Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio is streaming on Netflix at the time of writing. Rated PG. Common Sense says 11.
STORY: B
Acclaimed director Guillermo del Toro delivers his unique, spectacular take on the classic story, Pinocchio. It’s much darker than the classic Disney film. The horrors of two world wars hover in the background like an angry ghost.
The most intriguing plot difference for me is the way Pinocchio sets out to achieve his goal. In the Disney version, Pinocchio wants nothing more than to become “normal”. His plan is what anti-racism scholars would call assimilation. Assimilation means that the way to be accepted by the predominant sector of society is to become more like that sector. A real world example would be the idea that the way for a Black person to be accepted in the United States is to “act more white.” Pinocchio is a puppet. So he figures that to fit in with humans, he needs to become a human.
Assimilation may sound logical and harmless at first glance, but throwing away your identity in order to be treated with respect is neither logical nor harmless. We always tell people the key to happiness is to just be themselves. Shouldn’t we allow them to do that? Del Toro’s Pinocchio doesn’t want to be a misfit either, but he also doesn’t believe he should be asked to change who he is in order to be accepted and loved. What if the world around him accepted him the way he is? What if he could be himself and have a safe place in our world?
I never thought I’d be talking about how a Pinocchio movie provides a blueprint for ideal societal change but … here I am. GdT’s Pinocchio provides a clear model for how we should behave in society.
PEOPLE: B
There are so many great names doing really good work in this movie. These talents include, but are not limited to: Ewan McGregor. Finn Wolfhard, Cate Blanchett, Cristoph Waltz, and Tilda Swinton.
However, it’s David Bradley (Harry Potter’s Argus Finch) as Gepetto and relative newcomer Gregory Mann as Pinocchio who fill this film with its emotional resonance and makes theirs a relationship worth rooting for.
FILM NERD STUFF: A-
Rudolph, this ain’t. The stop motion animation is mind-blowing. But even more amazing is the world that this crew literally creates from scratch. There is a 30 minute featurette (also available on Netflix) that takes you through the unbelievably complex and gorgeous process of making this movie. I recommend it as much as I do the film itself. It proves that magic is real.
My only misgiving in this category is that I’m not a fan of the Pinocchio puppet. Everything in this film feels extremely real, yet Pinocchio looks like plastic to me. I wish I could stare at it the way Guillermo del Toro does (you can see that in the featurette). His gaze is so wholesome and sweet, I thought I had spontaneously shoved my face inside a bag of Pepperidge Farm cookies. Again, I can’t recommend the featurette enough.
HUMANITY (Elective Class): B
If you either haven’t seen the original or don’t know anything about this story, mild spoilers appear in this paragraph.
Three men want three very different things from Pinocchio in this movie. One of them wants to use him for money. One wants to use him to gain power. The other one, Gepetto, as in the original, only wants his love. Pinocchio will not “earn” his humanity this time. In this movie, he chooses it. By allowing him to choose, the film becomes an even more powerful declaration of how to live our best - our most human - lives.
FINAL COMMENTS:
On one hand, the film is a playful celebration of fairy tales and movie making. While mostly focused on Pinocchio’s journey, the film occasionally widens the scope of its classic fish out of water tale to teach us how to hold on to our humanity in the face of forces trying to strip it away from us. It’s a stellar achievement.