Netflix Movie Review: Guillermo Del Toros Pinocchio Stopmotion Animation Masterpiece Brings Carlo Collodis Fantasy Story To Life
- Each frame of Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, the story of a wooden puppet magically brought to life, is beautifully and intricately crafted.
- The director's fairy tale vision is darker than the popular Disney cartoon version; This movie is for kids and adults.
4.5 / 5 stars
The full title is Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio , which couldn't be more accurate. The Mexican director's first animated feature retells the tale of the wooden boy come to life, combining his many interests into this timeless tale in a fascinating way.
Woodman Geppetto (voiced by David Bradley) lives in Fascist Italy under the dictator Benito Mussolini and loses his son Carlo when a bomb hits the church where he works. Take the bottle and create a drunken night substitute for the best Italian pine.
Brought to life by magical spirits, this mischievous Pinocchio is controlled by Sebastian J. Cricket (Ewan McGregor) is a cruel soul who spends his time writing his memoirs.
At first Geppetto and the rest of the townspeople were too afraid to talk about this walking miracle. She throws strawberries in church, refuses to obey her father and skips her first day of school, when puppeteer Count Volpe (Christoph Waltz) lures her to a traveling carnival with hot chocolate and tricks her into signing an iron contract. Entertainment. .
Directed by del Toro and Mark Gustafson, this film contains elements of the 1883 book by Carlo Collodi that you should definitely know.
© South China Morning Post Pinocchio (left, voice of Gregory Mann) and Count Volpe (Christoph Waltz) from Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio. Photo: NetflixWhile Pinocchio's design, a childlike look from Disney cartoons, was inspired by the work of artist Grace Grimley in the 2002 edition of Collodi's book, del Toro takes on some radical sides that are appropriate for a film that celebrates the challenger. and disagreement.
Reminiscent of his earlier films The Devil's Backbone and Pan's Labyrinth , while also using fantasy and mythology to explore the rise of fascism, del Toro does not shy away from showing the horrors of sending young people to war.
Kids can enjoy this version of Pinocchio, whose tree-nose grows every time he tells a lie, just as big, if not more, than the adult film.
what else? The animation is beautiful, each frame rendered with love and complexity. The songs of the show are also catchy.
© South China Morning Post Sebastian J. Cricket (voice of Ewan McGregor) in Pinocchio by Guillermo del Toro. Photo: NetflixMcGregor is excellent as Cricket, the conscience of Pinocchio who struggles to keep up with his son. Cate Blanchett, the star of Del Toro 's fantasy Ali, also voices Spazzatura, Volpe the monkey, who has one of the most interesting arcs.
It is a magical masterpiece of the highest order.
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio premieres on Netflix on December 9th.
This article originally appeared in South China Morning Post (www.scmp.com), a leading news outlet in China and Asia.
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