A great movie that reduces the Zemeckis version to a minor footnote. Setting it in fascist Italy adds a whole new layer of depth to this story, but I also noticed Del Toro’s pulling some ideas from his own work here, _The Devil’s Backbone_ in particular. Voice acting’s great, I love that he cast the greatest working actress as a non-speaking monkey. Visually it’s perfect, that’s almost to be expected from this director. However, this film in particular has a stop motion animation style I’ve never seen on film before, the textures are unique and beautiful. My only real complaint comes with the songs, not only because they’re generally poorly written and performed (I’m very clearly hearing the pitch correction, which isn’t intentional), but they also felt more sentimental and Disney-ish than what the rest of the film seemed to be going for. Thankfully, most of them were quite short. 8/10

Guillermo del Toro brings the best Pinocchio yet in this carefully handcrafted stop-motion adaptation. It feels very del Toro and you can see the love and passion that was put into it. The stop-motion animation is some of the most beautiful i've seen it has a distinctive appearance and the movements are fluid I forgot it was animation at times. Such an impressive cast they all did amazing and Ewan McGregor as Jiminy Cricket (or should I say Sabastian J. Cricket) was absolute perfection. It deals with father son relationships, family, staying true to yourself, self-acceptance and more mature themes like death and what it means to be human. The story is rich and layered and it's easy to get an emotional attachment. One thing they did right this time is they added so much backstory and context to how Pinocchio was created it really immersed me into the character and the world. Guillermo's usual aesthetics are felt and they make this even better I loved the sea creature and the darker themes. My only criticism is the songs could of been better and they weren't memorable but at least we got Ewan McGregor to sing. Overall a beautiful film I would definitely revisit. Did we get another Pinocchio this year I can't remember?

One of the best versions of Pinocchio I've seen, lots of animation details and a well-constructed and coherent story... it should win an award.

I've never been able to connect with the original Pinocchio story. The peak of crappiness was reached a few months ago with the new Disney film. Fortunately, Guillermo del Toro does a much better job. Despite the fact that the core of the story is the same as in previous adaptations, del Toro adds some interesting elements. It was a particularly wise decision to relocate the plot to fascist Italy in the 1930s. I liked the prologue very much right away. It does a good job of portraying what Geppetto's emotional state is like. Also, del Toro manages to let his penchant for dark fantasy shine through during Pinocchio's first appearance and several later moments. Almost every time the wooden puppet begins to speak, however, he is just as annoying as he was in the other films. The biggest strength of this movie is definitely the look. The animation style is not at all like what you are used to seeing. It is perhaps the most beautiful animated film of the year. The soundtrack is also fitting. Only the few musical interludes did not appeal to me. They always seemed a bit out of place. When there is no singing, the voice actors are consistently strong, though. In the end, del Toro did not manage to make me a fan of the original Pinocchio story. But whenever he deviates from the source material, he delivers. Moreover, the film is a feast for the eyes. If you have a Netflix subscription, you can definitely have a good time watching it.

Was not expecting so many dark elements in this film. Definitely not a Disney PG+ film. Fair warning, there's a number of characters being deleted throughout the film all of scene but one on-scene. No implications, just very clear sound effects based ones too. Overall 8/10, wonderful sound design, unique character design, phenomenonal voice acting and animation of each stop-motion capture. Cloth and water are notoriously difficult to work with. Truly a marvel how this was achieved.