In a world in which streamers rarely release their films on physical formats and legacy studios are beginning to delete finished films (either for tax purposes or to just remove from servers), there’s something truly wonderful about the relationship developed between various studios/film companies and The Criterion Collection. In the last few years alone, they’ve been able to put on physical formats films like Cary Joji Fukunaga’s 2015 Beasts of No Nation (Netflix), Regina King’s incredible 2020 play adaptation One Night in Miami … released by Amazon MGM Studios (then Amazon Studios), Steve McQueen’s 2020 5-film collection Small Axe (also Amazon), Nikyatu Jusu’s 2022 horror drama Nanny (also Amazon), and now Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (2022), which was co-directed by del Toro and Mark Gustafson (The PJs) and released by Netflix. Sure, some of us are still waiting for Criterion to do the same for Spike Lee’s moving Da 5 Bloods, but there’s something wonderful about their commitment to not just honoring cinema from a variety of times, places, and genres, but providing an avenue for streaming films to be given the opportunity to last longer than any hard drive. Offered in 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and DVD options, the Criterion edition of Pinocchio includes a 4K digital master supervised by the filmmakers, a Dolby Atmos soundtrack, and variety of bonus features not to be found on the Netflix YouTube channel.
If you’re looking for a spoiler-free review of Pinocchio, head to the initial streaming release review. Moving forward, specific details of filmmaker del Toro and Gustafson’s adaptation will be addressed and explored.
Pinocchio voiced by Gregory Mann in GUILLERMO DEL TORO’S PINOCCHIO. Cr: Netflix © 2022.
Living in a small Italian village is a carpenter and his son. Each day, Geppetto (voiced by David Bradley) rises to go to work on some project and either his son, Carlo (voiced by Gregory Man), joins him or goes to school. On one fateful day, as the two were working on repairing a cross in the town’s church, a fleet of planes returning to base decide to release their payload on the land below them, uncaring and unaware that they killed Carlo just to get home faster. After many years in which Geppetto remained consumed with grief, he carves a puppet boy in the likeness of his dead son in a drunken stupor and passes out. When he wakes, the puppet is alive, named Pinocchio by the Wood Sprite (voiced by Tilda Swinton) who animated him, and ready to take on the world. Except Pinocchio is not Carlo, so Geppetto is hesitant to love him as a son, but all of that changes when a local fascist youth leader Il Podestà (voiced by Ron Perlman) and circus ringleader Count Volpe (voiced by Christoph Waltz) each try to commandeer Pinocchio for their own gain.
L-R: Geppetto voiced by David Bradley and Pinocchio voiced by Gregory Mann in GUILLERMO DEL TORO’S PINOCCHIO. Cr: Netflix © 2022.
I covered the film upon its initial streaming release, and revisiting it certainly made the things that I enjoyed about the film move closer to center stage. This is not a film for children, not at all in the vein of the famous Disney adaptation, but for teens and up, not just because of the thematic materials that may be too rough for younger audiences, but through the execution of the ideas. One of my favorites is the creation of Pinocchio by Geppetto, consumed by grief, positively wasted, a storm raging overhead with lightning flashing, which may as well be an homage to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The tree Geppetto uses is not just from the pine cone that’s the catalyst for Carlo running back into the church before it’s accidentally bombed, it was planted right by his grave. One can then draw a line from cutting down the tree to create a puppet child to grave-robbing in order to reanimate a corpse. Then, del Toro and Gustafson shoot the scene in such a way that care, love, and compassion aren’t the emotions which fuel the birth of Pinocchio, but rage and violence. Thus, when the puppet wakes, Geppetto’s fearful response isn’t just because he’s shocked to see the inanimate object full of agency and individual will, but he’s horrified in the same way Dr. Frankenstein was upon glancing at his creation. A tiny, but important detail that I love in the character design of Pinocchio, a piece that continues the sense of Pinocchio’s ramshackle design, is the number of nails which still protrude from his back throughout the film like scar tissue. Pinocchio’s lacking of awareness of it or, rather, his total acceptance of who he is, brings not an ounce of attention to details like this, but, when we see them, it does provide a reminder of just what spurned Geppetto to create the puppet in the first place.
Ewan McGregor as Sebastian J. Cricket in GUILLERMO DEL TORO’S PINOCCHIO. Cr: Netflix © 2022.
On a personal note, it’s important to acknowledge that the way we receive films when we see them matters. Like with all art, what we bring to the table in the moments when we try to engage will determine what we take away. The first viewing was enjoyable, but little left enough an impression to feel a desire to revisit. This time, I couldn’t watch the film without thinking of my youngest. Developmentally, this kid thinks the best tool is a hammer and therefore views all things as a nail. Finished with whatever’s in his hand? Toss it and move on. He’s more often filled with wonder than terror over anything he sees and, though hot chocolate isn’t of interest, offer him white chai (milk with either a dash of chai or none at all (he doesn’t notice)) and he comes running. There’s so much about the way Pinocchio joyously engages with the world while simultaneously terrifying Geppetto that hit me in my heart harder than it did a year ago. In this regard, del Toro (Crimson Peak) and Gustafson captured the rose-colored view in which children interact with the world, unafraid of the natural consequences that come from wide-eyed excitement and chasing desires. Because of this, Pinocchio maintains its morality lesson, it just goes about it in a different way. A particular favorite aspect of its execution being that it never ever makes Pinocchio into a flesh-and-blood boy by the end, thereby suggesting that “being a real boy” means something other than being alive and being loved.
With these extra thoughts on Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio out of my head and heart, let’s shift gears to explore the Criterion-specific physical release.
The complete GUILLERMO DEL TORO’S PINOCCHIO Criterion Collection packshot. Photo courtesyt of The Criterion Collection.
Without question, this physical edition 4K UHD is the best the film’s ever looked and sounded. Part of this is due to the fact that there’s no compression issue to worry about because the data isn’t streaming, but reading directly from a disc source. Even if you shelled out for the 4K tier of Netflix (which I do not), the video/audio elements are clearly superior *and* we get bonus features that are otherwise limited to online access or limited opportunity. Before we get into all that properly, allow me a moment to acknowledge the whimsy of the packaging. The front of the slidecover features the James Jean poster for the film (available to purchase via Netflix’s online shop). When removing the media case inside, one side features Pinocchio and, in a charming design choice, his lengthy nose that wraps around the package. It’s not secured by any means, so don’t take it for a Velcro-secured locking mechanism, it’s literally just a longer piece of the cover material meant to evoke the magic of the film. Once opened, there’s the usual booklet and clear plastic disc holder. As the retail copy sent by Criterion for review is the 4K UHD edition, there are two discs with the 4K on top and the Blu-ray underneath. Unfortunately, there’s no art design on the inside of the cover or under the disc case. Also, the discs have the same design on them, featuring Pinocchio with Sebastian J. Cricket poking out of his small chest hole and what appears to be the wing of the Wood Sprite behind them. Each disc is clearly labeled, but this is a far cry from the distinctive design of other releases which changed the color of the discs for easy identification, like with the 4K re-release of Night of the Living Dead (1968).
L-R: Count Volpe voiced by Christoph Waltz and Pinocchio voiced by Gregory Mann in GUILLERMO DEL TORO’S PINOCCHIO. Cr: Netflix © 2022.
Unlike prior Criterion releases, there is no information about the 4K creation process. This is likely due to the fact that it wasn’t released in a different format or edition previously and, therefore, the 4K digital master was made during the process of shooting the film. This is, of course, presumption and certainly a frustrating one. Part of the educational aspect that boutiques like Criterion bring is the information included regarding the making of said physical edition. So while the booklet does include two essays by film critic Matt Zoller Seitz (titled: “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio: Sculpted to Life”) and author Cornelia Funke (titled: “Branching Out: Guillermo del Toro’s Transformation of an Evergreen Tale”), other than this, it’s just the usual cast and crew listing, along with various images from the film and behind-the-scenes materials peppered throughout. Which, if you’re a fan of the film and/or stop-motion animation, make sure to track down the making-of book “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio:” A Timeless Tale Told Anew from Insight Editions, it’ll really blow your mind on how they accomplished this project.
Pinocchio voiced by Gregory Mann in GUILLERMO DEL TORO’S PINOCCHIO. Cr: Netflix © 2022.
In terms of the on-disc bonus features, all of them are included on the Blu-ray disc, so keep that in mind when making your format selections. The press materials refer to everything as “new,” but considering that Netflix isn’t known for making extras available on their site (something this physical media hound finds frustrating), it makes sense that each of these seven pieces of material totaling nearly-three hours would be marketed as such. Because this project was a longtime dream for del Toro to accomplish, we get to delight in learning about the film via a documentary titled Handcarved Cinema, a program titled Directing Stop-Motion with both directors, a conversation between del Toro and film critic Farran Smith Nehme, and two Q&As nestled within its own header which includ a panel discussions (between the filmmakers and crew moderated by James Cameron (True Lies; The Abyss) and one lead by Neil Gaiman. Additionally, there is an interview with Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) curator Ron Magliozzi discussing the creation of an art exhibit around the film *while* the film was still in production.
Co-writer/co-director Guillermo del Toro on the set of GUILLERMO DEL TORO’S PINOCCHIO.
Ordinarily, this is where I would wax poetic about the treasure trove of material (either new or collected) and offer my final recommendation about this edition. However, as this is the first time any of this has been made available, I’m just appreciative that, however one feels about Pinocchio, these materials are all in one place to be appreciated by future film fans for as long as this remains in print. Somehow, that’s more bearable than wondering whether or not Netflix might delete the film to make room for Red Notice 2. If you’re a fan of this rendition or of del Toro, picking this up is an assured choice. If you’re unfamiliar with either, make sure to check out the spoiler-free review as I dig more into the differences of the film from the source and where the script from del Toro, Matthew Robbins (Crimson Peak), and Patrick McHale (Adventure Time: Elements) takes things. The package is simple, yet whimsical; the video and audio are excellent and far better than you’ll get streaming; and there’s a collection of materials that enable any film or stop-motion fan to feel like they discovered something extraordinary, thus, this feels like an easy recommendation to make.
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio Special Features:
- 4K digital master, supervised by directors Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson, with Dolby Atmos soundtrack
- One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
- Handcarved Cinema, a new documentary featuring del Toro, Gustafson, and cast and crew, including the film’s puppet creators, production designers, and animation supervisor (44:43)
- Directing Stop-Motion, a new program featuring del Toro and Gustafson (25:43)
- New conversation between del Toro and film critic Farran Smith Nehme (20:08)
- “Crafting Pinocchio” for MoMA, a new interview with curator Ron Magliozzi on The Museum of Modern Art’s 2022 exhibition devoted to the film (7:39)
- New program on the eight rules of animation that informed the film’s production (6:47)
- 2023 Panel discussion featuring del Toro, Gustafson, production designer Guy Davis, composer Alexandre Desplat, and sound designer Scott Martin Gershin, moderated by filmmaker James Cameron (38:11)
- 2022 Conversation among del Toro, Gustafson, and author Neil Gaiman (29:22)
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing and English descriptive audio
- PLUS: Essays by film critic Matt Zoller Seitz and author Cornelia Funke
- Cover by James Jean
Available on Netflix December 9th, 2022.
Available on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and DVD from The Criterion Collection December 12th, 2023.
For more information, head to the official Criterion Collection Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio webpage.
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Categories: Home Release, Recommendation
I think Pinocchio is only his 4th film to get a Criterion edition.
In checking the site again, you are correct. We’ll correct this to reflect it’s his fifth release as they did release a trilogy set as well as each one individually.
Thank you for that!