I have a soft spot for stop-motion films and Gris Grimly, and since del Toro had been wanting to make a stop-motion film for so long, I wanted to see how it turned out.
The film is obviously a del Toro production—it mixes horror and fantasy and discusses abusive fathers, fascism, and blind obedience in the ways his films tend to do, but I think the del Toro part of the title is often at the cost of the Pinocchio part. There are aspects I found to be compelling changes— I really liked the idea of Pinocchio being a replacement for a lost son, and the way his creation was framed as a drunk mistake on a really bad night, complete with Frankenstein theming. I almost wish that setup had gone into a new direction about accepting death with the concept that replacing/resurrecting the son was the wrong thing to do, rather than it being Geppetto's story about accepting imperfection in his second chance. I'm okay with the character arc being Geppetto's, but the way it went felt counter to the original story in a way I didn't latch onto. I'm also not sure about Pinocchio's arc.
I can get behind how the film defies the stricter moralism of the original story by showing cases where lying and disobedience are noble or necessary and shifts it to a story of Pinocchio learning and teaching about recognizing when to obey and when to be free, but it fuels a commentary on fascism we've already seen from del Toro, and done better before, too. I don't think taking the message to a younger audience under the lens of fascist history was the best idea. I struggle to see it landing when I wasn't sure what the film was doing with the message myself.
The animation is gorgeous and has a great eye for character physicality, though I'd have liked this film to be more fantastical and diversely-colored than it was. I don't love the indecisive tone where some famous fantasy scenes have been replaced with reality, but others are still there. Again, the del Toro takes away some of the Pinocchio.
This film isn't something that blew my mind, but it did entertain me well enough. I think this is a case of Creator Thumbprint going too far in front of the source material, but it's for sure more respectable than clueless adaptations like Burton's Alice in Wonderland.
No denying it's Guillermo del Toro's.
I have a soft spot for stop-motion films and Gris Grimly, and since del Toro had been wanting to make a stop-motion film for so long, I wanted to see how it turned out.
The film is obviously a del Toro production—it mixes horror and fantasy and discusses abusive fathers, fascism, and blind obedience in the ways his films tend to do, but I think the del Toro part of the title is often at the cost of the Pinocchio part. There are aspects I found to be compelling changes— I really liked the idea of Pinocchio being a replacement for a lost son, and the way his creation was framed as a drunk mistake on a really bad night, complete with Frankenstein theming. I almost wish that setup had gone into a new direction about accepting death with the concept that replacing/resurrecting the son was the wrong thing to do, rather than it being Geppetto's story about accepting imperfection in his second chance. I'm okay with the character arc being Geppetto's, but the way it went felt counter to the original story in a way I didn't latch onto. I'm also not sure about Pinocchio's arc.
I can get behind how the film defies the stricter moralism of the original story by showing cases where lying and disobedience are noble or necessary and shifts it to a story of Pinocchio learning and teaching about recognizing when to obey and when to be free, but it fuels a commentary on fascism we've already seen from del Toro, and done better before, too. I don't think taking the message to a younger audience under the lens of fascist history was the best idea. I struggle to see it landing when I wasn't sure what the film was doing with the message myself.
The animation is gorgeous and has a great eye for character physicality, though I'd have liked this film to be more fantastical and diversely-colored than it was. I don't love the indecisive tone where some famous fantasy scenes have been replaced with reality, but others are still there. Again, the del Toro takes away some of the Pinocchio.
This film isn't something that blew my mind, but it did entertain me well enough. I think this is a case of Creator Thumbprint going too far in front of the source material, but it's for sure more respectable than clueless adaptations like Burton's Alice in Wonderland.