LOS ANGELES— Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro’s “Pinocchio” won the Academy Award for best animated feature film on Sunday, the third Oscar of his career.
The haunting stop-motion musical fantasy was inspired by the 1883 Italian novel “The Adventures of Pinocchio” by Carlo Collodi, and informed by Gris Grimly’s illustrations of the 2002 edition of the book.
Del Toro, 58, reimagines the classic story of Pinocchio, a wooden puppet who dreams of being a real boy, who is cared for by carver Geppetto.
However, the story of the Netflix Inc NFLX.O film is set in Fascist Italy during the interwar period and World War Two.
“Pinocchio” prevailed over other popular nominees A24’s stop-motion film “Marcel the Shell With Shoes On” and the Walt Disney Co DIS.N 3D animated film “Turning Red.”
Del Toro has many accolades, including his 2018 Oscar wins for best picture and best director for “The Shape of Water.”
The Guadalajara-born filmmaker’s works are known for their infusion of fairy-tale magic, horror motifs, themes of Roman Catholicism, grotesque imagery and use of both Spanish and English.
—Reporting by Danielle Broadway; Editing by Jonathan Oatis
