Yes.

Yes.

Cats cuddling

(via)

I've ALWAYS hated the story of Pinocchio.

Yes, the story is about a puppet not understanding right from wrong - and so does the wrong thing and earns consequences from those actions.

But it always resulted in such an unlikable character.

Then Del Torro comes around and makes the best version literally ever. Everything is perfect.

He didn't join the circus because he was a little twat. He joined because, in the town where people resented him, he found a place where he was 'loved' and 'accepted.'

And for once! Geppetto is written to be an actual human being! Not some pure-hearted old man incapable of any other emotion than love. Del Torro's Geppetto is flawed. He's human. He's in pain. His love for Pinocchio is genuine. He doesn't love the puppet because tHaT's ThE RiGhT thInG tO dO - but because he actually loves him.

I find it so refreshing that we are in this rare stage in western animation where disney is actually not monopolizing all the attention. If anything, 2022 has been one of their worse years yet in the animation department. Everything they have done has been completely eclipsed by other studios for once. Their Pinocchio "movie" was just obliterated by Guillermo del Toro's version. Strange World was completely forgotten because of poor marketing choices, allowing Dreamworks to come back with the Bad Guys and Puss in Boots, the first being very good and the second absolutely excellent (I'm being serious, this movie is SO MUCH MORE than a simple Shrek spin-off).

TMNT even got its time to shine with probably the best 2D animated film this year (in a technical aspect at least), rekindling an interest for the entire franchise (with another movie in production!!)

The Sea Beast was amazing. Wendell & Wild was a masterclass. 2022 has just been excellent throughout, and it's Disney that happens to be the weakest at the moment. Even the Minions 2 got more attention than most things that came out on Disney + Animation this year (not saying that the movie was great or anything, but it's saying a lot)

And when we look at the next Pixar movie coming out next year, the hype pales in comparison to the Mario movie, and let's not even TALK about Across the Spiderverse......everybody knows it's going to snatch everyone's wig, and all the awards under the sun to match it.

So yeah, western animation gets to breathe a little, and it feels amazing.

have you ever loved a lyric so much that when you hear it feels like your heart is trying to burst out of your body

Celestial flock 🪶

(print available on inprnt!)