‘Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio’ wins best animated feature

LOS ANGELES (AP) — An Oscar wish has come true in “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio.”

The director’s stop-motion take on the puppet, musical Take Who Lungs to Be a Real Boy won Netflix’s first animated feature trophy on Sunday.

The category has primarily gone to Walt Disney or Pixar-produced films for the past decade – with the exception of “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”.

“Pinocchio” was considered a contender to beat. It garnered a string of awards, including top honors at the Golden Globes and the animation industry’s Annie Awards.

The voice cast includes Ewan McGregor, Christoph Waltz, fellow Oscar nominees Cate Blanchett and Tilda Swinton.

It earned rave reviews for its stunningly beautiful production that takes a dark look at issues of love and mortality between the titular puppeteer and surrogate father, Geppetto. Unlike Disney’s 1940 version, this “Pinocchio” references Catholicism, fascism, and the ugliness of war.

Mexican-born del Toro, who won the best director Oscar in 2018 for “The Shape of Water”, has said animation is pure cinema. Animators have been pushing back in recent years against the stigma that animated movies are just a kid thing. Style.

The film left behind “Turning Red,” “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On,” “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” and “The Sea Beast.”