Yes No Maybe So: "Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio"
Wednesday, July 27, 2022 at 12:17PM by Nathaniel R
This morning Netflix released the poster and teaser to Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio so it's really happening. Del Toro always has so many projects in development that it's something of a surprise when any of the long gestating projects emerges, complete. They're being somewhat cagey about actual dates beyond "November in theaters / December on Netflix" but a month is good enough for now. The trailer poster and quick Yes No Maybe So thoughts are after the jump...
YES - It's Del Toro so it will surely be beautiful to look at and imaginative throughout.
NO - Can we stop pretending that we haven't actually heard stories we've totally heard a thousand times already. There's no crime in telling beloved stories again, just tell them well. (Remember when Andrew Garfield's first Spider-Man flick sold itself this way and it was the same exact story that it had always been?!)
MAYBE SO - About that voice cast...
The film features an all-star voice cast with Ewan McGregor as Cricket, David Bradley as Geppetto, and introducing Gregory Mann as Pinocchio. Other cast includes Finn Wolfhard, Academy Award® winner Cate Blanchett, John Turturro, Ron Perlman, Tim Blake Nelson, Burn Gorman, with Academy Award® winner Christoph Waltz and Academy Award® winner Tilda Swinton.
It won't surprise you (since we've mentioned it before) that we're very tired of hearing celebrity voices in animated films. We totally love both Ewan McGregor and Cate Blanchett (as you know) but all we can think watching this is "oh, it's Ewan and Cate!". We just want great character work. The animation and the characters are supposed to be the sell.
Through no fault of its own this particular story will be going up against very recent memories of Robert Zemeckis own version of the story which will premiere on Disney+ in September 8th. How will they compare? Recent history suggests that the Del Toro will be far greater than the Zemeckis but you never know!
Reader Comments (9)
The question for me is not whether Del Toro's version will be better than Zemeckis's, but whether it can dim the strong memories of Matteo Garrone's 2019 production. What an amazingly well-rendered adaptation of Collodi's book that was! It was nice to see it rewarded with two craft nominations at the Oscars, but the film deserved so much more. The teaser for Del Toro's version felt thin by comparison.
My answer is.... SI SI SI SI SI SI SI SI SI SI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No.
I'm apparently one of the few modern cinephiles with no interest in del Toro's bag of tricks. His films are pointlessly sad & sadistic & predictable, with the same take away film after film--people are awful, escape into fantasy if you can, but that probably won't work either. He has incredible skills--it is his themes and unwillingness to explore beyond the surface that frustrate me. An overgrown boy with a tremendous tool box. Pinocchio is right up his alley.
I'll give it a firm "Maybe So". Big del Toro fan here. Particularly didn't understand why people had trouble with The Shape of Water. I watched it twice just so I could get all the details. I don't usually like animation, but this one looks good.
Pinocchio has already been made into two brilliant films, Disney's 1940 version is an absolute masterpiece and the peak of his art. The 2019 version was also near-perfect. Do we need yet another re-telling?
I am all in for this take of Pinocchio. It is refreshing to see:
01) Pinocchio looks like he has been carved out of wood
02) The stop motion animation looks magnificent
03) More context to understand why Gepetto created Pinocchio due to his grief and unable to move on
04) Guillermo del Toro´s passion project for years
05) The talents involved!
I got emotional during the trailer
More than 24 film versions of this classic fairy tale. No less than five Oscar winners (Burl Ives, Danny Kaye, Martin Landau, Roberto Benigni, and Tom Hanks) playing Gepetto.
Sigh. I suppose great and limited filmmakers are clearly drawn to this beloved bit of wish fulfillment. I think it will require rave reviews to draw me to a screening. I’d rather just settle on my couch with Disney’s 1940 classic of brilliant animation.
This one does sound like homework, particularly in light of the recent Pinocchio from Italy. How many do we need? Firmly in the "maybe" camp.
NO.
Never.
I’ve always hated the Pinocchio fairytale.