7 Best And 7 Worst Moments In Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio

This post contains spoilers for "Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio."

"Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio" cobbles together the best elements of del Toro's work into a moving, bittersweet stop-motion animated film about the preciousness of life. Fans of the horror maestro's work will find his familiar themes — outsiders, existentialism, anti-war, anti-fascism — take center stage in this magical tale about a wooden puppet (Gregory Mann) destined to heal the broken heart of a grieving man named Geppetto (David Bradley). But unlike previous adaptations, Pinocchio's origin story has more of a Frankenstein's monster feel to him. As Pinocchio learns what it means to be human, the audience becomes tasked with unraveling how humane we are or could be — a compelling premise for all ages.

Co-directed by del Toro and Mark Gustafson and co-written by del Toro and Patrick McHale ("Over the Garden Wall"), "Pinocchio" wastes no time setting up its dark opening. Within minutes, Geppetto's young son Carlo (also voiced by Mann) dies due to an air raid bomb: This specific shot mirrors a similar somber sequence in del Toro's "The Devil's Backbone." Bereft with grief, Geppetto begs a Wood Sprite (voiced by the ever-ethereal Tilda Swinton) to bring his son back to life. Sympathizing with the old puppeteer, the Wood Sprite agrees and puts his son's soul into one of his wooden creations. What follows next is a tearjerking adventure that explores the highs and lows of the human experience. Here, we'll explore the film's grim and hopeful sequences (aka the best and worst moments) in depth while humming Alexandre Desplat's catchy score.

When I say it's the worst, I mean I sobbed every time I saw a pine cone on-screen. The film opens and ends on the same shot: a pine cone. In the film, this image represents life and death. Geppetto's son dies because he ran back into the church to find his pine cone. The air raids above dropped a bomb to lessen their cargo hold, sending it right into Carlo's path. After the church explodes, all Geppetto has of his son to bury is his pine cone. The film tenderly shows this action with the most heartbreaking narration: "The world moved on, but Geppetto did not." He grieves nightly against a pine tree.

But then Geppetto builds Pinocchio out of an Italian pine tree in the woods his son played in with him. Metaphorically, Geppetto building with the pine and creating something anew in honor of his son reminds us our creations and artwork immortalize those we've lost in life. When Pinocchio lies and his nose grows, at times, so do pine cones. Although the film never confirms it to Geppetto, the audience knows that it's most likely that the Wood Sprite borrowed Carlo's soul to put into the puppet. While Pinocchio is still a unique creation, he sings songs only Carlo knew. When we see the pine cone sprout on his wooden nose, it feels like a reminder that a part of Carlo lives on with Pinocchio.

Sure, kids sometimes pull pranks on each other. But I did not expect Candlewick (Finn Wolfhard) to trick Pinocchio into putting himself on fire. At first, when Candlewick asks Pinocchio to sit closer to the fire, it feels like some morbid curiosity at play. Maybe Candlewick wasn't sure if he could die? But soon enough the request gets fairly dark, as the oblivious Pinocchio's feet go up in flames. When Pinocchio realizes his feet are on fire, Candlewick laughs. Considering his father Podestà (Ron Perlman) is a fascist war-hungry character, this moment is definitely showcasing some inherited ideas on violence.

Candlewick wants to make his father proud: He knows his father detests Pinocchio. Why? Pinocchio asks questions. Pinocchio doesn't like to follow others' rules without knowing why they exist. When he does as he's told — like in this scene — he often faces dire consequences. He's the living embodiment of independent thinking and intellectual freedom that Podestà wants to suppress in Italy. Seeing Candlewick go to such extreme lengths to please his father is harrowing, as it's a reminder that to be loved, our children can commit harm. It's our job to teach them a more humane way of being.

One of the film's more heartbreaking moments is when Pinocchio leaves behind Carlo's old school book. Geppetto gave Pinocchio that book so he could go to school. Of course, the whimsical Pinocchio gets distracted and finds himself being a headlining act at a carnival instead. Later in the film, Geppetto finds the ruined book and yells at Pinocchio. Yes, he was upset that Pinocchio ditched school. But what was more upsetting for his father was seeing one of Carlo's possessions ruined. Given how his son died, whatever remains he has of him are precious. Discarding the book is analogous to throwing away his memory.

Deep down, Geppetto knows this wooden puppet is not the same Carlo, and this moment is a painful reminder of who he lost. But Geppetto forgets that for Pinocchio, the book is just a book — a sentence to do multiplication (gross!). He's still learning how to understand other people's emotions while feeling his new feelings, and this dichotomy fuels their fights. Thankfully, we have Cricket's moving line to help Geppetto out: "See the love that you have and don't be overwhelmed by mourning."

Although Guillermo del Toro's films delve into whimsy, they never overlook depicting the consequences of our actions. What does Pinocchio get for rebelling against Count Volpe (Christoph Waltz)? Mussolini shoots Pinocchio. But even before that, the audience hears something even more harrowing: Mussolini is so upset by the "Big Baby Il Duce March" song, he orders his men to set the carnival on fire. The scene then cuts to Pinocchio in the underworld, so thankfully we don't see a mass murder play out in stop-motion animation. However, the audience can still imagine it.

Keeping this dire turn in the film works well, as it shows how, unlike Geppetto, men like Mussolini have no regard for human life if it affects their status. The only downside to this scene is we never see Pinocchio fully understand how his cheeky song about slime and poop affected others at the carnival. Likely, that would have been a bit too heavy for this film, especially considering we see a group of grade-school-age boys head off to war.

In the original film adaptation of "Pinocchio," the belly of the whale scene is probably its most iconic shot. Choosing to also have Pinocchio, Cricket, Geppetto, and the surprise addition of Spazzatura (Cate Blanchett) escape a dogfish's stomach put a lot of pressure on the sequence to live up to that memorable outing. To the entire team's credit, it does! 

The dogfish, in particular, is a moody and gorgeous rendering of stop-motion animation that feels haunting and desolate simultaneously. Production designer Guy Davis based the ravenous creature on sea serpents. "It's a creature that's trying to eat everyone, but it's lived so long that it's just bored and miserable," Davis said. "I wanted it to have a little bit more character than to just be a mindless killing machine going through the ocean."

The interior of the dogfish feels sticky and a bit rotted — as it should for an animal consuming so much meat. Although the escape-via-sneeze scene is expected, the texture of the creature keeps it compelling and lovingly strange. You can smell and feel the wretched breath.

Tilda Swinton imbues warmth and kindness into her angelic Wood Sprite role. But her turn at Death is perfection; calculating, a little bored at being around until the end of time, and regal. She is the character who teaches Pinocchio a harsh truth about life: everyone else only gets one turn at it. However, Pinocchio will have to live life again and again. She warns him that this will be harder than he thinks. At first, Pinocchio thinks eternal life is a game of sorts — living forever, taking risks without worrying about the fallout. But when his recklessness puts Geppetto in danger, he realizes he has been focusing on himself at the cost of hurting others. Death knows this and gently guides him into seeing his selfishness.

In the film's production notes, Guillermo del Toro describes Death as something other, not flesh and blood. Her wings with eyes on them came from Mexican angels in medieval paintings. Guy Davis likens her to a "goddess" with Sphinx-like energy, which matches well against Swinton's cautious and yet taunting tones. Swinton gives one of the most convincing interpretations of death in cinema.

Animated movies are incomplete without a fuzzy little animal companion to help the main character's journey. For "Pinocchio," we get the hijinks-loving Spazzatura! Initially, I couldn't believe Cate Blanchett voiced the role; not because she doesn't have the talent to, but because it sounds nothing like her. Even great voice actors sometimes throw a hint of their natural cadence or accent into the role. But I 100% bought that Blanchett evolved into a sassy monkey! She has very little dialogue in the film, so she has to rely on grunts, grimacing sounds, and squeals to convey the character's emotion, which she does well.

Like Candlewick, Pinocchio inspires Spazzatura to rebel and break free from her abusive owner. She refuses to be controlled anymore by an oppressive force — one of the film's central themes. In the film's final act, we see Spazzatura join Pinocchio, Geppetto, and Cricket and eventually move in together to live out the rest of their lives. However, we don't see much of their lives after their big adventure, as the film opts to show us a montage instead, giving us glimpses into their home life. I wish we could have seen her happy life a little more, considering how she was a mistreated carnival animal for most of her life. But as the film so aptly reminds us, we only have the time we have, and that has to be enough.