdrop of fascist Italy is an interesting choice, but doesn’t really mesh with the rest of the story’s themes. There’s an odd element of “not obeying” that kinda works and kinda doesn’t. The animation is gorgeous and the story is sweet. It’s still a bit all over the place, but it’s still very good.
   
   Three stars out of 4 4 months 1 week ago

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