Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio was directed by del Toro and Mark Gustafson from a screenplay by del Toro and Patrick McHale, based on the eponymous story by Carlo Collodi. It’s a Netflix presentation of a Double Dare You! and Shadowmachine production in association with the Jim Henson Company.
For the second year in a row, Netflix has won the best animated feature Critics Choice Award, this time with Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio. This was also the third year in a row that a direct-to-streaming film has won the award.
This latest win for Pinocchio, following last Tuesday’s Golden Globes win, makes it the clear frontrunner to take the Oscar on March 12, but the Academy would have to overcome its long-standing bias favoring films produced by The Walt Disney Company.
Pinocchio was up for the Critics Choice against four other animated films: Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Turning Red, and Wendell & Wild.
— cartoonbrew.com – Animation News (@cartoonbrew) January 16, 2023
The Critics Choice Awards have traditionally favored Disney in their animated feature category, which is perhaps not a surprise, but they’ve also been more open to other studio features when picking their favorite animated films. Besides em>Mitchells, Sony’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse on in 2019 and Warner Bros.’s The Lego Movie won in 2015. Conversely, the Oscars have only awarded non-Disney films only twice in the past 15 years.
Guillermo del Toro wins Best Animated Feature at the @CriticsChoice Awards and reminds everyone that animation is not a genre for kids, which is ironic since the Critics Choice chose a child to present this year’s animation award. pic.twitter.com/cKewAHSI1K