Guillermo del Toro’s new stop-motion retelling of Pinocchio is getting rave reviews after its premiere.
The Netflix film has notched a rare 100 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which is based on 11 reviews so far.
Everyone knows the story of how carpenter Geppetto magically breathed life into a wooden boy named Pinocchio.
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The puppet, who has a nose that detects when he's lying, comes alive and embarks on an incredible journey as he dreams of becoming a real boy.
However, del Toro has steered away from some of the big plot points for his version.
The director's movie is set in the 1930s during the rise of fascism in Benito Mussolini's Italy.
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As you do.
Ahead of the world premiere for the movie, del Toro explained that he wanted to explore the relationship between the wooden puppet and his father under the backdrop of fascism in Europe, as per The Credits.
He said: “Fascism seems to be concerned with a father figure of a different kind and the desire to deliver ourselves to a father that unifies thought.
"So I think it’s both a background and it is something interesting thematically.”
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It seems like his vision is landing well with critics as they have given him two thumbs, five stars and a whole lot of praise.
Alistair Ryder, from The Film Stage, wrote: "Might be the finest Pinocchio to have ever graced our screens, largely because it refuses to stay reverential to the material even if it is inherently inspired by and indebted to it."
Discussing Film's Ben Rolph said that while some people were initially skeptical of a stop-motion film in the 2020s, it looks like del Toro has pulled it off.
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"Guillermo del Toro’s vision isn’t compromised by the so-called limits of animation, in fact, his film only further proves the ever-reaching power of the animation medium as a whole," Rolph said.
While Guy Lodge, from Variety, explained: "Unfolding over a faintly indulgent but never dull two hours, this is a rare children’s entertainment that isn’t afraid to perplex kids as much as it enchants them..."
The film is scheduled to be released in select cinemas in November this year before landing on Netflix on December 9.
There will no doubt be a lot of Oscar buzz around the film so it will be interesting to see if it lives up to the hype.
Topics: Entertainment, Netflix
Stewart Perrie