Masterful but intense animated version is dark and scary.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 11+?
Any Positive Content?
Violence & Scariness
a lot
Kids and adults are killed by bombs. A character who is killed winds up in an afterworld more than once, and is repeatedly reincarnated. Eventually he has to choose whether to give up that immortality. A man diminishes his son and orders him to shoot his best friend. Another shuts his son in a closet and calls him a "burden." Characters are threatened and injured in a variety of ways, including falls, electric shocks, fires, explosions, fights, accidents, and deadly sea creatures. Some characters have scary features. Some songs and scenes are very sad. Imagery includes the fascist military, a crucified Christ, funeral processions, grieving fathers, hurt children, angry mobs.
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The film could inspire interest in other Pinocchio films and book adaptations as well as other del Toro films and shows.
Positive Messages
a lot
Life is a gift, so make the most of it. Try your best. Tell those you love how you feel; you never know how much time you'll have with them. You get what you give. When one life is lost, another must grow. Life can bring suffering. War is gruesome and deadly.
Positive Role Models
some
Parents should love their kids as they are, not as they want them to be. Geppetto learns this lesson, but other fathers and father figures do not. Pinocchio learns to help others and gain helpful discipline. Some characters make sacrifices for each other; others display selfishness, cruelty. Characters learn and demonstrate compassion.
Diverse Representations
a little
Set in fascist Italy. Characters speak English. Depictions of military personnel and leaders, spirits representing life and death, and Catholic imagery.
Parents need to know that Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio is darker and may be potentially scarier for some kids than other adaptations of the classic tale. It's set between World Wars in fascist Italy, and both kids and adults are killed by bombs. A character dies but is repeatedly reincarnated. A man diminishes his son and orders him to shoot his best friend, while another shuts his son in a closet and calls him a "burden." Characters are threatened and injured in a variety of ways, including falls, electric shocks, fires, explosions, fights, accidents, and deadly sea creatures. Imagery includes the fascist military, a crucified Christ, funeral processions, grieving parents who drown their sorrows in alcohol, hurt children, and angry mobs. Some characters are designed in a way that could be unsettling, and some songs and scenes are sad. Language includes a variety of taunts that mostly offer synonyms for "weak" or "worthless," and a song featuring potty language. The film delves into questions on the meaning of life and father-son relationships. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails.
( I am a film critic, so here is my view on GDT's Pinocchio)
GTD's Pinocchio is a beautiful, intricate movie with a fascinating storyline. It is encapsulating to watch and gives the viewer a specialized sense of thrill that is extremely rare to find otherwise. It realistically depicts fascist Italy and seamlessly incorporates that into its theme. I have read many reviews across numerous websites and the one thing that seems to be recurring is its level of "violence". I completely understand how you find this a bit violent, but GTD said it himself, this movie is meant for adults, although children can watch it. Of course, it is no classical fairytale Disney movie, but that is the beauty of it! Italy and Italians need more representation, and this movie was an accurate depiction of that. Also, some people were complaining about the "frightening" guardian spirits that help Pinocchio in this movie. Yes, these spirits may be "frightening" for your 4-year-old, but know your child before watching the movie. I would also like to compliment this movie's animation. GTD's Pinocchio is COMPLETELY made in stop motion, one of the most difficult forms of animation out there. Pinocchio took over 600 days to make, and it is so amazing to the point where I do not consider it a movie - I consider it art. I especially enjoyed the attention to detail in this movie. The strands of hair, the action sequences, all of it were on point and exquisite. If I could rate this movie 10 stars I absolutely would.
( I have an 8-year-old daughter and a 12-year-old son and they all enjoyed the movie!)
I will be watching the rest of this movie by myself but I had to turn it off when watching it with my child. The beginning includes: Nazis, AntiChristian sentiment, bomb violence/war, alcoholism and the death of a child.
What's the Story?
After his beloved son, Carlo (Gregory Mann), is killed in an accidental bombing right in front of his eyes, Italian woodcarver Geppetto (David Bradley) is distraught as GUILLERMO DEL TORO'S PINOCCHIO begins. Drunk one evening, he furiously builds a wooden child as a replacement. Magically, with the help of the Wood Sprite (Tilda Swinton), the doll comes to life and is named Pinocchio. Sebastian J. Cricket (Ewan McGregor), who lives inside the stump made into the doll, is charged with watching over the boy. When they see Pinocchio, the townspeople, led by the strict magistrate Podesta (Ron Perlman), are irate over what they believe to be demonic witchcraft. But Podesta sees a possible young recruit for Mussolini's fascist army and prompts Geppetto to send the boy to school alongside his own son, Candlewick (Finn Wolfhard), whom he critiques as weak. Pinocchio never makes it to his first day of school. Instead, he's lured into the carnival by the deceitful Count Volpe (Christoph Waltz). Thus begins the classic tale of Pinocchio, whose immortality is put to the test repeatedly.
Guillermo del Toro's masterful artistry and the magical storytelling he's known for are both on display here, which will please fans but could be too scary for younger kids. His two-hour stop-motion animated Pinocchio, already a dark fable, is made even more somber in this fascist Italy-set rendition, which has several realistic death sequences. It also comes fast on the heels of Disney's own, more sentimental version of the tale, starring Tom Hanks. Del Toro has created a fascinating universe that starts in a beautifully realistic Italian village and transcends worlds, including a rendering of an afterworld limbo overseen by card-playing rabbits. The artisanal animation, created with co-director Gustafson and a broad crew of animators/puppeteers, is fascinating. It's hard not to want to repeatedly hit pause to soak in the vivid detail of the puppets and their settings, and to wonder at how it's all created.
The film also layers onto the classic fairy tale thicker themes about father-son relationships, the meaning of life, religious zeal, and the absurdities of war and authoritarian rule. The latter could be intended as subversive, yet the messages aren't difficult to understand. Nazi salutes and fascist imagery give way to boys undercutting their war games training by declaring a "tie," and the local magistrate calling Pinocchio a "dissident" for being an "independent thinker." There are subtexts here about patriarchs and puppets. One funny bit is the creation of a buffoonish Mussolini who is so tiny and pampered he must be lifted out of his car by an eager attendant. The film has some haunting sequences involving love and death and young boys bonding as they're trained to war against each other, and some gorgeous musical numbers (Alexandre Desplat composed and scored the film) -- especially those featuring Pinocchio's (Mann's) angelic voice. McGregor gives an inspiring voice performance as the pompous cricket-with-a-heart whose narration and regular accidents provide the film's comic relief.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio differs from other versions of the classic fairy tale.
How does stop-motion animation work? Where can you find more information about the making of this and other similar films?
What does Pinocchio learn? Would you have chosen to keep or give up your immortality? Why?
How do Geppetto, Pinocchio, Cricket, and others learn and demonstrate compassion? How does this change their lives? Which characters don't learn this lesson?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by
suggesting a diversity update.
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
By Jennifer Green
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
