rosie rowland

In a nutshell: it’s a no. Thought Del Toro would be a safe pair of hands to weave Italian Fascism / the horrors of war into the backdrop of a classic children’s story but sadly this time, he is not. Don’t get me wrong, the animation was beautiful & there are some interesting & creative departures from the original story, but none of it was enough to carry the jumbled plot or garbled message along. Themes like morality / mortality / obedience / abuse / family / friendship are rolled around but never really land with anything much to say on the matter. Even Fascism is used more like part of the scenery rather as a driving force or deeper context for Pinocchio’s journey - no comment is really made on it (or with it) other than “I don’t have time to explain that to you Pinocchio.” / “War is bad.” Instead the film unfolds seemingly at the mercy of a giant roulette wheel of ‘writers room plot shake-ups’, forever spinning the film further away from exploring its own premise or developing any plausible character arcs. An example (POTENTIAL SPOILER): The first time Pinocchio lies, rather than being offered the chance to learn a consequence of lying, he is instantly mown down by a truck (driven by a fascist) & dies. I’d honestly love for this film to be chalked up as a first draft & for Del Toro to be allowed to have another crack at it. Where the same level of love, care & attention that was given to the animation could find its way into the actual content. My advice to watchers, if your heart sinks a little when the first musical number kicks in, trust your gut.

Best viewed knowing as little as possible about the premise. An amazing piece of cinema!