Guillermo Del Toro Says His New Movie Isn’t For Everyone
Guillermo del Toro is a master of the dark fairytale, with emphasis on the word dark. So, despite some of his projects being labeled ‘fairytales’, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re for kids. That holds true for his latest project, Pinocchio, which del Toro himself says “Kids can watch it. But it’s not made for kids. It’s made for us” (via MovieWeb).
While many are now very familiar with Pinocchio told through the Disney lens, both animated and live-action, this version will undoubtedly skew toward the darker elements from the original 1883 novel, The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. In fact, del Toro said he was inspired by the 2002 version of the novel illustrated by Gris Grimly, crediting that version as the reason the movie was made.
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio also looks fantastic, using the little-used stop-motion animation format to bring the wooden puppet and the story to life. The film also boasts a star-studded voice cast that includes Ewan McGregor, David Bradley, Gregory Mann, Burn Gorman, Ron Perlman, John Turturro, Finn Wolfhard, Cate Blanchett, Tim Blake Nelson, Christoph Waltz, Tilda Swinton, Tom Kenny, Alfie Tempest, and Anthea Greco. The film is co-directed by del Toro and Mark Gustafson and del Toro also co-wrote the script with Patrick McHale.
As mentioned, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio isn’t the only adaptation of the wooden boy brought to life that hit screens this year. Disney also made a live-action adaptation of the tale, with Robert Zemeckis directing and co-writing the screenplay with Chris Weitz. The Disney version had a star-studded cast of its own that included Tom Hanks, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, Angus Wright, Cynthia Erivo, Sheila Atim, Lorraine Bracco, Keegan-Michael Key, Luke Evans, and more.
It’s definitely one of those weird Hollywood coincidences that we’re getting two Pinocchio movies in the same year, but sometimes that’s just how it goes. However, it does seem like Guillermo del Toro’s version of Pinocchio will be the one that is remembered and looked back fondly on in the future. The Disney version was met with bad reviews, only getting a 27% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and a similarly abysmal 29% from audiences.
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, on the other hand, is having the polar opposite experience with 97% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and an 84% from audiences. It definitely wouldn’t be surprising if we see this film pop up in the animation category at the Academy Awards this year. So far, the film has been praised for its beautiful animation and its faithfulness to the darkness found in the original source material.
You can check out Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio now in select theaters. However, if the film doesn’t happen to be playing in a theater near you, you’ll only have to wait until December 9 for it to be released on Netflix for streaming. In the meantime, you can also flip on Netflix to check out Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities, a horror anthology with episodes made by the top creators in horror today.
