Some pictures of the Criterion Collection 4K UHD release for Guillermo del Toro/Mark Gustafson’s stop-motion animation film Pinocchio, winner of the 2022 Academy Award for best animated feature.
This 2 disc set comes with a 4K UHD presentation on one disc and the regular blu-ray + supplementary materials on the 2nd. Here are some pictures of the set, with the cover art done by one of my favorite illustrators James Jean, who also collaborated on the poster art for another of Guillermo del Toro’s previous films The Shape Of Water.
I was actually more excited to dive into the rich collection of making of material/documentaries that comes with this release, because the painstaking and meticulous process of making any stop-motion animation is always fascinating, and the understanding of that always makes the viewing of the film even more rewarding and immersive.
Synopsis – A classic tale is reborn through the inspired imagination of cinematic dream-weaver Guillermo del Toro, directing alongside Mark Gustafson. Realized through boundary-pushing, breathtakingly intricate stop-motion animation, this dark rendering of the fable of the puppet boy and his maker—which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature—daringly transfers the story to Fascist Italy, where the irrepressible Pinocchio gradually learns what it means to be human through his experiences of war, death, and sacrifice. Featuring the voices of Ewan McGregor, Cate Blanchett, Tilda Swinton, and Christoph Waltz, this Pinocchio imbues the oft-told tale with a bold new resonance about living with courage and compassion.
(image above) A delightful and unique case design, with Pinocchio’s protruded nose extending out of the case ( You can fold it back in nicely, of course ).
(above & below) The booklet that comes with the 2 disc set includes not just prose ( essays by film critic Matt Zoller Seitz and author Cornelia Funke ) but also a good number of concept art drawings, illustrations and on-set photographs, many of which are also collected in the official art/making of book which I highly recommend.
Video quality – The video quality of the 4K UHD presentation of the film is exemplary; because there is seldom any motion-blur found in stop-motion animation films, pausing at any moment during playback allows one to appreciate each individually crafted frame like a work of art. I’m not knowledgeable to offer up any technical analysis of the video, bitrates and all, but I don’t think anyone will be disappointed by the quality of the presentation.
Special features – I watched EVERY SINGLE ONE of the special features, and they are all fantastic. The most comprehensive one is “Handcarved Cinema”, with plenty of insights from all the cast and crew members that really make you appreciate the art of stop-motion animation. The 2 panel discussions moderated by Neil Gaiman and James Cameron are interesting as well, but imho the time allocated to each guest is rather unbalanced. That said, none of the included specials are weak sauce in any way.
DIRECTOR-APPROVED 4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION 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
– Directing Stop-Motion, a new program featuring del Toro and Gustafson
– New conversation between del Toro and film critic Farran Smith Nehme
– New interview with curator Ron Magliozzi on The Museum of Modern Art’s 2022 exhibition devoted to the film
– New program on the eight rules of animation that informed the film’s production
– Panel discussion featuring del Toro, Gustafson, production designer Guy Davis, composer Alexandre Desplat, and sound designer Scott Martin Gershin, moderated by filmmaker James Cameron
– Conversation among del Toro, Gustafson, and author Neil Gaiman
– 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
(below) I believe this making of documentary that is available on youtube is very similar in content to the Handcarved Cinema documentary, one of the many excellent making of features collected on the blu-ray disc.
I cannot sing enough praises of this film and I think I will be re-visiting it quite often in the future. This is another splendid release by Criterion and comes highly recommended.
I also highly recommend the excellent art/making of book as well.
Buy From Amazon CA | Amazon JP | Amazon UK | Amazon FR | Amazon IT | Amazon DE | Amazon ES
You might also be interested in these items :
Trilogía de Guillermo del Toro – Criterion Blu-ray
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio Art Book Review
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio | Behind the Craft | Netflix
The Silence Of The Lambs – The Criterion Collection Blu-ray
The Others – Criterion Collection 4K Blu-ray
September 9th, 2024 at 5:19 am
I love this set, I got it pretty soon after it was released. It’s wonderful to see a film made for Netflix get a proper physical media release. (with the James Jean artwork and smart design, it’s a gorgeous package)
Also, it’s gonna be excited to see the future of Guillermo del Toro’s career. With Frankenstein, a long in the works passion project, followed by mostly animated films after that point.
The Buried Giant is an excellent choice for an adaptation, and I hope that with literary fantasy, it will help push the envelope in the envelope in the public consciousness about what animation is capable of as a medium.
As a side note about the elevation of animation’s status as an art form, another thing I appreciate is seeing more animation in the Criterion Collection.
I actually sent Criterion a recommendation to their suggestions box. I have no idea if they read them, but I said they should include Paprika in the collection. They already streamed the film on the Criterion Channel, and I don’t think it has got a definitive physical media release, unlike the other Satoshi Kon films. I don’t know if you had a chance to see the Paprika steelbook that Sony put out. It has gorgeous packaging, but the transfer itself has problems. (smeary linework thanks to Sony’s AI process)
For the Kon films made in digital, the source files were 720p, and thus upscaled for the UHD release. That’s how you get the smeary linework. It’s the same kind of effect you see with those DNR’d classic Disney films on blu-ray.
I think a better approach would have been to do a 4K scan, like Shout Factory did for the Tokyo Godfathers blu-ray. I doubt they’ll do it, but one can dream.
September 9th, 2024 at 5:21 am
Sorry about all of the terrible writing in the previous comment. I hit send before I was able to finish editing!!
September 9th, 2024 at 1:11 pm
Thanks for pointing me to this. I haven’t watched del Toro’s Pinocchio yet, and honestly had completely forgotten it was even done. I’m a big fan of Criterion and based on your review and description of the extras, this seems like a great BD. I’ll check it out.
September 12th, 2024 at 4:51 am
Guillermo Del Toro is an amazing director!
my only regret is that there is no longer the possibility of him being the director of “At the Mountains of Madness”… we were almost there…
September 12th, 2024 at 5:27 am
Coffee – No apologies needed, thank you for sharing your thoughts ! I was very impressed and inspired by GDT’s genuine passion for animation and filmmaking when watching all the making of features, I’m really looking forward to Frankenstein as well !
Regarding Paprika, I do hope Criterion considers it ! It’s not even too much to ask for a 4 film collection I think…haha
Chris – You’re welcome, I think you’ll enjoy the film and the extra features !
Cristiano – Oh yes, in one of the extras included in this release where James Cameron is the moderator, they talked briefly about the prep work they were doing on At The Mountains Of Madness. Such a pity it never came to fruition. T___T