Page 14 - aruba-today-20221213

A14 PEOPLE & ARTS
Tuesday 13 december 2022
Review: Del Toro takes his ‘Pinocchio’ to very dark places

By JOCELYN NOVECK warplane drops a bomb
AP National Writer onto the church, killing Car-
Let’s face it, “Pinocchio” lo. Geppetto withdraws to
has always been an odd drinking and mourning.
choice for a children’s mo- In grief, Geppetto cuts
rality tale. down a pine tree and
Of course, lying is wrong. makes a puppet. In the
But that’s not the only mes- night, the Wood Sprite
sage the story sends. Even (Swinton, not to be con-
the classic 1940 Disney fused with her sister, Death,
version lighter and more also Swinton) comes to visit.
kid-friendly than the 1883 As in other versions, she
Collodi tale still sends the asks the cricket to watch
message that if you’re not over Pinocchio and serve
“good,” you don’t deserve as his conscience.
to be human.”A boy who Like in other versions, Pinoc-
won’t be good might just chio gets caught up with a
as well be made of wood,” money-hungry impresario,
the beneficent Blue Fairy Count Volpe (Waltz) who
admonishes Pinocchio in puts him in a puppet show.
that film. Really? What hap- This image released by Netflix shows Gepetto, voiced by David Bradley, left, and Pinocchio, Unlike other versions, one
voiced by Gregory Mann, in a scene from “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio.”
pened to the idea that “to Associated Press audience member hap-
err is human?” Not to men- pens to be Il Duce (Musso-
tion second chances, or ther handing a gun to his looks stunningly beautiful, because he makes mistake lini.) Also unlike other ver-
learning curves? And what son and saying “Shoot the in color and texture. And after mistake. And to err is sions, he orders Pinocchio
does “good” mean, any- puppet?” (Yes, sweet Pin- you’ll want to get on a … oh, never mind. shot. Pinocchio also gets
way? Have they heard of occhio THAT puppet.) plane right now and find the We first meet Geppetto hit by a truck. Luckily, Swin-
value relativism? But we di- Of course, del Toro, whose Italian village where Gep- (David Bradley) as the hap- ton’s Death keeps sending
gress. Because now comes take on “Pinocchio” is so petto lives, with cobble- py father to a real son, Car- him back to life.
Guillermo del Toro, with his distinct that the movie is stoned alleyways framed lo. “All they needed was If this seems a bit unsavory
blazing creative talent, to called “Guillermo del Toro’s by snow-capped moun- each other’s company,” for the younger kids, you
really stir things up. And Pinocchio,” has just the vi- tains jutting out in the mist. says the narrator, namely ain’t seen nothin’ yet — Pi-
boy, this is not your Disney sual command you’d ex- Pinocchio, too, is way more Sebastian J. Cricket, voiced nocchio ends up at a fas-
“Pinocchio” not the 1940 pect, partnering with co- interesting-looking than the by Ewan McGregor. They cist military camp, where
classic nor the remake of director Mark Gustafson in blue-eyed, bow-tie wear- spend their evenings read- the boys are set against
a few months ago. How this gorgeous stop motion ing puppet we’re used to. ing stories by the fire, and each other in deadly war
will your kid feel about fas- project with a starry voice He’s a lanky masterpiece in Carlo accompanies Gep- games. Compared to this
cist salutes (or you about cast (including three Oscar striated pine, with wooden petto to his job restoring a section, the time he and
explaining them?) A guy winners Christoph Waltz, curls, too, and something huge Jesus altarpiece in Geppetto later spend in
named Mussolini? Bombs Cate Blanchett and Tilda about him is heartbreak- the church. It’s there that the belly of a whale seems
falling from the sky? A fa- Swinton.) The movie often ingly lovable. Maybe it’s tragedy strikes one day; a rather quaint.q

Elon Musk takes the stage, amid boos, at Chappelle’s show

By HAVEN DALEY arena – along with some and the hip hop group the performers. Attendees show, but a few videos of
Associated Press cheers, too. Black Star, came up on had been required to lock the encounter made their
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Chappelle joked to Musk: stage to say goodnight, up their phones during the way online.q
Dave Chappelle asked the “Sounds like some of those while Musk also remained
crowd at his comedy show people you fired.” As the on stage. Chappelle asked
to “make some noise for boos continued to ring Musk to repeat Rawlings’
the world’s richest man.” out, the comic pointed out catch phrase from their
They did. Lots of booing. that “All you people boo- classic show “I’m rich b”
It was a rather uncomfort- ing, and I’m just pointing Rawlings went first, and
able appearance for Elon out the obvious are in ter- then Musk complied.
Musk, Twitter’s new owner, rible seats.” Twitter is going That’s when Chappelle
at Chappelle’s show with through massive changes asked the crowd not to
Chris Rock on Sunday night since Musk took over the boo Musk as he needs him
at the Chase Center in San social media platform, with to open up the first com-
Francisco. At the end of the the first few weeks of ten- edy club on Mars. He also
show, Chappelle was talk- ure seeing widespread lay- asked Musk if he could help
ing about the need to get offs and the restoration of Black Star’s Talib Kweli, who
along and communicate several blocked accounts, Chappelle said had been
with people with different including those of former banned from Twitter.
viewpoints and perspec- president Donald Trump Musk, who bought Twitter
tives. and Rep. Marjorie Taylor for $44 billion in October, This combination of photos shows comedian Dave Chappelle
He invited Musk onstage. Greene. The other perform- responded by saying: “Twit- attending the 22nd Annual Mark Twain Prize for American
The billionaire obliged, ers from the night, includ- ter customer service here.” Humor in Washington on Oct. 27, 2019, left, and businessman
wearing an “I Love Twitter” ing Rock, Donnell Rawlings He stayed onstage and Elon Musk at the opening of the Tesla factory Berlin Brandenburg
in Gruenheide, Germany, on March 22, 2022.
T-shirt. Loud boos filled the from “Chappelle’s Show” shook hands with many of Associated Press