Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio gets Criterion release this December

Guillermo del Toro is returning to The Criterion Collection, as his 2022 Oscar winner Pinocchio will be released on December 12th as spine #1201. What, no love for Robert Zemeckis’ version?

Here are the special features for The Criterion Collection’s upcoming release of Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, which also comes complete with stunning cover art by James Jean:

• 4K digital master, supervised by directors Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson, with Dolby Atmos
• 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

Pinocchio is the fourth standalone Guillermo del Toro film to make The Criterion Collection after Cronos (#551), The Devil’s Backbone (#666, appropriately enough) and Pan’s Labyrinth (#838). Those three were packaged in the Trilogía de Guillermo del Toro box set, the Blu-ray of which is listed as out of print on Criterion’s website.

Here is the official write-up: “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.”

The Criterion Collection is relatively light on animated films, but Pinocchio – which was one of the best-reviewed movies of last year– will be joining a strong group: Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, Pixar’s WALL-E, sci-fi classic Fantastic Planet, adaptation Watership Down, and films by pioneer Karl Zeman. But considering del Toro has said he wants to focus exclusively on animation, he may help pad Criterion’s animation lineup even more.

Do you think Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio is a good fit for The Criterion Collection? Which other animated films should be included?