Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio 2022
Fourteen years getting made. Del Toro's stop-motion version of Collodi's story folds in Mussolini-era fascism and body horror; Ron Perlman, Ewan McGregor, David Bradley, Gregory Mann, and Burn Gorman voice it.
The Big Picture · Discussion · Top Five
The Top 10 Animated Movies of 2022 and ‘Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio’
January 1, 2023/ 62 min/ Sean Fennessy · Charles Holmes
Sean and Charles Holmes spend a whole episode on animation: why 'Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio' beats the Zemeckis one, why Turning Red got dumped straight to Disney+, and why nobody in America wants to treat cartoons as a real medium. Then they run their own top-five lists, which flip at the top.
50 films across 5 segments.
AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchiostop motion, fascism, and the other Pinocchio
Pinocchio 2022
Zemeckis's same-year digitally animated version with Tom Hanks. Called one of the year's worst misfires.
Wendell & Wild 2022
Another Netflix stop-motion release, cited as sharing the format's cramped-runtime problem.
Avatar: The Way of Water 2022
Comparison point: visuals so committed they carry the movie past a thin story, same as Pinocchio.
Pan's Labyrinth 2006
Cited as the template for Del Toro's fascism-and-fairy-tale instincts.
The Devil's Backbone 2001
Same point: Del Toro's authoritarianism obsession goes back decades.
The state of the animation business in 2022streaming dumps, IP fatigue, and who's actually winning
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 2018
Credited with breaking animation out of the house Pixar-eyes style.
The Bad Guys 2022
DreamWorks theatrical release that looks nothing like a Pixar knockoff, and did well in theaters.
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish 2022
Another DreamWorks title cited alongside The Bad Guys as evidence the studio's house style is loosening up.
The Mitchells vs. the Machines 2021
Cited as part of the same wave of studios moving past the default Pixar look.
Turning Red 2022
Strange World 2022
Disney's original sci-fi adventure, described as an outright box-office failure.
Lightyear 2022
Also flopped in theaters; became a hit with kids only once it hit Disney+.
Moana 2016
Encanto 2021
Frozen II 2019
Coco 2017
Called out as the last Pixar original (non-sequel) to be a genuine cultural hit.
Incredibles 2 2018
A sequel success, contrasted with Pixar's thinner run of original-story hits.
Finding Dory 2016
Minions: The Rise of Gru 2022
Illumination's big 2022 win, credited with holding onto a teenage audience through the 'gentleminions' craze.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2023
Discussed off the trailers ahead of its 2023 release; Jack Black plays Bowser.
Wreck-It Ralph 2012
Reference point for the video-game-movie idea Mario is chasing.
The Lego Movie 2014
Blamed for kicking off the wave of winking, meta animated comedies.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit 1988
Held up as the gold standard for blending classic-cartoon characters into a modern story, a bar Chip 'n Dale doesn't clear.
Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers 2022
Akiva Schaffer's Disney+ release, with John Mulaney and Andy Samberg voicing Chip and Dale.
Jujutsu Kaisen 0 2021
One Piece Film: Red 2022
Discussed as an example of anime tentpoles reliably drawing a core U.S. audience to theaters.
Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero 2022
Cited alongside One Piece Film: Red as part of the same anime-in-theaters trend.
The coming-of-age wave, plus Mad God and Belle
Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood 2022
Richard Linklater's rotoscoped memory piece about a kid obsessed with NASA in 1960s Houston, his third rotoscope film.
Waking Life 2001
Linklater's earlier rotoscope film.
A Scanner Darkly 2006
Linklater's other rotoscope film.
Dazed and Confused 1993
Cited as the coming-of-age movie that does work for Charles, unlike Apollo 10½.
The Fabelmans 2022
Named as part of the year's glut of directors making their own childhood-memory movie.
Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths 2022
Same wave: filmmaker autobiography.
Aftersun 2022
Same wave: filmmaker autobiography.
Belle 2021
Mamoru Hosoda's anime retelling of Beauty and the Beast set inside a metaverse-style virtual world.
Mad God 2021
Phil Tippett's decades-in-the-making stop-motion descent into hell: 83 minutes, punishing to watch, but a real feat.
Phil Tippett: Mad Dreams and Monsters 2019
Documentary about Tippett's decades making Mad God, recommended as a companion watch.
The Sea Beast 2022
Directed by Chris Williams (Bolt, Big Hero 6, Moana co-director); a Netflix action-adventure that plays as a fake-news allegory.
Luck 2022
Apple's animated release, mentioned in passing as part of streamers moving into original animation.
Charles's Top 5 Animated Films of 2022best to worst
Charles Holmes
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio 2022
No. 1: "I would buy frames of Pinocchio and hang it up in my household."
Charles Holmes
Turning Red 2022
No. 2: more rewatchable than Pinocchio, but Pinocchio wins as pure image.
Charles Holmes
The Sea Beast 2022
No. 5: an action-forward Netflix film that didn't talk down to kids.
Sean's Top 5 Animated Films of 2022best to worst
Sean Fennessy
Turning Red 2022
No. 1: more fun at the movies than Pinocchio, even if it's less of a visual achievement.
Sean Fennessy
Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers 2022
No. 5: "our Who Framed Roger Rabbit," not as good as the original but the closest thing since.
Also mentioned raised along the way
In passing Toy StoryThe Lion KingAladdinBeauty and the BeastAvengers: Infinity War
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV Marvel's Spidey and His FriendsBluey
Games Grand Theft AutoFIFA World Cup Launch Edition
Ads Recipe ClubFanDuelCarvanaNetflixBoar's HeadStarbucks Frappuccino
Other White Claw