Guillermo Del Toro´s Pinnochio

As a kid i did watch some of the well known Disney films, such as Robin Hood, The Great Mouse Detective, Pinnochio and some other titles. But honestly i was not a huge fan of Disney films, because i watched completely different animated suff such as Thundercats, Jayce & The Wheeled Warriors, G.I. Joe, Rambo ( animated TV series ), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and much more. On Saturday mornings i would turn on Super Channel, because that was where you could watch violent cartoons back in the 80´s. As i got into my adult life, the only animated films i watched during that time was Manga films such as Fist Of The North Star, Urotsukidoji, Ghost In The Shell or classics such as Blood - The Last Vampire. Disney films wasn´t on my list most of the time, and only a few other animated films would cross my path such as Monsters Inc. Not that i have anything against animated films, i do appreciate some of them. But i have not been a huge fan of animated films in general, because i prefer other kinds of films instead. As you may have noticed over these years on my movie review blog, i never review animated films and this might explain why. I have been asked in the past if i was going to review any Pixar films, but didn´t feel interested in doing that. Since i mentioned Disney earlier there are some classics that a lot of people still to this day appreciate, and one of those films is Pinnochio. Released in 1940, Pinnochio tells the story of woodworker and toymaker named Geppetto, who creates a marionette whom he named Pinnochio. As Geppetto falls alseep, he wishes upon a star that for Pinnochio to be a real boy. Late that night, a Blue Fairy visit the workshop and brings Pinnochio to life. This is a charming Disney film that is well made, considering that it was released in 1940. Ever since this original film was released we have had other film versions released over the years, where one of the most bizarre versions has to be the 2002 film version with Italian actor Robert Benigni. This film version is quite different than you might expect, and i enjoy it. It´s not a fantastic film in any way, just entertaining. Last year we actually had 2 film versions released of Pinnochio, a new Disney adaptation from director Robert Zemeckis and a new Netflix film called Guillermo Del Toro´s Pinnochio. I have not seen the latest Disney film, but i decided to check out Del Toro´s version of this classic tale that was released on Netflix. Is this one of the better animated versions of the classic tale of Pinnochio, or is it not as good as i was hoping it would be? 

In Italy during World War I, the carpenter Geppetto loses his son, Carlo, during an aerial bombardment by Austro-Hungarian forces. Geppetto honors his memory by planting a pine cone that he found near Carlo´s grave, wich grows into a tall pine tree as Geppetto grieves for his son for over twenty years. One day Geppetto decides to cut down the pine tree, as he builds a wooden boy in drunken rage, he passes out and leaves the puppet unfinished. A blue humanoid being, known as the Wood Sprite, brings life to Pinnochio. As Geppetto wakes up, he discover that the wooden boy is actually alive. This gives Geppetto a chance to live a life with a son, that he didn´t get to live with Carlo.

If you were hoping for a traditional Pinnochio film, that this version will definetely let you down. But honestly i think this is the best animanted version i have seen of Pinnochio so far, even better than the original Pinnochio film. I know that a lot of Disney fans will not agree with me and that is completely fine. But when it comes to animation this is more of my style of an animated film, i like darker stories and with a completely different way to tell a story than most Disney films. So what is it i especially appreciate about Guillermo Del Toro´s Pinnochio? First of all the design of Pinnochio, i really like the different wooden design that might be creepy for smaller children. Because of his creepy look in this film, he does seem different than we have seen him in other film adaptations. I think they did a really good job on the design, and didn´t hold back on making changes. Sometimes it is good to try a different path and not just go with how things used to be. The animation in this film looks really good, and i just love some of the simple details as Pinnochio´s home with Gepetto´s work shop. You can tell that they worked hard to make the image of Geppeto´s workshop look good, but also bring in some nostalgic feelings as well from the story. I especially love the dark and sad atmopshere that we get to experience in this film, that everything is not a dance filled with joy. There are several really interesting characters in this adaptation of Pinnochio, and one of the most fascinating ones is without a doubt Count Volpe ( who´s voice is from legendary actor Christop Waltz ). You can´t trust him and you know he is greedy person. Pinnochio ( who´s voice is from child actor Gregory Mann ) is charming, funny at times and you can´t help enjoying his odd behavior in public. Pinnochio is definetely the best character in this film because he is filled with so much joy and odd dialogue. Gregory Mann does a really good job on the voice of Pinnochio. Directors Guillermo Del Torro and Mark Gustafson give us the most well made animated version of Pinnochio made so far, with so many details to be pleased about. I had a really good time with Guillermo Del Toro´s Pinnochio and might say that this is the best animated film i have seen for many years and this is definetely a must watch on Netflix.

Rating: DDDD