Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022)

[BetterButter]

 

[BetterButter]

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio Carves a New Path: An Exclusive First Look

Quote

 “The virtue Pinocchio has is to disobey. At a time when everybody else behaves as a puppet—he doesn’t.”

[BetterButter]

[Brn2bwild]

Watching this trailer without sound, this looks really creepy.  Good, but creepy.

[Hiyo]

I mean, the original stories were kind of creepy...

[BetterButter]

[AnimeMania]

[StatisticalOutlier]

Here's the official trailer:

I had what I'm sure is a unique experience with this.  I think I might have seen a trailer for this when seeing something else at the movies, but I can't say for sure.  But when I saw Guillermo del Toro had a movie with puppets, I knew I was in and no other information was needed.

Not only that, all I know about Pinocchio is that it involves a boy whose nose grows when he lies, and his dad is Gepetto.  I picture him wearing a hat.  Maybe I knew the whole story at some point in my life, but not now.  The cricket in the movie?  I didn't realize that was none other than Jiminy Cricket until I was looking at some websites after I saw the movie!  That's how little I know about the story.

Suffice to day I was a clean slate.  And oh my stars (or even "Jiminy Cricket!" as I sometimes exclaim apparently without knowing the first thing about the critter).  I loved it.  Even though I wept, literally wept, at the end when Pinocchio was in peril.  I loved him so much (his voice was perfect) and was so scared for him and didn't know how things would come out.

The animation is incredible.  I'm a big-screen aficionado and therefore biased, but I really do think this one deserves the theater experience, to more fully appreciate the detail.  Thank you, @BetterButter, for posting the "Behind the Craft" video; it shows just how much work goes into stop-motion, and it lets me listen to del Toro's voice, which I adore. 

Also, that circus guy looks just like Donald Sutherland.  And I can't remember for sure, but I think the monkey only made monkey noises and didn't actually talk, and the credits said it was Cate Blanchett voicing him. 

There's also some singing over the credits, so don't rush out.  And actually, that's another clean-slate indicator--I was surprised there were were songs in the movie.  That shows just how little I knew about the Pinocchioverse.

[Spartan Girl]

Definitely an original take on the story. Guillermo del Toro doesn’t play around.

Not sure I feel about the ending where he doesn’t become a real boy, but outlives Geppetto and his friends and presumedly dies at some point. It’s definitely the bittersweet ending del Toro does best.

Lol at the running gag of Sebastian’s songs being interrupted by something or other, but at the same time, I want to hear Ewan sing, dammit!

[BetterButter]

 

[raven]

Well, I had no idea there were two other Pinocchio movies this year, lol.

I basically liked this one.  I'll watch anything with del Toro's name on it but I've never had strong feelings about the Disney movie, which I saw as a kid and I'm pretty sure I haven't seen since.  The animation in this one WAS incredible - those ocean scenes looked very nearly real - and the acting was very good.  Gregory Mann as Pinocchio/Carlo stands out and he also has a really good singing voice.  Of course, Ewan McGregor, is always, always (did I say always?) welcome on my screen and I have to agree with @Spartan Girl  - let Ewan, sing, dammit!!

I think the beginning with Geppetto and Carlo went on a bit too long.    I didn't need all that time to know how much Geppetto loved his son and how it broke him when he was killed.  David Bradley was aces, though.

OK, I did *almost* cheer when Spazzatura attacked the Count and helped send him plunging to his death.  YAY!  I was very upset when the Count was beating that poor monkey and thrilled when Pinocchio stood up to him about it.  I did like that we got to see Pinocchio grow, though the ending was bittersweet.  We can hope that he found another loving family after he made his way into the world.

 

[Spartan Girl]

On 12/20/2022 at 6:42 PM, raven said:

I think the beginning with Geppetto and Carlo went on a bit too long.    I didn't need all that time to know how much Geppetto loved his son and how it broke him when he was killed.  David Bradley was aces, though.

I disagree that it was too long. I think that it was necessary to show the life that Geppetto had with Carlo to fully understand his grief and why he couldn’t let go. And even though it was made clear that Pinocchio was not Carlo reincarnated, there were some parts that made us wonder, like the fact that Pinocchio somehow knew the song (though not the words) that he sang to Carlo.

[EtheltoTillie]

I was ready to dislike this, but it won me over, and Mr. Tillie and his brother liked it too.  The little boy had a nice singing voice.  I thought the Geppetto character was kind of ugly looking--I couldn't stand the scruffy beard.  But it was a moving take on the story. 

[StatisticalOutlier]

I think Pinocchio's teeth were really cute.