The Guillermo del Toro co-directed adaptation of Pinocchio has won Best Picture – Animated at the 80th Golden Globe Awards. Del Toro, of course, previously won a Best Director Golden Globe for his work on The Shape of Water in 2018. Other nominees in the Best Animated Picture category included:
- Inu-Oh
- Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
- Puss n’ Boots: The Last Wish
- Turning Red
This adaptation of Pinocchio comes after Disney had its own version of the classic children’s fantasy novel released this year by director Robert Zemeckis. The Disney+ exclusive film starring Tom Hanks was critically panned and labeled as a poor recreation of Disney’s 1940 animated film.
Meanwhile, the Netflix-exclusive adaptation has been met with widespread acclaim. Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson‘s direction and usage of stop-motion were greatly lauded, as was the notion of tying the film historically to interwar, fascist Italy. It ultimately isn’t much of a surprise to see the film being awarded this Golden Globe.
Pinocchio follows carpenter Gepetto creating a wooden puppet named Pinocchio that magically comes to life through the power of a Wood Sprite. From there, the story tells the tale of the young puppet in his journey to find morals and develop a familial relationship with his pseudo-father, while Gepetto also comes to terms with the puppet being his son.
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio stars Gregory Mann, Ewan McGregor, David Bradley, Christoph Waltz, Tilda Swinton, and Cate Blanchett, among other notable Hollywood stalwarts. The film is currently available to view on Netflix.
