Why Del Toro's Pinocchio is the best version of the story

Guillermo Del Toro has been my favorite director of all time for as long as I can remember enjoying movies. He's worked on some films that had influenced the way I view cinema immensly, such as Pan's Labyrinth (2006), Crimson Peak (2015) and The Shape of Water (2017). His Hellboy duology (2004 and 2008) are probably the only superhero flicks, apart from The Dark Knight (2008), that I can endlessly rewatch without being bored and experiancing the fatigue I have had with this particular genre lately. He also created The Strain (2014-2017) which I can safely, with 100% honesty, say is the best vampire show that ever aired on TV. However, I was initially very hesitant to check out his second Oscar winner and first animated feature. And honestly? Shame on me for doing this.

Ok, ok, there actually is a reason as to why I hadn't given the film the fairest of chances before my best friend deciding that we should watch it togehter. It's definetley not a very good reason, but, I digress.

I wasn't the biggest fan of Del Toro's previous animated Netflix projects (that being the Tales of Arcadia franchise).

Even though the same best friend that told me to watch this one also introduced me to those and despite my ever-expanding my love for Del Toro, for the love of God could I not get into them.

They just didn't have the same vibe and magic most other Del Toro productions have and felt a bit generic and cliche when it came to writing and storyline. Not to mention that I'm not the biggest fan of comedies, so the attempts at humor really failed to make me laugh. I also tried reading the novel it was based on and, despite Del Toro writing that one as well, the difference between the two is like night and day if I'm honest. But, hey, not everything is meant to be enjoyed by everyone, so I guess I'm happy with being the exception.

So, on one faithful movie night, my best friend and I had each chosen a movie we wanted to watch and saw both. Her choice was this one and mine was the 2005 supernatural mystery The Skeleton Key (don't worry, a review of that one will come to... At some point in time). And, I must say, I was incredibly pleased with this film and can easily call it the best and most complex adaptation of Carlo Collodi's classic children's tale.

So, why do I sing such high praises for the film? Well, let's find out, starting with...

(1) The Writing

For me, a sign of a great piece of content intended for children is when it can equally appeal to both kids and adults alike. From movies like The Secret of NIMH (1982) to shows such as Gravity Falls (2012-2016) and novels like J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit (1937), history of children's media is full of such examples. And this film is certainly one of them.

It's riddled with rich and complex symbolism the beautifully weaves within itself a timeless tale of adventure, magic, and fantasy, as well as a surprisingly authentic period piece that doesn't shy away from the various horrors of facist Italy. It's very different from the source material, but, in my opinion, that's what makes it stand out and work the way it does. But Kristian, you complained about Mavka being different from the book, why aren't you doing the same here?, you might say.

Well, there's a stark reason for that.

Mavka had almost nothing in common with it's source material and completely abbandoned all of it's themes and messages. Pinocchio, whilst also being vastly different from the original novel, still sticks to the original book's themes and has the same moral message as it's source material, whilst, at the same time, adding new themes and concepts that seemlessly blend in with those presented in Collodi's creation, thus creating a timeless period fantasy that both kids and adults can get something out of.

I also can't praise the insane ammounts of creativity in the story's worldbuilding enough.

Del Toro had already proven himself to be a master of WW2 era based magical realism with the afframentioned Pan's Labyrinth and we can see that it hasn't changed a bit.

The whole point of that genre is to blend the magical and/or monstrous and set it against the backdrop of the real world with the themes and events present in the real world at the time of writing (or at the period the author or director chooses to set his narrative in) and blend them in with the fantasy elements without the latter seeming like something outlandish or a big deal for the non-magical characters. This idea has been present in many pieces of fiction over the years, from books like Franz Kafka's 1915 short story Metamorphosis and Gabriel Garcia Marquez's 1967 novel One Hundred Years of Solitude to films such as Alejandro Gonzalez Injaritu's modern classic Birdman (2014) and Darren Aranofsky's Black Swan (2010), with the latter being one of my favorite films of all time.

Pinocchio suceeds in this superbly.

It takes a well known fairy tale about fairies, magic and talking crickets and succesfully puts it into a time of violence, xenophobia and hate, however, nothining here feels out of place nor are any elements too simplified. The parts of the story intended for children can still be very much enjoyed by them. There's still magic, adventure and a galore of quirky characters (with even Mussolini being portrayed as a caricature of himself), but there's also elements of the story adults will enjoy, such as the beautifully emotional portrayal of loss, the surprisingly real (albeit not nearly as gruesome) portrayal of the mindset of the fascist regime and even a hefty dose of dark humor, which works better than expected.

Another thing I love about this film's writing and just overall structure is the creativity on display.

During the film's runtime we see various subversions of the elements of the original story, all of which work well in the tone this take tries to achieve. My favorite sequences in the whole flick were Pinocchio's visits to the afterlife. Those beautifully designed cosmic eldritch corridors made out of coffins, combined with clever and unique interpretations of death and dying show us a great play on human mortality, as well as Pinocchio's immortality in an intelligent and unique way I haven't seen in many pieces of fiction up to that point (the closest was the Grimm brothers' fairy tale Godfather Death, where Death is shown to live in a cold cavern filled with candles, all of which representing a life). Now, the whole, immortal must face the mortality of his loved ones trope has been done to death in all pieces of media prior to this (seriously, I can think of atleast five or six examples of it right now), but, given that it's rarely touched upon in children's media, I think it was creatively and cleverly intergrated within the narrative of the film. Another exceedingly creative aspect of the film is the portrayal of Count Volpe. Now, he may not be my favorite character in the film (that honour goes to Death), but, despite being a very simple evil for the sake of being evil type of antagonist he represents what's got to be one of my all time favorite fictional tropes, that being the Faustian Deal or, for the uninitiated, Deal with the Devil. Now, yes, I'm aware that he is meant to take on the role of the Fox from the original story (his last name literally translates to fox in Italian and his hairstyle is very fox-esque), however, I wouldn't be surprised if his insistance on the contract, deals and just overall showmanship was intended to be a small wink of Devil representation from Del Toro (my man literally owns a Devil puppet named Mister Diavolo, I mean, come on), even though it could all just be a coincidence.

(2) The Animation

This might come off as a tad bit biased because I absolutely ADORE stop motion animation (I even dabbled in some pretty amateurish works in it myself, actually), but I can't help but not to say that this movie is an absolute masterpiece that stands out amongst the many pieces of animated content I watched over the years.

Not only does every character, wheater human or supernatural, have a very distinct and memorable design, but they all move incredibly fluidly, almost as if you're watching actual people or, even, CGI creations. Some stop motion can look very glitchy, but that's by no means what's occuring in this film. The backdrops are also absolutely stunning, with my favorite probably being the hallways Death and her rabbit minions reside in. Some may consider it a very bland and basic looking place, but the scenes taking place in it were moments were this simple period fantasy began to feel truly cosmic in scope and scale to me as a viewer. They just ooze with a feel of magic and eternity and they made me feel the same as I'm sure Gravity Falls' Time Baby feels after he's had his bottle of Cosmic Milk.

However, what was probably my favorite moment of animation has nothing to do with any of my favorite characters, nor does it even take place in my favorite location. In fact, it's at the film's very start.

I'm reffering to the chapel bombing scene, the plotpoint that kicks off Gepetto's grief, the main driving force of the narrative.

Whilst, yes, it's a very powerful and emotional scene in the context of the wider plot, but, speaking purely from a technical perspective, it's impecably impressive. The fire shown in that shot looks truly infernal, with an eerie yellowish glow and deathly pale smoke, it's like a grim reaper that came for the soul and innocence of Gepetto's son. The fire not only looks eerie, but also feels real. I've had the misfortune of seeing two fires play out in real life and, Del Toro nails the look and feel an individual gets whilst staring at the gut of this infernal pit.

It's just a perfectly executed scene from start to finish.

(3) The Performances

In my last review of the adult animated webseries Elite, I mentioned how voice acting is one of the key marks of a good animated property. It's a tough art to master and I have nothing but respect for everyone who works in that industry. So, how's it in this one? Well, I wouldn't be including it in the positives section unless I didn't think it was worth mentioning.

Most reviewers would probably start with the three core characters (Pinocchio, Gepetto and the Cricket), but, screw it, this is my blog and Imma do whatever the fuck I want with it, so I'll start off with two of my favorite characters (both design and overall presence-wise): Count Volpe and Sister Death.

Volpe is played by Christopher Waltz who can be seen in many films, but has previously done some voicework in the 2013 animated fantasy flick Epic (funnily enough, also as the main villain), which I remember being fond off as a kid, even if it didn't sit too well with critics (I was 8 for crying out loud). I gotta say, he brings a ton of charm to the role.

What makes a good animated villain in my opinion is the abbility of the voice actor to alternate between charming and threatning (for example, Alex Hirsch's role as Bill Cipher in Gravity Falls). It creates what I like to call a serpentine effect. The viewers (mainly the target audience of the film, that being kids) are sucked into the antagonist's schemes, just like the film's lead, only to be schocked to discover that, well, they're violent and devilish. This is exactly what Waltz does. He perfectly mixes a seductive Faustian, a comedic bumbling and a terrifyingly violent side in a very memorable character that who brings a lot of edge to what wasn't a very scary villain in the original book.

And now onto an individual who I can safely call my favorite character in the whole flick: Death.

Not only is her design an absolute work of genious, but she's voiced by none other than Tilda freaking Swinton whose excelent in any piece of media she's in, no matter if the end product is amazing (like the 2018 remake of Suspiria, a.k.a. my favorite film of the 2010's), just good (like Tempest) or plain bad (like the Chronicles of Narnia films). Swinton brings a very eerie, but also incredibly soothing feel to the role which I can only describe as being angelic (fitting, as she did play an angel in Frnacis Lawrence's 2005 dark fantasy drama Constantine). She's the epitome of the infamous (and also memed to death) biblical line Be not afraid and I'm honestly doubting that that would be the case for me if ever heard this woman speak in real life. She definetely stands out amongst the rest of an already insanely talented cast which includes names like Ewan McGregor, David Bradley, Cate Blanchett, Ron Perlman, Fin Wolfhard, John Turturro and Tom Kenny amongst others. Not to say that they all do a bad job, far from it as a matter of fact, but these two I decided to single out simply because they stuck out to me the most.

(4) Any negatives?

Ok, ok, I've been singing the film's praises up to this point. Is there anything in it I actively disliked?

Well, hard to say, but there were some mild nitpicks that are unimportant to the overall experiance, however, I still feel like are worth atleast a passing mention.

Whilst the soundtrack of the film is generally good (both the instrumental parts and the musical numbers), I personally didn't care for Pinocchio's first song number. I thought it was cheesy and really not very ear pleasing. I won't harp too much on the actor, because he really knows how to sing and this is shown later in the film (I'm specifically reffering to the song Ciao papa), however, my best friend liked it so what do I know.

There's some leaps in logic/inconcsistencies here and there (some of which don't even make sense within the film's magic system), but they're incredibly rare so I wouldn't say that they ruined the experiance for me.

Other than that though, the film's nearly flawless and I can't, for the life of me, find any other objective criticisms of it.

So, in the end, would I reccomend the film? And who would I reccomend it to?

A thousand times yes. It's a flawless masterpiece that earned it's Oscar win and I have strong reasons to believe that it will remain a timeless classic beloved by people of all ages for ages to come and will sit right next to other animation greats. If you're a fan of Del Toro's other works, a fantasy nerd or just want a great animated flick then this film has something in it that will satisfy all that and more and I cannot stretch my love for it enough.

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