GUILLERMO DEL TORO’S PINOCCHIO MOVIE REVIEW

Guillermo is having a good year and clearly a productive relationship right out of the starting gate with Netflix. First we get his superlative Cabinet of Curiosities, and now this (some would say) shoo-in for Best Animated Feature. This stop-motion animated musical fantasy takes a grimmer look than Disney did at the fairytale and does a lot of new invention with it. Especially in terms of the character designs which feel straight out of del Toro’s monster creation history (they were based on the art of Gris Grimly). With a terrific voice cast, bizarre stylistics, and a number of sizable tweaks to the original tale, Pinocchio is something to see, but will it appeal to you? Chris, Frank, Ben, and Marco didn’t all exactly see eye-to-eye on this one. Listen to their review to get the scoop. And also congratulate Chris for never making a pun about ‘wooden acting’.

WATCH HERE

DIRECTED BY: Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson

STARRING: Gregory Mann, Ewan McGregor, David Bradley, Christoph Waltz, Tilda Swinton, Ron Perlman, Finn Wolfhard, Cate Blanchett, Burn Gorman, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, Tom Kenny

 

YOUR REVIEWERS

 

Christopher Lawrence Cox (Founder, Da Boss)

Born in the wilds of northern Virginia, Chris managed to put all of his survival skills to use and barely escaped with his life to Austin Texas in 1992 where ever since he’s dabbled in everything from plumber’s assistant to sandwich maker, from band to bar management. An opportunity to see theatrical release films for free by becoming a critic on a local public access show called “The Reel Deal” turned into a full-time job when Chris and his friends decided to take it to the internet. They built the site Spill.com, adding multiple podcasts and animated features, to no small amount of success. During this time, a fortuitous friendship sprung up between Chris and young Brian Salisbury, who was also a local film critic, and they merged their forces of will, and their laundry list of ideas for shows, to eventually build this community of critics. While Brian eventually followed his heart to a new family, Chris continues on with a cast of colorful folks from all over the country (and a few others). You can also check out Chris in his videocast, along with Martin Thomas and Danni Danger, that One Of Us does with our friends at Bell of Lost Souls: Crossover Event. He also regularly guests on the video game website Rage Select. Follow Chris on Twitter and Facebook and check out his Amazon Wish List.

 

 

Frank Calvillo (Highly Suspect Reviews, Screener Squad)

Born and raised in South Texas, Frank currently lives in Austin and has been in love with movies ever since his father showed him some Three Stooges shorts when he was five years old. Today he loves all kinds of film, regardless of era, country, budget or genre. He believes every film has an audience and is at least one person’s favorite movie. After writing for Sight & Sound and Slackerwood, he now writes for Cinapse where his increasingly random taste in all flavors of cinema (from Rashomon to Mars Attacks!) continues to thrive. His ultimate goal is to write a script for his boyhood crush, Michelle Pfeiffer.