Del Toro knows his craft

★★★ 1/2 out of ★★★★

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022)

Runtime: 117 minutes

MPAA: Rated PG for dark thematic material, violence, peril, some rude humor and brief smoking.

Before we dissect the movie, let's take some time to explain why the clunky and long title is deliberately long and clunky. This year, we've had a surge of Pinocchio remakes, with one foreign language remake (it's titled: Pinokkio. Pravdivaya istoriya) I barely even knew existed, and of course, the poorly received Robert Zemeckis remake. Pinocchio is a story we've known as far as the old ages, and co-writer/co-director Guillermo del Toro shows us how to re-tell the story.

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio is one of the rarest of animated films that shows us honest and dark territory. We've got a hurtful depiction of a father losing his child and consuming excessive alcohol. We've got manipulative people who take advantage of their assets and pretend to have a friendly persona in the public eye. We've also got a very mature depiction of war with actual guns that characters use to shoot people in the story.

But first, the plot. Geppetto (David Bradley) and his son Carlo (Alfie Tempest) live in Italy, and around the time of war, planes that dropped their bombs to lighten the aircraft's weight killed Carlo. Geppetto buries him and plants a pine cone near his grave, where he has gotten depressed for the next two decades. One day, [our narrator] Sebastian (Ewan McGregor), a cricket, flies across the tree and hears Geppetto's prayers and complaints. In a fit of rage, Geppetto cuts down the tree, and carves a wooden puppet while indulging in excessive alcohol.

At night, an otherworldly spirit (Tilda Swinton) gives life to the wooden puppet, and after a confrontation with Sebastian the cricket, assigns him a duty to take care of the boy in exchange for one wish. Geppetto is shocked the next morning to see the moving puppet and a cricket. A curious Pinocchio (Gregory Mann), experiencing the world for the first time, defies orders and runs around to places like the church, where Geppetto is accused of witchcraft.

After a discussion with a fascist leader Podesta (Ron Perlman) with his son (Finn Wolfhard) and priest (Burn Gorman), they decide that Pinocchio shall attend school to learn and obey. However, a problem arises when a manipulative puppeteer Count Volpe (Christoph Waltz) with his companion Spazzatura (Cate Blanchett, very surprised!) tricks Pinocchio into singing a contract to help him perform at a circus to earn money. Tension arises when Pinocchio is killed then resurrected, and runs away from Geppetto to fulfill Volpe's mandatory duties, as Geppetto rushes to find his son, rediscovering joy.

While one might dismiss this as another re-telling of the story - considering that it's the second one to hit theatres/major streaming services this year - Guillermo del Toro dispels and defies all those doubts with maturity and by fully fleshing out his story and characters, in this heartfelt piece of work. An opening scene builds the father-and-son relationship, and makes his grief compelling and understandable, while its time setting adds a sense of danger and urgency; Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio is also visually dazzling, adding in dashes of fantasy and adventure.

At the same time, each hard-hitting theme it explores are just so relatable and meaningful. The relationship built between Geppetto and Pinocchio completely explores and comments about the nature of imperfect fathers and imperfect sons. With other characters, we have sons that try their best to please their fathers, and to stand up against what they feel is morally wrong. Moreover, the 1930-40ish setting also conveys messages of war, dictators and fascism.

What makes Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio yet another lovely surprise is the talented and eclectic voice cast. As one of my family members said, the boy's [voice of Pinocchio] singing is just lovely. An addition of well-known actors also take turns to convey humor and emotion as the story progresses.

However, while the initial pace may have been a little slow and some of the songs a little awkward, a deeply touching ending has well-earned tears. I sat beside at least three more people and struggled to hold my teardrops. Pinocchio's love for his parent, to the point where he would become mortal to save them, shows us the odyssey of love and life in the time we're still around. As the film ends beautifully, we're also reminded that our loved ones will, one day, go too, and that it's best for human life to have limited time as it holds the greatest value.

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, told in stop-motion form, has been a passion project for him since over a decade and a half ago. The result is one of the, if not, best animated movie of the year. If anything, the next time you're watching Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio alone - and I hope I will - prepare yourself with a box of tissues. You'll need lots of them.

Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio has taken the Academy Award back home for best animated feature film.