There have been many films reinventing the classical children’s fantasy novel that Carlo Collodi wrote in 1883 describing the adventures of a wooden marionette, Pinocchio, and his humble woodcarver father, Geppetto. But this stop-motion version, directed by Guillermo del Toro, is different and unique in every way.
To begin with, del Toro had been trying to release this movie -a personal life project- for a long time without success. The Mexican director had decided to make this film 15 years ago, but the funding part proved to be a challenging task. Everybody was rejecting it as it appeared pretty uncommercial with no clear target audience in mind since it’s neither a kid’s movie nor an adult one. But as del Toro said, “I made it clear that I’m not making this for kids, I’m not making it for the soccer parents. I’m making this for myself and my team.”
When Geppetto’s son, Carlo (a possible reference to Carlo Collodi), dies, Geppetto shouts that he is going to “make Carlo again out of this cursed pine!” Unlike Disney and other films that display Pinocchio as a dressed human, del Toro creates a proper wooden puppet. But despite being made of wood, Pinocchio acts like a real person. He is kind, honest, and brave but also rude, naive, goofy, and disobedient.
“I really wanted to make a disobedient Pinocchio and make disobedience a virtue. I wanted everybody to change but him”, Guillermo del Toro said on BBC. And that fits perfectly with the location and period in which the director decides to place the story: the 1940s Fascist Italy. That addition to the plot does not always prove to be an ideal choice since it sometimes feels disconnected from the rest of the storyline. Still, del Toro demonstrates what he recently claimed on Jimmy Fallon’s “The Tonight Show” about the movie: “the only character that doesn’t behave like a puppet is the puppet”.
It’s not the first time Guillermo del Toro mixes political references with childhood stories and fantasy. He had executed it perfectly already in his flagship film, “Pan’s Labyrinth”, when he referred to the Spanish Civil War while masterfully creating a gripping story full of myths and imaginary creatures. Strange creatures are also present in Pinocchio; like the fairy that brings Pinocchio to life or her sister, the sphinx-like blue fairy, who is the incarnation of death.
“The one thing that makes life precious, you see, is how brief it is”, she tells him, reminding him of his fundamental differences from humans. However, Pinocchio’s desire to feel like a real human is too strong to not prevail. Through the dark, light emerges; and eventually, a beautiful father-and-son story which emphasizes the fact that, despite our imperfections, we can still develop bonds so strong that they can last for a lifetime.
30 years into his career, Guillermo del Toro finally completed this life project, his first stop-motion movie. And as he said on Polygon, “it never happened in the order I wanted it. That’s why we carried this movie for about 15 years. It never happens when you want it, but it happens when it has to happen.”
