Be careful, this “Pinocchio” reviewed and corrected in frame-by-frame animation by the brilliant Guillermo del Toro is not a treat reserved for children.
The filmmaker appropriates the story of the wooden puppet to make it, not a new version of the Disney classic, nor even a modernization of the work of Carlo Collodi, but indeed his own vision around the myth.
Here, Pinocchio (voice of Gregory Mann in the original version) is indeed a puppet created by Geppetto (voice of David Bradley), sculpted following the death of his son during a bombardment. Because we are in the Italy of the Second World War, references to Mussolini included, and we come across Death (voice of Tilda Swinton), the evil Count Volpe (voice of Christoph Waltz) or his monkey assistant (voice of Cate Blanchett).
It is impossible to recount the twists and turns of this fable in which the originality of the visual – the puppets of the characters were created by the Jim Henson company – competes with that of the screenplay co-written by del Toro and Matthew Robbins. The two men approach death, mourning, the father-son relationship, war, violence, fascism, love and of course, life in all its richness, including its trials and tribulations.
Also a sort of ode to the joyful spontaneity of childhood, to the courageous unconsciousness of children and their intrinsic goodness, this “Pinocchio by Guillermo del Toro” also addresses the themes of loyalty, rebellion and the atonement.
Yes, we are far from the version of the Disney studios and this one is not only more enriching, but a work which favors the imagination, the creativity and the critical spirit of the cinephiles… young and old.
- ‘Pinocchio by Guillermo del Toro’ is in theaters and available via Netflix
