The bones of the original tale remain, like Pinocchio’s time in the circus, the lessons he learns about being good, and the mess with the terrible dogfish (done here in a fantastic Ray Harryhausen homage), but here the story is reimagined as one of rebellion against expectations. Though this is a movie the whole family can see and get something out of, it never tones down the story for kids, nor does it talk down to them. In several ways, “Pinocchio” is a giant middle finger to the Disneyfication of both the original Carlo Collodi story, and of fairy tales in general. Indeed, Geppetto’s work is left unfinished when it comes to life, and he is kind of ugly, and moves more like a J-horror monster. Like Victor Frankenstein, he tempers with powers he should leave alone, and his creation is unnatural, so this version of Pinocchio has more in common with Frankenstein’s cobbled-together look than the uniform, cute look from the Disney version. In his grief, Geppetto makes a wooden boy. Meanwhile, cinematographer Frank Passingham brings live-action lighting and blocking techniques to the film, making it look like it was shot with natural light and using negative space the way Hayao Miyazaki does. They have quirks and itches, they make mistakes, and they shift weight when sitting down. Just as Pinocchio’s wooden body is brought to life by magic in the film, so does del Toro, who directed alongside Mark Gustafson, and their army of over 40 animators breathe life into wooden (well, technically plastic and silicone) puppets to create some of the most stunning performances in a film this year - animated or otherwise.Įvery character moves and behaves like a completely different individual, with the performances being animated in 2s (meaning animated half the frames that a regular film would) in order to bring their imperfect movements to life. When Geppetto breaks down and cries by his son’s grave, you not only feel the pain in the vocal performance, but you see the puppet’s difficulty breathing, the trembling of his legs, the shaking of his hands even the clothes move and flow naturally with the puppet’s body, something we rarely see in stop-motion. Iñárritu: 'Watch Fellini or Godard on Your Computer, It's Still a Great Movie'Ģ2 Great Erotic Thrillers, from Adrian Lyne to Brian De Palma Guillermo Del Toro Sets Animated Kazuo Ishiguro Adaptation for Netflix David Bradley gives a fantastic performance as Geppetto, but it is the animation team at ShadowMachine that pushes the boundaries of stop-motion animation to bring some of the best puppet performances in a film. Things change when he loses his son during a senseless air raid on the town toward the end of The Great War, turning Geppetto into a grief-stricken drunk who one day curses god and the natural laws, and decides to bring his son back to life by carving a child-size puppet. In the middle of all this, we meet Geppetto, a humble woodcarver once beloved by all and with a happy outlook on life.
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