Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio Exceeds Fairy Tale Expectations

I didn’t go into watching Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio with great expectations. I hadn’t even seen a preview before Adam hit play. I’m not the biggest fan of Disney’s adaptation. I can’t even say if I’ve read the original tale. Maybe it’s more accurate to say I went in with no expectations.

So I was amazed to find myself searching for a box of tissues to stop my leaking eyes—fifteen minutes into the movie.

The saccharine sweetness we’re so used to encountering in fairy tales, thanks almost entirely to Disney, does not exist for this Pinocchio. The story has many threads of tenderness. Geppetto and the joy his true-born son brings to him. The crafting of toys and gadgets. The interaction with the town’s folk.

It doesn’t shy away from the gravitas of loss, greed, and bad circumstance. Even after Pinocchio’s birth, Geppetto is reluctant to give up his grief. What he has been given is insufficient to compensate for all he has lost. And he makes no secret of, or much of an apology for, it. Sebastian J. Cricket is a faltering conscious. He wants to get back to writing his book without being bothered with Pinocchio or the world. But the Wood Sprite’s (aka Blue Fairy) promise is too much to resist, so the little cricket does his best.

If all of that wasn’t enough, setting this version in a Mussolini-dominated Italy with war raging makes it almost impossible to escape. In Pinocchio’s case, he gets dropped unceremoniously into a youth army camp and set up to be Mussolini’s poster child. It makes the trippy carnival scenes from the 1940s version look like a delightful getaway for everyone to enjoy. Not that this version is devoid of carnival. Count Volpe and Podesta make a gruesome show of abuse and manipulation for their gains.

In our hero, we have a bumbling novice who maybe never learns his lesson. Or maybe he does. I’m still not sure about that. And perhaps he doesn’t need to. Pinocchio takes us on a journey that isn’t perfect and full of sadness and joy but does not include a truly happy ending.

Guillermo del Toro is known for creating visually stunning films. I am still enamored with The Shape of Water from 2017. His rendition of Pinocchio is no different. The animation was as gorgeous and mesmerizing as the story and the characters on screen. Watching del Toro’s adaptation of Pinocchio felt like watching a storybook come to life without losing its artistry.

Is this enough for Oscar gold?

In my mind and many experts on the subject, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio is the front-runner to take home the prize for Best Animated Feature.

Do you agree? Comment below.