Wow. There is one reason for me to recommend watching the Disney Pinocchio (2022, my review here) by Zemeckis, and that reason is to see the vast difference in quality regarding… well, everything. From the animation style to keeping the same story but setting it into new beats, this version of Pinocchio (also known as Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, but I will keep it short) is the same at its core but brand new where it counts. It’s a genuinely heart-warming, well-told story about so many different things; it puzzles me how two capable directors can take the same story and characters and tell it so differently. Of course, the elephant in the room is whoever pays the piper calls the tune (Disney probably didn’t give Zemeckis the freedom Guillermo del Toro had with Netflix) but still… The difference, or frankly speaking, the improvement, is jarring.
Let’s start with the animation style – where Zemeckis used a life-like CGI that you could describe as more Disney/child friendly; del Toro shows his affinity for monsters and all things of unusual nature, and his animation style reflects that. In some scenes, there are images that might scare or unsettle your kids, but I would argue it never goes overboard, so this would still be a kids’ film. The way I perceived Pinocchio was very reminiscent of old fairy tales I grew up watching/reading, and people forget how dark the “original stories” can get. And that’s a quality in kids’ films we seem to have forgotten that kids can deal with dark themes, and we shouldn’t shield them from it, especially in art, one of the safest environments. Especially if your kid understands that whatever they see is not real, they will be fine. How is that related to Pinocchio? Well, just take a look at his design; he’s not smooth, he looks wooden and uneven at times. When he lies, his nose sprouts, not just grows (a brilliant touch), and I appreciated these little details that make this film stand out immediately. Guillermo is too smart to use this beautiful stop-motion animation “just because”, and he utilises it to its full potential and then some. Everything looks stunning but somehow a bit “off”, at times unsettling even, and that stays with you.
But even the best, most unique animation style is nothing without a story to support it. And here is where Guillermo strikes again. He isn’t afraid (yet again!) to explore darker themes and go deeper, so we get to know Geppetto’s son Carlo. And then, when Carlo dies (and that’s not a spoiler by any means), we understand Geppetto much better, especially the pain he feels because he loved his son so much. Yes, every Pinocchio film explores this father/son theme but every other version I have seen (I also saw the original Disney Pinocchio from 1940) does not do it as well and explores it as deeply as this version does. Another aspect Guillermo changed was setting this film between the First and the Second World War in the 1930s in Italy. Therefore we can see on the outskirts the rise of fascism and Mussolini. You might think it will not “mash” with a kids’ film, and you would be wrong. It gives this story another layer of brilliance because when Pinocchio gets involved (we don’t get any Land of Toys sequence; instead, we get a military camp), there are stakes, given the situation and historical danger looming everywhere. And I have to repeat myself; it never felt out of place, somehow, Guillermo made it work.
And since I have been name-dropping him, let’s talk about Guillermo, but also, we can’t forget it’s not just his film. Pinocchio was also co-directed by Mark Gustafson. Therefore, every time I said “Guillermo this” and “Guillermo that”, we must remember Mark’s name too. But since Mark is mainly an animator, I will talk mostly about Guillermo, so forgive me. I am now firmly in the “Guillermo is one of the best living directors we have” camp. It took me a while, or maybe he matured more, but his last couple of films have been amazing in my book. And Pinocchio only underscores his evolution as a filmmaker who can take on any movie, no matter how known the story is and make it his own. What also helps is having listened to a bunch of Guillermo’s interviews and how he approaches art, anything from books to films to paintings; he knows his stuff. And you can tell he still keeps his childlike wonder “alive”, and he will turn 60 years in 2024. From now on, anything Guillermo touches, I will be there.
Another thing that was supreme about this version was the voice cast. Just go through the IMDb profile for the entire list, as I won’t list all of them. But I need to mention a couple that stood out. I thought Tilda Swinton and her “Wood Sprite” was great, I liked Gregory Mann as the voice of Pinocchio, and I can’t get over the fact that Cate Blanchett, THE CATE BLANCHETT, voiced a monkey that does not speak but only makes noises. And the reason why she did that is so pure:
Cate Blanchett told Guillermo Del Toro that she wanted a part in this film during work on Nightmare Alley, but the only character that hadn’t been cast yet was Spazzatura, the monkey. To Del Toro’s surprise, Blanchett wanted to voice the character anyway even though they have little actual lines and spent most of the film making sounds. In the making-of documentary, Blanchett and Del Toro confirm that she enthusiastically told him “I’ll do anything. For you, I would play a pencil”.
Trivia section for Pinocchio
But the two real standouts were David Bradley as Geppetto and Ewan McGregor as Sebastian J. Cricket. I only know David from the Harry Potter franchise, and his vocal performance here captured me from the first minute. Dare I say his Geppetto felt more real than what Tom Hanks did with his? Yes, I dare say that. And I say that as a long-time Hanks admirer, but Bradley takes this one, no competition. The same goes for Ewan. He has been one of my favourite actors for a while, but in this film, he truly shines. Even though I liked Jiminy and what Joseph Gordon-Levitt did with his performance, it was the same as the film, more kids-oriented. What Ewan did with his performance was outstanding. He serves as a narrator but is also very active in the story; he has some funny lines/moments, and then he manages to bring the emotion down to more serious levels. He puts so much behind every line reading; he was the first Cricket that made me care about him. In the other versions, I could take him or leave him, but in this film, there is no removing him, otherwise, this film would have lacked something. What a beautiful performance by him.
I rarely cry during movies, even though I seem to be getting “softer” with age, but Pinocchio almost cracked me. Because the main reason this film worked and Zemeckis’ didn’t wasn’t the animation or voice-casting. It comes down to a simple yet most complicated thing possible – having a relevant story that is told well and captures you. Guillermo with Mark managed to take this old, well-known fairy tale and give it their all, turning it into a masterpiece that no previous version (and yes, I am counting the original film from 1940) can’t touch. I bet you anything I have; if Disney hired more people like Guillermo and given them more freedom to do what they excel at, fewer people would be angry at their live-action remakes. Because then the remakes wouldn’t be perceived as simple cash grabs but as an actual attempt to bring those classics to modern times. But what do I know?
Overall, Pinocchio surprised me. I had a hunch this would be great, but not even I thought it would be as outstanding as it ended up being. Guillermo del Toro shows us that it is possible to remake an old story without you wondering why this had to be done. You can tell from every frame this was his passion project (he’s been working on this since 2008), and he poured his heart and soul into it. I am glad it’s on Netflix, as I hope that helps more people to watch it. This version of Pinocchio deserves to be seen and screened at Disney’s headquarters to showcase how to remake old, well-known stories… what is the word I am looking for? Oh, that’s right, “well.” This film shows everyone how to do a remake “well”. I can’t recommend this enough.
That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!
Until next time,
Luke