‘You did bring me joy. Terrible, terrible joy...’
Despite my love of nostalgia, Disney films are something that I have never returned to, not since I was a young boy. My memories of their incarnation of Pinocchio are pretty hazy. My main recollection involves drunken boys turning into donkeys, an incredibly dark sequence that will be lodged in my brain forever. Sadly, Guillermo del Toro’s version of the classic fairytale dispenses with that particular story strand, but there is plenty of dark subject matter elsewhere if you’re into that kind of thing…
Following the tragic death of his son Carlo, Geppetto (David Bradley) becomes bereft with guilt and begins the long process of drinking himself to death. In one of his many drunken stupors, Geppetto knocks together a wooden boy using his considerable carpentry skills and then passes out drunk. Due to some strange sorcery, the boy (Gregory Mann) comes alive in the night. Elsewhere, an industrious but hapless cricket (Ewan McGregor) is charged with protecting Pinocchio against his enemies and his own curiosity.
Despite missing the donkey stuff, everything else is present and correct. The whale sequence here is particularly memorable. This being a Guillermo del Toro picture, there is also the backdrop of World War One and fascism, something that del Toro wrings for laughs more than anything else. Having said that, there is a jet-black streak running through this version of Pinocchio and the wooden boy himself is at once creepy and yet sympathetic. Mann does a good job in bringing Pinocchio to life, but it is McGregor and Bradley who do all the heavy lifting, both of whom shine throughout.
Pinocchio will be too dark for younger children, but for everyone else, del Toro has delivered a sophisticated and emotionally affecting take on an age-old story, remaining true to the roots of the tale whilst also dragging it into modern parlance. A success.