Warning: contains spoilers for Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio.Three different Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, and this is how they rank from worst to best. Being over a hundred years old, the story of Pinocchio has been adapted for film and television numerous times. The most famous of these adaptations is likely the Disney animated movie from 1940, which was the first animated film to win an Academy Award. Naturally, there have been other adaptations both before and after Disney’s Pinocchio, and while some draw inspiration from the Disney movie, most have managed to offer their own unique spin on the classic story.
2022 was no different in that regard, as three different Pinocchio films were released - a live-action remake of the 1940 Disney film, Pinocchio: A True Story, and the darker Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio on Netflix. Each of 2022's three Pinocchio movies differs not only in medium, but also in of story, characters, and tone, giving audiences a unique experience from whichever version they watch. That being said, all three 2022 Pinocchio movies still vary hugely in of their overall quality, and as such, there is merit in seeing how they compare. This is how 2022, the year of Pinocchio, fared for the titular puppet.
3. Disney+’s Live-Action Pinocchio
One of the three Pinocchio films to be released in 2022 was the Disney+ live-action remake of the animated Pinocchio movie but, unfortunately, it proved to be the worst of the three. Like the modern reimaginings of other Disney classics to release in recent years, a big problem with the Disney live-action Pinocchio remake stems from how closely it sticks to the source material. Pinocchio's story is almost exactly the same as the original movie, and the few additions that are made, such as Stromboli being arrested for his crimes and Monstro being a sea monster instead of a whale, add very little to the story, which makes their inclusion somewhat pointless.
Worse than that, however, is how much the live-action Pinocchio ruins its protagonist. Pinocchio’s character arc is supposed to be about a boy learning right from wrong, but the live-action film spoils that journey by making him a good kid from the very start. Every bad thing Pinocchio does is because someone forced him to, including his time on Pleasure Island, and the scene of his nose growing when he lies is then ruined when the puppet boy benefits from the punishment. The Robert Zemeckis Pinocchio movie completely misunderstands the point of the original story, and as a result, fails to justify its existence.
2. Pinocchio: A True Story
Pinocchio: A True Story was the first Pinocchio movie of 2022 and, at the very least, it presents a unique angle on the timeless tale. Pinocchio: A True Story is a Russian-produced animated film dubbed into English, but all the English voice acting, especially Pinocchio’s, sounds ironically wooden. The rest of the film fares little better. The Pinocchio: A True Story animation feels cheap and lazily recycles footage, while the story is utterly nonsensical, as plot developments often come out of nowhere and story threads are resolved anticlimactically.
2022's Pinocchio: A True Story is by no means a good film, but while the Disney Pinocchio remake did poorly, the former's lack of quality ends up being part of its charm. There are often times when a piece of media will be entertaining specifically because of how bad it is, and Pinocchio: A True Story’s various shortcomings push this strange adaptation firmly into that category. That does not necessarily mean this oddity is worth watching, but the so-bad-it's-good factor at least gives an edge over Disney’s live-action remake.
1. Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio finally released in late 2022 after years of painstaking development, and of the three Pinocchio films in 2022, it is far and away the strongest. Fitting with del Toro’s signature style, this version of Pinocchio is far darker than other adaptations, with Gepetto written as a tragic figure who lost his family, and the Pinocchio adopting Mussolini's 1930s fascist Italy as a backdrop. These factors combine to give del Toro's interpretation an incredibly unique feel, further emphasized by the stop-motion animation, which adds a grimy quality while still making Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio beautiful through its stellar visuals.
More important, however, is the sincerity of Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio. At its core, the film is a story about family, and does a perfect job from start to finish of showing how important familial love is, no matter what sort of shape those loved ones may take. The Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio story concludes on a bittersweet note, but even that avoids hurting the narrative, as the sadness only makes the lessons del Toro is conveying even stronger. Neither of its 2022 Pinocchio movie contemporaries had anywhere near that level of heart, and certainly did not match the visuals. It is little wonder, therefore, that Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio was the best Pinocchio film of 2022.
