Movie Review - Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio

So one of the things I notice when Disney make their films that are based on already existing works, is how they make it their own with a happy ending and being family friendly. A lot of the time, this means the end result doesn't quite capture the spirit of the original work and can lead to people disregarding it as the truly definitive story about it. That being said, much of their work, regardless of whether it follows things by the book or not, actually ends up being very successful for them. That is, until they decide to remake them and pretty much miss every single note that made the original, despite their flaws, so successful and beloved in the first place. This year, Disney tried again to remake another one of their films, which was Pinocchio. Their second ever animated feature film, but once again, the remake just failed to capture the spirit, the charm and any kind of improvement over previous attempts to remake their animated films. Fortunately, Guillermo del Toro is here to give us his take on the story. Very different to Disney's one, but following the original work more closely with stop animation that is very reminiscent of Laika's work and the stop-motion films that Wes Anderson worked one. Only on Netflix these days, so sorry to those of you who don't have that, but let's take a look:

We are in Italy during the Great War (aka World War I) where carpenter Geppetto (voiced by David Bradley) is depressed following the tragic demise of his son Carlo (voiced by Gregory Mann) who died during an inadvertent bombing by Austrian forces. He grows a pine tree near his grave and spends the next twenty or so years, mourning his loss. Eventually an anthropomorphic cricket called Sebastian J. Cricket (voiced by Ewan McGregor), takes up residence in the pine tree which Geppetto eventually cuts down in a fit of rage to create a new son out of wood. He manages to get most of him done before passing out and a blue Wood Sprite (voiced by Tilda Swinton), brings him to life while giving Sebastian the job of being the puppet's guide in exchange for one wish. The puppet therefore becomes known as Pinocchio (also voiced by Mann) who, over the course of the film, learns about life and makes unsettling choices, much to the displeasure of those around him. Tempting fate as he does so while the war brews on.

If you have never seen a del Toro film before, then you probably won't appreciate the practical effects and all that, which he usually uses. As a film, it's very dark with some unsettling themes and characters which, in contrast to Disney's interpretation of them, come across as much darker and more bullish. But at least it tries to be a more faithful adaptation to the original story, despite its dark themes and all that. Really love the design of the characters and how Netflix is actually giving stop-motion and even traditional animation, a chance while the big wigs at many major film studios, think CGI is the way to go when it doesn't need to be. 9/10