‘Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio’
Long before Walt Disney got his hands on the little wooden puppet boy who longed to be a real boy, Pinocchio was an 1883 Italian novel, The Adventures of Pinocchio, by Carlo Collodi. That’s the main source of inspiration for Guillermo del Toro, the Oscar-winning director known for his dark, weird, beautiful monstrosities in movies like Pan’s Labyrinth and The Shape of Water. His version of Pinocchio doesn’t shy away from issues of grief, death, and war, and it doesn’t come with the Disney-ified happy ending we’re used to. Using hundreds of puppets with movable silicone skin, del Toro and his small army of animators and puppeteers shot simultaneously on 60 stages, 60 cameras, and 60 sets to create this gorgeous, breathtaking stop-motion masterpiece.