Filmmaking maestro Guillermo del Toro’s reimagination of a classic Italian children’s novel delivered another Academy Award-winning effort for the creator last year in 2022.
Now available to embrace in the ultra-high definition disc format, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (Criterion, rated PG, 117 minutes, 1.85:1 aspect ratio, $49.95) delivers a dark musical fantasy set in fascist Italy and orchestrated through the meticulous artistry of stop-motion animation.
Viewers are immediately heartbroken after watching the breaking of a father-and-son bond when widowed master wood carver Geppetto (David Bradley) loses his young boy Carlo during the bombing of a church in World War I
One night drunk from grief, Geppetto carves a puppet boy from a tree log that was the previous home of a budding novelist and winged insect named Sebastian J. Cricket (Ewan McGregor).
His creation magically comes to life with help from a Wood Sprite (Tilda Swinton), naming him Pinocchio (Gregory Mann) and now protected by Sebastian and Geppetto.
Pinocchio arrives as an inquisitive, recklessly ebullient wooden child and immediately catches the eye of traveling carnival owner Count Volpe (Christoph Waltz) who summarily steals him away as his greatest performer.
Geppetto and Sebastian now go on a journey to find Pinocchio, tracking him down across Italy but eventually being eaten by the Terrible Dogfish.
Pinocchio’s journey is equally harrowing with multiple deaths and resurrections, being forced to perform for Benito Mussolini, having to survive a raging Count Volpe and escaping an Italian youth military training camp — all to finally reunite with his father and friend in an eye-watering finale.
Suffice it to report, Mr. del Toro and co-director Mark Gustafson astound with a movie that keeps alive an amazing animation technique and crafts an emotional as well as whimsical story about an ever-evolving bond between father and son and what it means to be human.
Viewers will be equally floored by the entire ensemble voice-over acting cast that also includes Cate Blanchett as the count’s monkey assistant Spazzatura, Ron Perlman as fascist government official Podestà and Tom Kenny (SpongeBob SquarePants) as Mussolini.
4K in action: What an absolute joy to view this modern animated masterpiece through the best possible visuals available in a screen-filling aspect ratio.
Derived from a 4K digital master that was supervised by both directors, the final presentation offers a balance of the finest details with the full range of a varied color palette.
Specifically, admire a very blue-tinted scene in the underworld with Pinocchio’s carved wooden casket being carried by a group of skeletal rabbits partially covered in dark fur.
A brighter color shift quickly transforms the mood with the wooden boy resurrected, out of the casket and meeting Death in a pit of sand surrounded by hourglasses.
The intricate character creation, bathed in a purplish light, resembles a chimera wearing the mask of a human and sporting buffalo horns (with embedded eyes), a lion’s body, an eagle’s wings and a two-headed snake-like tail.
That’s just one example of an entire film filled with handcrafted characters built to come to life without computer-generated assistance.
Equally noteworthy to examine is any of the cloth costuming on the puppets down to sewn buttons; the carved wooden beard of Geppetto; a cracked hole in Pinocchio’s brownish-yellow torso where a Sebastian occasionally resides; and the expansive boned and toothed gullet of the delightfully monstrous Terrible Dogfish.
Best extras: Criterion celebrates “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio’s” 4K release with a nearly perfect collection of bonus content, all found on the included Blu-ray disc.
Viewers can start with a 45-minute documentary covering mainly the work of the three stop-motion animation teams located in Portland, London and Guadalajara and the voice-over cast, all explored with help from interviews with the key crew members and the directors.
Dive into another 26 minutes with just the directors as they further discuss the stop-motion magic (calling it nearly “suicidal” to even attempt it at this level) while explaining that it took one animator two years to complete just one scene. They also break down the sweeping scene when Spazzatura alerts Count Volpe to Pinocchio.
Round out the extras with film critic Farran Smith Nehme’s 21-minute interview with Mr. del Toro about his fascination for the Pinocchio story and bringing the film to screen; and a pair of roughly 30-minute question-and-answer sessions with the directors and crew moderated by legendary fantasy author Neil Gaiman and filmmaking giant James Cameron.
What’s missing is an optional commentary track with the directors deep-diving into their masterwork.
The packaging offers a cardboard representation of a lying Pinocchio’s nose wrapping around the disc case and a full-color, 32-page booklet featuring photos sketches, illustrations and test shots highlighted with essays by film critic Matt Zoller Seitz and author Cornelia Funke.
• Joseph Szadkowski can be reached at jszadkowski@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.