Movie · 2022 · Animation, Fantasy, Adventure, Drama · 1h 57m · PG · English
Curator score: 8.1/10 (854.9K ratings)
Love will give you life.
Overview
During the rise of fascism in Mussolini's Italy, a wooden boy brought magically to life struggles to live up to his father's expectations.
Ratings
Curator score: 8.1/10
IMDb: 7.6/10
Letterboxd: 3.99/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 96%
Metacritic: 79
TMDB: 8.0/10
Director
Mark Gustafson, Guillermo del Toro
Production
The Jim Henson Company, ShadowMachine, Double Dare You
Cast
Ewan McGregor, David Bradley, Gregory Mann, Burn Gorman, Ron Perlman, John Turturro, Finn Wolfhard, Cate Blanchett, Tim Blake Nelson, Christoph Waltz, Tilda Swinton, Tom Kenny, Alfie Tempest, Anthea Greco, Francesca Fanti, Sandro Carotti, Rio Mangini, Benjamin Valic, Sky Alexis, Ariana Molkara
Where to watch
Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict
A visually rich, emotionally serious reimagining of Pinocchio that blends stop-motion spectacle with grief, faith, and anti-fascist politics. It’s one of the rare family-adjacent fantasy films that feels handmade, mournful, and genuinely alive.
Best for
stop-motion animation fans
viewers who like dark fairy tales
people interested in anti-fascist stories
fans of emotionally layered family dramas
audiences who want inventive animation with strong craft
Skip if
you want a light, purely whimsical children’s movie
you prefer the classic Disney tone
you dislike melancholy or death-focused storytelling
you want fast, joke-heavy fantasy
Overview
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio turns a familiar story into something stranger, sadder, and more politically pointed. Set against Mussolini’s Italy, it treats obedience, mortality, and fatherhood as serious subjects rather than moral lessons wrapped in sweetness. The result is a film that feels both like a fairy tale and like a lament for the ways children are taught to fit into broken worlds.
Worth noting
The stop-motion work is exquisite: tactile, expressive, and full of little visual inventions that make every frame feel handcrafted. Del Toro leans into the medium’s ability to make imperfection beautiful, and that choice gives the movie a warmth that contrasts with its grief and authoritarian backdrop. It is also one of the more distinctive modern takes on Pinocchio, less interested in nostalgia than in reinvention.
Bottom line
Some viewers may find its tone heavier than expected, especially if they come in wanting a playful adventure. But for those open to a darker, more reflective fantasy, it is moving, ambitious, and deeply humane. It’s a rare animated film that can feel intimate, political, and mythic at the same time.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Jay (4★) · 13955 likes
all rise for the anti-fascist pinocchio
leeza (3.5★) · 12213 likes
came out of the film assuming cate blanchett voiced the ethereal deities representing life and death only to be bodied by the fact that she voiced the monkey that only makes monkey noises
NicoPico (4.5★) · 8260 likes
Guillermo’s big “fuck you” to Disney
hunter strawberry (3.5★) · 5513 likes
easily the best take on Pinocchio since Shrek 2 (2004)
davidehrlich (3.5★) · 5439 likes
Guillermo del Toro stop-motion HOLLOW KNIGHT movie when?