The classic story of Pinocchio brought to you from the mind of Guillermo del Toro via gorgeous stop motion animation. 

Opening with a moving prologue where we see Geppetto (David Bradley) and his son Carlo (Gregory Mann) going about their daily life we see the tragedy of Carlo’s death as a result of a WW1 bombing raid. Years later in a depressive rage Geppetto makes Pinocchio from the pine tree that stood over Carlo’s grave. It is here that a wood sprite (Tilda Swinton) intervenes and grants him life and asks Cricket (Ewan McGregor) to watch over him. 

Pinocchio’s travels will see him become the star attraction at a carnival run by the evil Count Volpe (Christoph Waltz) and his monkey Spazzatura (Cate Blanchett) and later train within Mussolini’s fascist children’s army under Podesta (Ron Perlman) and alongside his son Candlewick (Finn Wolfhard). 

According to Wikipedia this is the 23rd film adaptation of the 1883 novel by Carlo Collodi and the 2nd this year. I have not yet seen the other version made this year by Robert Zemeckis starring Tom Hanks but I had to watch this version as Guillermo del Toro makes fascinating films including the likes of Nightmare Alley, Crimson Peak and Pan’s Labyrinth. 

For me the result is very much a mixed bag, but I will caveat this indifference with the fact that I have never truly been taken by any of the Pinocchio’s that I have seen with the exception of Steven Spielberg’s A.I. which is not labelled as an official adaptation and is more inspired by. 

So let’s talk about what I liked. The stop motion animation is gorgeous. Del Toro’s films have always been visually creative and inspiring and this fits the bill. Ewan McGregor’s Cricket is a thoroughly endearing creation and provides both the film’s comedy centre in a number of pratfalls and its heart. It is a nice touch that he is literally Pinocchio’s heart by way of the location of his home. And the fact that Del Toro has turned the film into a horror movie for kids I think is fantastic. There are elements here that could easily be pushed into full blown horror but are presented at just the right level that kids will still find themselves enthralled and not scared. 

Unfortunately what never works for me in general in the story of Pinocchio is how it is essentially a series of vignettes on how a boy who does not listen to any advice or guidance given to him just stumbles his way through a series of mishaps and catastrophes. Just writing that sentence makes me shake my head at how little fun I am clearly prepared to have in a story that is about exactly that; a boy unprepared for his circumstances stumbling through them and learning lessons. For me the overall result just feels far too episodic, which of course is how the original book was written in the first place.

As beautiful as this is I still think I would much rather watch a stop motion animation from the Laika studio such as The Boxtrolls or Kubo And The Two Strings.