Many times in recent years, two movies that have basically identical premises are released essentially back to back, and there's always a clear winner.
Bug's Life vs Antz. Armageddon vs Deep Impact. The Prestige vs The Illusionist. Finding Nemo vs Shark Tale. Happy Feet vs Surf’s Up.
And without me saying it, you already know which movie in each of those pairs is the winner. Because it's obvious.
So I don't even need to SEE the other movie (also, fuck Disney's toxic trend of remaking their animated movies in live action, but worse) to know that Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio is the absolute winner in the 2022 Pinocchio Movie Battle.
And sidebar, I don't normally talk about the movie posters over on the right there, I just normally pick the "primary" poster. But this absolute artwork exists, so, yes, I'm picking that one.
This movie is absolutely the most Guillermo del Toro movie imaginable. It's (from what I understand) the longest ever (thus far) stop motion movie, it's based on a piece of children's literature yet is probably not for children. And it features both fascists, World War II and angel/spirit characters that wouldn't be out of place in Hellboy.
It's also very much part of a trilogy with The Devil's Backbone and Pan's Labyrinth. A fantastical story set against war and fascism.
And it's very, very cleverly done. While the main character is still a wooden boy brought to life by magic, there's no talking, bipedal fox and cat, no Pleasure Island turning boys into donkeys, and several of the characters who are kind of "blink and you'll miss it" are essentially rolled into one.
Plus it has a cast that includes Ewan McGregor as the Cricket, David Bradley as Geppetto, Tilda Swinton as the angels/wood sprites, Ron Perlman as the head fascist, Christoph Waltz as the human fox/circus owner and Cate Blanchett as Spazzatura the monkey who has maybe three fucking lines and mostly just makes noises. And who is quoted as saying that she would have been happy to "play a pencil" in the movie for del Toro.
I mean, story checks out really.
Oh, and I do also need to shout out del Toro's co-director, Mark Gustafson, who was clearly all about the animation process.
I also did tear up at the end. Because the end is sweet and sad and lovely and... doesn't go where you expect it to go.
Actually that's kind of the movie as a whole... or at least it doesn't go the WAY you expect it to go, even if it covers the same ground. Because the original stories of Pinocchio do a lot more stuff (and include, it seems, a lot more talking animals), most of the current interpretations cover the same three or four dot points.
Tricked into joining the circus, separated from Geppetto, ends up with a bunch of other boys, seeks out his father at sea, giant whale/sea monster, happy ending.
This movie takes those elements and tweaks a number of them just enough.
Having said that...
Pinocchio, the character, voiced by Gregory Mann, is... kind of obnoxious. And I know that's the point at the start of the movie, but he never quite lost that for me, even at the end. Added to that is the fact that although all of the stop motion puppets are stunning, Pinocchio doesn't look like he's made of wood... he looks more like... wax or, honestly, what he probably is, some kind of resin. Specifically his head, and definitely from the back.
And... it's a musical. And the songs are... mostly terrible/forgettable/could have been cut. I mean, definitely anything that doesn't come from Pinocchio being on stage and performing.
Which would probably bring the running time of the movie down, which is also a little bit of an issue. It was a bit too long.
But it's still lovely.
yani's rating: 4 angelic hourglasses out of 5
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