Guillermo del Toro loves a Pan's Labyrinth/Mitchells vs. the Machines fan poster. The Mexican filmmaker is best known for his Academy Award-winning fantasy films like Pan's Labyrinth and The Shape of Water, the latter winning del Toro Oscars for Best Director and Best Picture. The former was released in 2006 and was originally titled El laberinto del fauno. The Spanish-language film is a modern-day fairy tale that follows a young girl, Ofelia, who interacts with a mysterious faun creature in an overgrown, abandoned labyrinth.
On the other hand, The Mitchells vs. The Machines is a 2021 animated film by writer/directors Michael Rianda and Jeff Rowe that follows the titular family as they embark on a cross-country road trip that is upended by an onslaught of intelligent robots. Due to the pandemic, Sony Pictures Animation sold the film off to Netflix, where it was released in April and quickly became the streamer's most popular animated flick. Mitchells vs. the Machines' ensemble voice cast includes Danny McBride, Maya Rudolph, Eric André, Olivia Colman, Fred Armisen, Beck Bennett, John Legend, Chrissy Teigen, Blake Griffin, and Conan O'Brien.
Now, the inimitable filmmaker behind Pan's Labyrinth is reacting to a fan poster that mashes up his 2006 film with the recent animated hit, Mitchells vs. the Machines. The "parody poster" by @SnollygosterPrd was shared on Twitter by Rianda, saying it "is a tribute to one of our biggest inspirations." Guillermo del Toro then reacted to the poster, saying, "I like it!" Check out the interaction below:
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The poster does an excellent job of combining elements from Mitchells vs The Machines with the style and design of the Pan's Labyrinth poster. The artist replaced the top of the creepy arch with the head of the Mitchells' dog Monchi and added creepy Furby-style robot eyes to the gnarled trees in the center of the image. Also, the child in the center of the poster has been swapped with Katie Mitchell, the film's protagonist.
Del Toro is best known for his live-action films, the most recent of which is the Best Picture nominee Nightmare Alley. However, he has also had success in animation, partnering with DreamWorks to create the Netflix series Trollhunters, 3Below, and Wizards. The three titles make up the Tales of Arcadia trilogy based on the 2015 novel he co-wrote with Daniel Kraus. Del Toro is currently working on a stop-motion animated Pinocchio movie for Netflix.
Considering the tremendous success del Toro has had in both live-action and animation, he has undoubtedly inspired many of his peers in both fields. After Mitchells vs. the Machines debuted to solid viewership on Netflix, the success kept coming for Rianda and Rowe. The movie received a nomination for Best Animated feature at the upcoming 2022 Academy Awards. Cleary, the filmmakers' inspiration from del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth, has worked out well for them.
Source: Guillermo del Toro/SnollygosterPrd
