Nominated for Best Animated Film 
After losing a son in a bomb raid, a depressed and angry Gepetto (David Bradley) carves a wooden puppet and begs it to come to life. Little does he know, a forest spirit (Tilda Swinton) heard Gepetto's wish and is moved to grant it, angering the cricket (Ewan McGregor) that had made its home in the wooden body. The cricket is charged with acting as Pinocchio's (Gregory Mann) conscience and is promised a wish if he makes sure the boy grows up to be good. Gepetto is astonished and slightly appalled by the animation of his creation. The congregants of the local church are just appalled, believing the walking, talking puppet was sent by Satan. The local podesta (Ron Perlman) is very interested in a boy that can't die and seeks to conscript Pinocchio for Mussolini's army. Count Volpe (Christoph Waltz) is very interested in a puppet with no strings for his carnival. Pinocchio wants to be loved but can't escape the shadow of the son who died.
This has all the Del Toro hallmarks: fascist regime, something with too many eyes, dead kids, and religious overtones. It is bleakly funny for adults but still has fart jokes for kids. It might be a little dark for very young viewers with some of the war imagery, but if they've seen Coraline or Corpse Bride they're probably fine.
My absolute favorite part of this movie is Cate Blanchett, two-time Oscar winner and 7-time nominee, as Spazzatura the monkey. I read somewhere (I'm too lazy to look it up) that she heard Del Toro was doing a movie and begged to be part of it, but he had already cast everything except the monkey and didn't want to offer her a role so small. She said she'd do it anyway. And she makes an excellent monkey! Honestly, it's a better performance than Tár.
Pinocchio is currently streaming on Netflix.
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