Guillermo Del Toro's adaption of Pinocchio: A retelling of the classic fairy tale, directed by renowned filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro.
In a darker, more existential take on Pinocchio, Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro delves into the classic Italian fairy tale, crafting a stop-motion animated masterpiece that resonates with both children and adults alike.
Del Toro's love for animation was sparked in his childhood growing up in Mexico, where he made his own stop motion films using toys and a Super 8 camera passed down from his father. As a teenager, he started teaching claymation classes, eventually dreaming of a stop-motion adaptation of Pinocchio.
Joining forces with Mark Gustafson, a stop-motion legend, they reimagined the tale of the wooden boy with a whimsical tour de force, transforming it into a life-affirming adventure that transcends worlds and showcases the transformative power of love.
"I had this arrangement with my student-partner during my teenage years in Mexico," shares del Toro, "where he would animate, and I'd come up with the ideas." And now, with this twelfth feature film, del Toro embarks on a new chapter in his esteemed career, merging the art of stop motion with the original tale of Italian author Carlo Collodi, elevating both to soaring new heights.
After decades of dreaming, del Toro finally had the opportunity to bring his vision to life. The Henson Company acquired the rights to a 2002 edition of Collodi's Pinocchio featuring the striking illustrations of Gris Grimly. Stunned by Grimly's portrayal of the puppet character, del Toro understood that he had found a perfect blend of childlike energy, purity, and disobedience.
In the ensuing years, the filmmaking team on Pinocchio began to take shape, with Emmy Award-winning stop-motion veteran Mark Gustafson taking the reins alongside del Toro. Much like their teenage collaboration, del Toro relied on Gustafson's expertise to handle the day-to-day operations, leading an army of animators in pushing the boundaries of an ancient filmmaking technique.
"Mark's work in Claymation is astoundingly important for me," expresses del Toro, admiring Gustafson's range as an artist in the medium. "With clay, you feel the thumbprints of the animator on the material, so it's pointedly impressionistic—the material feels physical. He carried that into his animation direction on Fantastic Mr. Fox. He has an amazing range as an artist in this medium. He was the only one we approached."
The writers of the film, del Toro, McHale, and Gustafson, sought to subvert one of the central ideas in Collodi's work: Pinocchio should never turn into a real boy. "When I was a kid, I couldn't accept the idea—to be loved, you have to change?" shares del Toro.
Writer Patrick McHale joined the project, his overarching goal being to set the film during Mussolini's reign, making the characters puppets controlled by a malevolent government. McHale researched historical context, ensuring that the absurdities of authority and governmental bureaucracy would be reflected through Pinocchio's childlike lens.
Over time, del Toro and McHale harvested elements from Collodi's work, as well as ideas from earlier versions of the script, focusing on the complex father-son dynamic between Geppetto and Pinocchio, which stems from Geppetto's relationship with his human son, Carlo.
Pinocchio's wooden origins are emphasized in several ways, with the character's face created using rapid prototyping, a process that allows for the creation of multiple faces with different expressions. The puppets themselves were designed by production designer Guy Davis, who aimed for a handcrafted, Old World feel, eschewing anything that felt too cartoonish.
In addition, del Toro and his partners established a list of eight commandments, geared towards animating characters in authentic, human ways. Key examples include animating mistakes, throwing away physical truth, animating pantomime carefully, seeing life, and age informing movement.
"The discipline of shooting a stop motion animated movie is one that no one who hasn't experienced it can understand," del Toro states. "Live action is malleable. With this, you have to pre-plan the chess moves before building the set, before building the characters, you have to account for duplicate puppets, duplicate sets all shooting at the same time. The beauty is in launching the shot, and then seeing the shot. You give instructions, you direct the shot from the storyboard, you talk to the animator, you deposit a lot of faith in the animator being an actor, not a technical performer."
In conclusion, Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio is an unforgettable odyssey, blending horror and wonder, political and personal battles, and merging the past and present in a brilliant stride. With stunning animation, a grown-up take on Collodi's classic story, and its unique emotional depth, the film stands as a testament to del Toro's creativity and love for the old-fashioned art of stop-motion animation.
This stop-motion animated adaptation of Pinocchio by Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson, and Patrick McHale is not only a testament to their love for the art of animation but also a worthy addition to the realm of entertainment and movies-and-tv that resonate with audiences of all ages. Del Toro, driven by his childhood passion for animation, collaborated with Gustafson to transcend the classic tale into a innovative visual spectacle showcasing the power of love, artistry, and the transformative potential of life.
