🎥 In Review: Guillermo del Toro — Puppets, Prometheus, and the Pursuit of Humanity

This week on In Review: Guillermo del Toro, we close out the series with two of the filmmaker’s most soulful creations — Pinocchio and Frankenstein — stories about life made by human hands, and the heartbreak that follows.

🩻 The Body: Building the Monster
Del Toro trades latex and makeup for wood and stop-motion in Pinocchio, crafting a fascist-era fable where love defies obedience and grief carves its own creation. Then, he resurrects his long-dreamed passion project: Frankenstein, the ultimate story of maker and monster. We explore how del Toro uses animation, gothic design, and mythic scale to explore what happens when the act of creation collides with the fear of imperfection.

💀 The Soul: What the Monster Means
At their core, both films wrestle with the same question — what does it mean to be alive? Pinocchio redefines the wooden boy’s journey as a lesson in individuality and unconditional love, while Frankenstein gives voice to the forsaken, showing that the real horror isn’t creation… but rejection. We trace how del Toro’s empathy for his monsters turns tragedy into transcendence.

👣 The Legacy: Footprints in the Dark
With Pinocchio, del Toro expanded his universe into the realm of animation and earned one of his most acclaimed films yet. With Frankenstein, he returns to gothic roots to complete a lifelong creative cycle. Together, these stories mark the culmination of his career-long fascination with makers and monsters — from puppets to gods, from the hand that builds to the heart that breaks.

Join us as we explore how Guillermo del Toro’s monsters have always been mirrors — not of our fears, but of our longing to be loved.