Directed By:
Guillermo del Toro
Written By:
Guillermo del Toro, Patrick McHale, Carlo Collodi
Starring:
Gregory Mann, Ewan McGregor, Ron Perlman
Genre:
Animation, Drama, Family
Rated: PG
All media used courtesy of Netflix
5 years, 1000 days of shooting, and a decades long passion for director Guillermo Del Toro has delivered a new classic telling of Pinocchio. Check out my thoughts below from my Friday Flicks segment on ABC4 Good Things Utah!
Christmas ALSO came early for me, because I had the chance to talk with Guillermo Del Toro about his film and the themes of disobedience and being a parent.
With regards to Geppetto and Pinocchio- What didn’t Geppetto learn first with Carlo that he had to learn with Pinocchio? How did you map out the dynamics between Ron Perlman’s character and his son, and Geppetto and Pinocchio?
Guillermo: Well, there were two. The ideas that were basic were the same. But there were two sets of screenplays. And I think that the character of the enemy that becomes a friend is something I like to be recurrent, because I think it’s a possibility in life. But it’s in Devil’s Backbone. It’s on Hellboy. It’s in here and there, you know? And the idea was Pinocchio makes all the songs or kids in the movie rebel against their fathers. Spazzatura rebels against Volpe. Candlewick finally can tell his father what he thinks.
Del Toro Expanded more on the subject saying:
It’s about models of masculinity or models of behavior, which are incredibly constrictive. Especially when the father is trying to impose them on the son. Like the fascist says, “Look at him. He’s a model of fascist youth. No jaundice.” And the son is like, “I’m not that. I’m not what you want me to be.” The thing that you learn when your kids review you in the teenage years is that they’re not an accessory to you. They are not there to make you look good or make you look bad. They’re there to exist and give you the chance to have salvation. So that’s in the movie. You know, and it’s not a decision of a character. It’s an evolution of a character.
Make sure to watch on Netflix now and let me know what you thought! Also, because this post didn’t have enough video links, you can check out my entire trip to NY visiting Guillermo’s Pinocchio exhibit and more!
