Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio Review: Imaginative Stop-Motion Animation Gives a Classic New Legs

C'mere, I'll tell you a tale straight from It'ly. It's about dis wooden kid, name a Pinocchio, capisce? There was this old man, Geppetto, he was a good guy, a real reliable carpenter, always did beautyfull work. He fixed up the church in his town real nice. Then it got real sad, his son died, and he was all mixed up. Just sleeping through life like a gavone, until one night he gets all ubriaco on wine and decides to cut down a pine tree and carve out a puppet. Not just any tree, but one he grew from an acorn wit his kid — there's all kindsa symbolism here. Anyway, thanks to an actual fairy, the puppet gets the breath a life. Badda bing, Geppetto's got a wooden boy. And ho! He's a handful. You probably seen dis before, it's been done a million times, but dis time the wooden boy's actually made a wood. At least it looks dat way, I dunno what to make a all the computers in movies nowadays.

OK, I'm not going to continue writing like Fat Tony from The Simpsons, but it's hard not get excited about the Italian-ness of this new version of Pinocchio, which also has the title Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, as the Oscar-winning filmmaker is the co-director (with Mark Gustafson) and co-screenwriter (with Patrick McHale). It's funny, because the main voice actors play it with British accents (or, in the case of Christoph Waltz, just do "weird"), but there's an ambient chatter in the background that relishes the exaggerated lilt of the Italian tongue, and it's irresistible.

7.0

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio

at Netflix

Like

• Vivid Italian setting
• Imaginative animation
• Pinocchio himself looks remarkable

Dislike

• Not every character looks as lively as Pinocchio
• A few strange twists on the story

I'll work under the assumption that you know the basic story of Pinocchio, based on the 19th century fantasy book about the adventures of an animated puppet. If you say you've never heard of him, your nose will start to grow. There have been no shortage of movie adaptations (one even from earlier this year!), but as should be expected from something with del Toro's authorial stamp, this is among the more crafty versions. The stop-motion animation isn't all perfect — Geppetto (voiced by David Bradley) looks like something from the cheap shelf at The Christmas Tree Shoppe, and the Wood Sprite (Tilda Swinton) is too slickly digital — but it really sings where it counts. The gentlemanly cricket (Ewan McGregor) is weirdly dashing, the interior of the Leviathan, where things get dangerous, is strangely thrilling, and, most importantly, there's the look of Pinocchio (Gregory Mann) himself. To say he looks wooden implies a stiffness, but that's far from the case. He's lively and charming and lovable, but still looks like real wood. It truly is a work of minor magic.

The primary differentiator for this version comes in its setting. Not so much in place — it's still Italian villages and the carnival roads between them — but the time. The earliest scenes are set during World War I, and Pinocchio's madcap adventures are framed by Mussolini's rise to power and the tightening grip of fascism. The looming threat (literally looming at times, in posters and signs) has an exaggerated, Charles Addams-like stylization, which bears a striking contrast to the more homey, handmade interiors.

Naturally, the main bad guy, the con man/carnival impresario Count Volpe, voiced by Christoph Waltz, is a Mussolini sycophant, but there isn't too much brutal history in this film. Volpe captures and exploits Pinocchio, making him perform, then lies about sending money back to Geppetto. How Pinocchio makes his escape (and how he involves a monkey named Spazzatura, which means garbage in Italian) is one of the nicer turns.

What there's less of in this version is Pinocchio's desire to "be a real boy," though it does come up. There is a peculiar exploration into the afterlife, as well as some unusual rules about whether someone who isn't alive can actually die. It involves rabbits playing poker, somehow. I was never quite sure I understood it all, but visually it all seems to come together.

As a streaming option, Pinocchio wins points for being just different enough compared to typical family-friendly fare. Those who have already moved on to the creativity found in Studio Ghibli films, or other exploratory forms of animation, won't be quite as impressed, but kids who only watch the the standard Disney cartoons would do well to find some nourishment here. The story has certainly proved that it's got some staying power.

Premieres: Friday, Dec. 9 on Netflix
Who's in it: David Bradley, Gregory Mann, Ewan McGregor, Tilda Swinton, Christoph Waltz, Cate Blanchett, Finn Wolfhard, Ron Perlman
Who's behind it: Guillermo del Toro (co-director, co-writer), Mark Gustafson (co-director), Patrick McHale (co-writer)
For fans of: Clever animation, new looks at old stories, Italy