A new Pinocchio movie, written by the beloved screenwriter Guillermo del Toro, was released in 2022, coinciding with the release of the Disney live-action remake of their 1940 film. Interestingly enough though, while the Disney live action remake received extremely negative reviews, the 2022 movie ended up receiving endless praise, and even won the Best Animated Feature at the Oscars that year! This was quite surprising, is this Pinocchio movie really that good? In this review, let’s find out!
Story
From the opening of the film, we’re immediately thrown for a loop. Gepetto, the normally loving elderly father figure to Pinocchio in just about every other version of the story, is mourning at Carlo’s grave一who turns out to be another boy who was Gepetto’s biological son, who unfortunately died in the midst of World War I planes. After being in a depression for years, Gepetto cuts down a tree angrily while drunk and creates Pinocchio in a drunken rage before going to bed, and he is profusely shocked the next morning when it turns out that Pinocchio is alive.
However, the movie begins to take a darker turn when other characters want to use Pinocchio for their own devious agendas, such as Count Volpe, who wants Pinocchio to work for his puppet show so he can earn money off of it, and the Podestà, who wants to turn Pinocchio into a soldier since he is immortal. Pinocchio also must decide whether or not being immortal is a blessing一or a curse?
The story gives a beautiful, fresh coat of paint on the tired-but-true Pinocchio story that we’ve come to know and love for centuries.
Characters
We also get to see a variety of characters in the movie, both from the original Pinocchio story and new characters!
For starters, we have Pinocchio himself, who is completely innocent and curious, but ends up being easy to manipulate. Despite his childish and carefree attitude, his character design is also kind of monstrous looking. Being the lead role, this balance between cheerful child and monstrosity sets the tone for the movie perfectly.
Then there’s Gepetto, who, despite being the same kind and loving father in other adaptations, is completely broken due to his biological son Carlo and wife dying. He actually built Pinocchio in a drunken rage in this movie, due to how heartbroken he felt about their deaths years prior. Gepetto doesn’t like Pinocchio at first, and almost wants nothing to do with him一since Pinocchio isn’t like Carlo. However, he eventually comes around, and learns that Pinocchio doesn’t have to be like Carlo at all.
There’s Sebastian J. Cricket, the cricket that appears in many, many versions of the story. However, there’s a slight twist一Sebastian ends up being more of a conscience for Gepetto instead of Pinocchio!
A few other characters are particularly noteworthy. There are the memorable characters like Podestà, who in this movie is Candlewick’s father, and forces both boys off to war. There’s Candlewick himself, obviously一he ends up getting the short end of the stick, like in just about every other adaption of Pinocchio out there, although一for a lack of spoilers一not in the same way you’d expect. And of course, there’s Count Volpe, who runs a special carnaval with his pet monkey Spazzatura, and are an expy of the Fox and the Cat respectively from the original story, the former also being an expy of Stromboli. However, unlike the Cat, Spazzatura has a surprising heel-face turn in the movie and becomes a close friend of Pinocchio’s.
Tone and atmosphere
As Jeff Beck said in the review for this movie on thebluspot.com, “This being a Guillermo del Toro film, you know right away that you’re not going to be in for a standard, straightforward telling of the original story.” He is right. The movie has a much darker tone, though it’s not quite as dark as the original story. It’s somewhere in-between the original story and the Disney version tonically. The movie is sometimes funny (for example, during a scene where Pinocchio starts spewing fart jokes at Benito Mussolini!), but mainly wants to establish the serious relationships Pinocchio has with other characters. There are many dark topics, such as war and abuse that show up as core themes throughout the movie. The stop motion animation also enhances the dark feeling, with most characters being designed in some perhaps not-so-very cute ways, with Pinocchio looking somewhat monstrous (being carved in a drunken rage by Gepetto) and Gepetto looking more worn down than in other adaptations. Pinocchio also is killed multiple times in the movie despite being immortal, making it much more faithful to the original fairy tale. The villains are also quite intimidating, though this story has never shied away from scary, threatening villains in any adaptation.
Audience
Guillermo del Toro has explicitly stated that, while it’s not a kids’ movie, and is probably much more explicitly an adult movie, it’s a movie that kids can absolutely watch一although it is a little bit darker. I’d assume this movie is much more aimed at animation enthusiasts, and people who really like darker stories, or maybe a combination of the two. I feel though that it’s probably best to watch this movie with your kids instead of just by themselves, since there’s a lot of questions they might have that might pop up and confuse them.
Rating
Overall, I think this is a fantastic movie, and one of the best movies of 2022. I’d highly recommend this movie to anyone interested in animation, or Pinocchio, or movies in general. It is a beautiful retelling of a centuries old storyline with gorgeous animation and compelling characters. And for that, I am going to give it a 5/5.
Written by Logan Bedard, Lethbridge College
