Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio

During the rise of fascism in Mussolini's Italy, a wooden boy brought magically to life struggles to live up to his father's expectations.

  • Released: 2022-12-24
  • Runtime: 120 minutes
  • Genre: Animation, Drama, Fantasy
  • Stars: Gregory Mann, David Bradley, Ewan McGregor, Christoph Waltz, Tilda Swinton, Cate Blanchett, Ron Perlman, Finn Wolfhard, Tim Blake Nelson, John Turturro, Burn Gorman
  • Director: Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson
 Comments
  • jdevilliers-43224 - 28 March 2024
    Dark and gloomy
    This is a film I respect but I don't love it. The choices the directors and writers made in this movie upset me just a little. I do like the darker elements and the one twist in the middle of the movie. I think that they could have cut out more because it drags sometimes. If they just removed somethings the movie would not be as long and slow as it is. How dark is this movie? It has drug content , violence , some messages about death and depression and more. It is really brief so it might fly over your little kids heads but if you have an older kid you might have to do your research first.

    Not my favourite movie but also not bad.
  • buglembayrak - 18 February 2024
    Very supporting ideas
    I don't understand why the movie received so many good reviews. Even though the movie was good in general, I wanted to throw Pinocchio into the fire in some scenes. He was talking too much nonsense. But the scenes where his love for his father was emphasized were very nice. The songs gave a fluent shape to the movie. It is unnecessary for them to over-explain the supporting thoughts that were intended to be given. This movie, whose audience is mostly children, may not be suitable for most children because most scenes moved on to very different topics. There is no need to emphasize fascism so much.
  • michaelarscott76 - 25 December 2023
    Heartbreakingly Joyful
    It's Del Toro making the darkest out of light and the lightest out of the dark. He's the master of creating worlds that you can't take your eyes off, but this world includes Pinocchio, the wooden creation of an old man that's lost his son in the most horrible way.

    Told through the narration of a little cricket that goes through a lot of pain and physical torment while traveling with Pinocchio through a world ruled by Facism and magical creatures, the movie quickly lets us know who is making this film and that it's not Disney.

    The take on this can be cruel in its harrowism, violent in a heartbreaking way, and it will keep yanking your heartstrings and sawing them until Del Toro drives his point home.

    Ironically, in the end, when things should feel one type of way, Del Toro's storytelling has us feeling exactly the way he wants us to feel. Just listen to Cricket's song at the end and you'll understand.
  • gcbeaton-87178 - 6 January 2023
    Peak pinocio
    I have seen multiple interpretations of Pinocchio but this is by far the best. Lots of good acting a enjoyable story end an iconic Version of Pinocchio song. This the villain is very evil in this film and I like The way that He's monkey ends up turning good. No I haven't seen The disney Live actually make an I believe that this film is better according to what people say. I like Ewan McGregor In this film Box I think the best performance was from the dead and how he eventually forgave Pinocchio 4 not trying to be Carlo Trying to be Pinocchio which is just really amazing and I think that This film should win best picture for animated films.
  • e-cornelisse - 4 January 2023
    Ultimate example of stop motion!!!
    This is extremely unbelievable well done, the motion, the dialogues, perfect songs, voice and sound. This is perfection. How can something not alive, looks so ... alive?

    Everybody who loves stop motion animation should see this movie. It took 5 years to make it and had a duration of almost 2 hours. Also the making of and behind the scene movies are worthy to see. Although a lot of respect for the crew, it is also the fabulous contribution of Guillermo del Toro who is a real good storyteller.

    At the beach, and if you know the main line of the original story this is not a spoiler, is very moving. Applause and salute, and many thanks for making this movie.
  • ruelshepperd - 1 January 2023
    Beautifully Crafted
    Surprisingly, this is the first form of Pinocchio that have been exposed to. I likely saw the original Disney Pinocchio but I was too young to remember. This version is a far more mature telling of the story, with an all-star cast and gorgeous animation.

    This film's animation has had so much effort and care put into it. The models are glorious and expressive, the environments beautifully realised and the imagery is exquisite. Guillermo Del Toro continues to excel with his direction. The voice acting is also top notch especially David Bradley as Geppetto. This movie is as much about him as it is about Pinocchio. The movie deals with themes of loss, grief and the struggle to move on extremely well and the more mature moments are balanced with some good humour. The soundtrack is also superb although some of the songs have some clear uses of autotune.

    The characters are all equally memorable. As said earlier, Geppetto is the highlight but Gregory Mann wonderfully portrays Pinocchio and his dialogue is child-like yet brilliant. Christoph Waltz also shines as the abusive Count Volpe and he is a perfect antagonist. However, the weakest part of the story is the fascist element. While it is mostly executed well, I feel the arc for Candlewick, played by Finn Wolfhard, felt as if it was not fully developed. His defining moment just doesn't have as much weight behind it. Despite this, the film still hits hard in its emotional moments, almost bringing me to tears.

    Overall, Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio is fantastic and one of the best animated films that I have seen recently. The animation is gorgeous, voice acting superb and the soundtrack wonderful. It is well-worth watching and it might be my favourite film from Guillermo Del Toro.
  • bellaf-51019 - 30 December 2022
    A nice addition to the Pinocchio story
    Guillermo del Toro's adaptation of Pinocchio has been a nice addition in the Pinocchio story since it takes an animation method that's unfortunately little used in the industry due to its complexity, but in this case the film achieves a great luxury of detail regarding the animation and the extensions of each character and the setting of their scenarios. In the plot, cruder themes are touched such as war, fascism, death and loss, which makes the character's situation more emphasized. The story has a slightly more upsetting ending but that's understandable as, like the rest of the film, it's more similar to reality.
  • spanking_machine - 28 December 2022
    Great craftsmanship, content? Not as great
    I'm still shocked at the reviews that received this film when really the story has really nothing to do with Pinocchio. Did we watch the same thing?, I mean. What is Pinocchio doing firing guns in World War 2? When he should be having his non-warlike misadventures in 1826 (that's more than 100 years before the arrival of fascism). Let's say the director took some creative liberties, but can we still call it that when he basically changed everything about the story, from the beginning to the very end, removing important characters and adding new ones that didn't have anything to do with the original tale as written by Collodi. I'm trying not to give away spoilers but I feel like perhaps it would have been better and less harming if they had just come up with a completely different main character and a completely different name. But then I guess they needed the big name to sell it better?

    I can't help but think about the recent movie Blonde and the scandal it produced after its premiere, people were outraged, they still are. How the director went too far with their creative liberties. And yet Del Toro followed that exact same pattern and he's getting praised for it?
  • sweetfunkysoul - 27 December 2022
    Feels mis-sold. I've marked as spoilers but don't mention specifics. Just themes.
    The animation is amazing. There's no question about that. However, what the trailers and description do not even hint at, is this is a WAR film. I expected some darkness because I'm familiar with some of the director's work/style, but there is some really horrible stuff in this film and it should have been made clearer that war is core to the film because it's really not a topic everyone is comfortable with - especially with things in the world as they are. We sat to watch this on Christmas Day, hoping for escapism and instead were confronted with serious issues etc.

    Great animation. Touches of humour along the way. Ace casting. Just really feels the trailers etc. Deliberately avoid mentioning anything of war. It won't be everyone's cup of tea. It's not the kids film you could believe from the trailers.
  • Snootz - 26 December 2022
    Brilliant but dark
    The amount of work that went into this animation is amazing. The directing, voice acting, and especially that of the stop animation teams is incredible.

    However, there is a somewhat morbid and pervasive death theme throughout the movie that younger children may find very disturbing... and makes me wonder what was behind Del Toro's depiction of the story. Is it because he (like many of us) is getting older and such things are on his mind? It seems like such a theme has little purpose in the story, as it is all presented in a fantasy-setting with little in the way of actual foundation or point.

    Other than that, this was far beyond what I expected. I saw this on Netflix, which also presents a 35 minute special on how the film was made; that special is a must-watch. I wondered all the way through the film if this was actual stop animation or computerized graphics to resemble stop animation. While there are certainly special effects used (green screens, etc)... it's actual stop animation that was 15 YEARS in the making. That in itself is astounding.