Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio movie review

MOVIE TITLE: Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio had its world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival in October, then in select theaters in November, and will now be available on December 9, 2022 exclusively on Netflix.

RATING: Rated PG (Personally, I think it should be rated PG-13)

LENGTH: 1 hour 57 minutes

MOVIE REVIEW MOM GRADE: A-

IN A NUTSHELL:

Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro reinvents Carlo Collodi’s classic tale of the wooden marionette who is magically brought to life in order to mend the heart of a grieving woodcarver named Geppetto. This whimsical, stop-motion musical directed by Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson follows the mischievous and disobedient adventures of Pinocchio in his pursuit of a place in the world.

Many versions of the Pinocchio story have been made without always offering anything new or inventive. This one most definitely does. I heard that the movie was going to be dark. Dark it is. This dark fairy tale definitely feels more like an adult movie than one for kids.

Guillermo del Toro wrote the screenplay, as well as directed the film with co-directing help from Mark Gustafson. This is Mark Gustafson’s directorial debut and the first time Guillermo del Toro has directed an animated film. What a pair!

THINGS I LIKED:

The stop-motion animation is absolutely stunning. Each frame could be a piece of art. Film students studying stop-motion will be talking about this for decades.
The talented cast packs a powerful punch, including quite a few Oscar winners: Cate Blanchett, Christoph Waltz, John Turturo, Ron Perlman, Ewan McGregor, Tilda Swinton David Bradley, Finn Wolfhard, and the young Gregory Mann. Originally, Guillermo del Toro wanted John Hurt to voice Geppetto, but John died in 2017 before the voice work began.
Rather than stick with the traditional setting of Italy in the 1800s, I thought it was curious that Guillermo del Toro chose to make the setting in Italy during World War II under Mussolini’s fascist leadership. The movie has a heavy hand on the war, Nazis, and death. At one point, he stated that he was trying to blend elements of the Frankenstein stories with that of Pinocchio. Interesting and strange choice.
There’s a running gag that whenever the cricket starts to sing, he’s cut off. It would have made a nice ending to allow him to actually sing a song to close the story at the end of the movie. If you want to hear Ewan McGregor really belt it out, check out the musical movie Moulin Rouge!
I thought it was clever to have the traditional “Blue Fairy” be a Wood Sprite since Pinocchio was made from wood. She also represents death and offers some difficult choices for Pinocchio to make.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

Visually, the timeline doesn’t match the animation for the father. He starts the movie looking like an old man. Then, we see many, many years pass as a seedling grows into a giant tree. We see Gepetto as the same age after that. I would love to have seen him with a younger man’s brown beard in the beginning and then change to grey hair as he aged.
A certain character dies and then goes on talking. What the what?
Some may think the runtime of almost 2 hours is too long. I admit that I looked at the clock a time or two.
The original Disney telling of Pinocchio illustrated a curious boy made of wood, but this one features an instantly disobedient and rebellious one. This one is not as endearing as other versions I’ve seen.
Pinocchio purists might not like the choice to remove Pleasure Island from the story.

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

Bombs go off and kill people and creatures.
Lots of people die.
Smoking
Gepetto gets drunk
Some rude humor
Violence with various weapons
War
Nazis

THEMES:

Obedience
Love and loss
The burden of love
Friendship
Courage
Being good
Tragedy
Cruelty
Mortality
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
Sacrifice for others
Father/son relationships

FUNNY LINES:

None worth noting.

INTERESTING LINES:

“You never know how long you have with someone until they’re gone.” – Death/Wood Sprite (Tilda Swinton)
“Love hurts.” – Cricket (Ewan McGregor)
Try your best and that’s the best anyone can do.” – Cricket (Ewan McGregor)
“Life is such a wonderful gift.” – Cricket (Ewan McGregor)
“What happens, happens, and then we are gone.” – Cricket (Ewan McGregor)
“There are rules, and they must be obeyed. Decisions have consequences.” – Death/Wood Sprite (Tilda Swinton)

OTHER MOVIES LIKE THIS YOU MIGHT ENJOY:

If this version is too dark for your children, they might prefer the newest Tom Hanks version that also premiered this year: https://moviereviewmom.com/pinocchio-movie-review/