"Pinocchio" review — Guillermo del Toro's animated fairytale is a magical delight

“What happens, happens, and then we’re gone.”

I wouldn’t be surprised if a sense of “Pinocchio fatigue” sets in amongst some audience members. The Adventures of Pinocchio, Carlo Collodi’s 1883 Italian children’s novel, has been adapted into at least fourteen English language films with dozens more adaptations into other languages as well as stage and television adaptations. This new Netflix film, co-directed by Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson, is the third Pinocchio feature film this year, following the meme-famous Pinocchio: A True Story and the immediately forgotten Disney live-action remake of the 1940 original. However, this adaptation isn’t like any other story of the wooden puppet. While many of the beats are familiar, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio is a wonderfully fresh and original take on the source material. With an emotionally resonant and thematically heavy centre and boosted by an array of standout vocal performances, Pinocchio is a charming and clever retelling of a familiar fairytale.

Del Toro (whose name is featured much more prominently in marketing and press for the film than that of his co-director) has spent so much of his career exploring fairy tales and magic. There is his early film The Devil’s Backbone (2001), the career-defining Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), and his Best Picture-winning fantasy romance The Shape of Water (2017). Pinocchio is through and through a fairy tale. The film begins with Gepetto, a woodworker from a small Italian town, who tragically loses his only son in an air raid during World War I. Many years later, out of extreme grief, Gepetto builds a puppet to preserve the memory of his son which is then magically given life by a magical spirit. Now, Gepetto must teach the newly-created Pinocchio the ways of the world while also coming to terms with his own grief and facing off against dangerous new adversaries.

Guillermo del Toro next to the stop-motion Pinocchio model. Image via Netflix.

Here, the story of Pinocchio is transported to 1940s Italy during the height of World War II and Benito Mussolini’s dictatorship. The film doesn’t shy away from its emotionally fraught subject matter, instead finding a careful combination of its brutal, barbaric setting and delightful magic elements. Thematically, del Toro takes notes from his previous films Pan’s Labyrinth and The Devil’s Backbone, two films which also explore folk magic against a fascist backdrop. Pinocchio, however, is still clearly made with children in mind with its subject matter accessible although never insulting the intelligence of its audience. The film is an excellent starting place for parents with older children to discuss abusive power systems, grief, war, ideology, and so much more. 

The stop-motion animation is beautifully done with interesting characters, clever movement and effects, and a richly designed world for the story to operate in. The animation brings a particular warmth and set of visual idiosyncrasies that computer animation simply cannot compare to. The puppetry of Pinocchio is made more believable when he is a literal puppet. The animation also brings a visual weight to the characters, emphasizing harsh lighting and dark, sombre scenes. The film is captured with incredible detail with cinematography helmed by Frank Passingham.

The vocal performances here are lovely as well. Newcomer Gregory Mann brings a delightful, youthful interpretation to the title character. David Bradley’s Geppetto is mournful and sombre. Ewan McGregor shines as Sebastian J. Cricket, the film’s narrator. Christoph Waltz and Ron Pearlman perform a fantastic double-act as the film’s two chief villains, the puppeteer Count Volpe and the village Podestà respectively. Tilda Swinton performs double-duty as rival spirits and estranged sisters the Wood Sprite and Death. Cate Blanchett is perhaps the most interesting inclusion in the film’s cast. While one might expect her to portray one of the film’s many aetherial supernatural characters, Blanchett instead lends her voice to Spazzatura, Count Volpe’s monkey sidekick who only makes monkey noises. A strange casting choice, but one Blanchett handles well.

This version of the Pinocchio tale is unlike any other. It’s often tragic and soulful, content to leave the audience with less than resolved emotions. Its use of real historical events gives the film a gravitas that other interpretations of the material have never attempted to find. Del Toro and Gustafson have crafted an excellent film that will challenge its audience — both young and old — with powerful meditations on grief and love. It is a life-affirming, magical story that is willing to treat itself and its audience with a great deal of seriousness. In the words of Sebastian J. Cricket himself, “whatever happens, happens, and then we’re gone.”

Pinocchio is now streaming on Netflix.

Pinocchio information
Directed by Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson
Written by Guillermo del Toro and Patrick McHale
Starring Ewan McGregor, David Bradley, Gregory Mann, Burn Gorman, Ron Perlman, John Turturro, Finn Wolfhard, Cate Blanchett, Tim Blake Nelson, Christoph Waltz, and Tilda Swinton
Released December 9, 2022
117 minutes