ReelBob: ‘Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio’ ★★★

By Bob Bloom

At no time in “Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio” will you find anyone singing about when you wish upon a star.

Simply put Disney’s 1940 animated classic out of your mind and enjoy Del Toro and Mark Gustafson’s stop-motion adaptation of the classic Carlo Collodi story.

You can’t rightly compare the two versions. This new iteration brings more of the story’s dark undertone to the surface, a feat that Disney’s movie masked through tuneful songs and vivid animation.

From the outset, tragedy clouds the movie, which opens during the Great War (World War I). Geppetto’s son, Carlo, is killed when a bomb is dropped onto a church where Geppetto is restoring a huge Jesus altarpiece.

The inconsolable Geppetto (voiced by David Bradley) turns to drink to dull his pain. In his drunken grief, Geppetto chops down a pine tree and makes a wooden puppet.

That night, a Wood Sprite (Tilda Swinton) brings the puppet to life and charges the movie’s narrator, Sebastian J. Cricket (Ewan McGregor), to be his conscience and guide him.

The surprised Geppetto is, of course, dumbfounded as the puppet, named Pinocchio, bounds all over the cottage, asking countless questions and creating havoc.

Geppetto orders Pinocchio to remain at home while he goes to church. Pinocchio, of course, disobeys and follows.

The villagers do not take kindly to the wooden boy, demanding to know who is controlling him and where are his strings.

This version of the story is set in 1920s fascist Italy, ruled by Il Duce, Benito Mussolini. Thus, the fascist leader of the town considers Pinocchio a threat, labeling him a dissident and free thinker.

Pinocchio is instructed by Geppetto to attend school, but enroute, he is waylaid by money-hungry carnival owner Count Volpe (Christoph Waltz), who convinces him to join his show, promising to make Pinocchio and star.

It also seems that Pinocchio is immortal. He is shot on the orders of Mussolini, whom he offended during a performance, as well as being run over by a truck. But the Wood Sprite’s sister, Death (also Swinton), keeps sending him back to the living world.

And at one point, Pinocchio ends up in a fascist military youth camp. Del Toro’s movie is definitely not for the little ones.

The story follows the familiar path of Geppetto searching for the lost boy, being swallowed by the whale and being rescued by Pinocchio.

The film offers some observations about parenting: Geppetto continually scolds Pinocchio for not being like Carlo; that is, being more human.

The movie is classified as a musical as Pinocchio does perform a few songs, some of which contain some mature lyrics.

“Pinocchio” is a visual feast. Geppetto’s little town, with its cobblestone streets, looks lived in, and the woods and snow-capped peaks surrounding it are majestic.

The adult and somber themes of “Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio,” which is streaming on Netflix, may be off-putting. It is aimed more for adults than children.

It is an alternate version of a classic fairy tale taking place in a world that is more nightmarish than we have seen before. Yet, in the end, love and family do win out.

I am a founding member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. I review movies, 4K UHD, Blu-rays and DVDs for ReelBob (ReelBob.com), The Film Yap and other print and online publications. I can be reached by email at bobbloomjc@gmail.com. You also can follow me on Twitter @ReelBobBloom and on Facebook at ReelBob.com or the Indiana Film Journalists Association. My movie reviews also can be found at Rotten Tomatoes: www.rottentomatoes.com.

GUILLERMO DEL TORO’S PINOCCHIO
3 stars out of 4
(PG), violence, rude humor, danger, dark thematic material, smoking