Not suitable under 10; not recommended under 12; parental guidance to 14 (violence, scary scenes)
This topic contains:
Children under 10 | Not suitable due to violence and scary scenes. |
Children aged 10–11 | Not recommended due to violence and scary scenes. |
Children aged 12–14 | Parental guidance recommended due to violence and scary scenes. |
Children over the age of 14 | Ok for this age group. |
This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.
Name of movie: | Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio |
Classification: | M |
Consumer advice lines: | Scary scenes, mature themes and violence |
Length: | 117 minutes |
This review of the movie contains the following information:
Set at the start of World War II in Mussolini’s Italy, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio is a retelling of the classic story of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. The tale is told by Sebastian J. Cricket (voice of Ewan McGregor) at a time when fascism is on the rise and the local town where Geppetto (David Bradley), a carpenter, lives with his son, Carlo, is ruled by the Podestà (Ron Perlman), a loyal Nazi. Tragedy occurs when the church that Carlo is in, is hit by a bomb and he is killed. Geppetto never recovers from the loss of his son and lives his life in grief and in a drunken state.
Many years later, Geppetto carves out a wooden boy from a tree that grew next to Carlo’s grave. A wood sprite (Tilda Swinton) takes pity on Geppetto when she sees him still weeping over Carlo’s grave, and gives life to the wooden boy. Geppetto calls him Pinocchio and is both afraid and joyful when Pinocchio comes to life. Pinocchio, however, is full of mischief, curiosity and disobedience, unlike Carlo who was always an obedient boy. Pinocchio’s nose also grows longer if he tells a lie, which makes Geppetto angry. The Podestà wants Pinocchio to join the Nazi Youth Party and learn how to become a soldier. Instead, Pinocchio joins a touring carnival led by the wicked Count Volpe (Christopher Waltz) and his cat, Spazzatura (Cate Blanchett). Pinocchio is accidentally killed when a vehicle runs him over and he finds himself in a dark place where black rabbits are playing cards. The wood sprite’s sister, Death, tells Pinocchio that he has many lives to live and sends him back to Geppetto.
On his return to life, Pinocchio is sent to the Nazi Youth camp where he befriends the Podestà’s son, Candlewick (Finn Wolfhard), who had previously tormented him. There, both boys learn invaluable lessons about questioning authority. When the camp is destroyed by enemy bombing, Pinocchio continues his adventures to rescue Geppetto who has been swallowed by a gigantic whale. In order to save his papa, Pinocchio has to do something most courageous.
Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.
Life and Death; Grief and Loss; Mortality and Immortality; Fantasy; War; Oppression; Disobedience; Father-son relationships.
Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.
Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.
There is some violence in this movie, including:
Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.
In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:
Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.
In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:
Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.
In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged eight to thirteen, including the following:
Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.
There is some use of substances in this movie, including:
There is some coarse language in this movie, including:
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio is a stop-motion animated, musical fantasy that is amazing to see. It is beautifully crafted and visually stunning. The film focuses on many philosophical subjects, including father-son relationships; life, death and immortality; and war and its consequences, and as such is too intense for younger viewers. It is also quite scary and violent in places and is therefore not recommended for children under 12 and parental guidance is recommended for children aged 12 – 14.
The main messages from this movie are that sometimes it’s necessary to disobey those in authority; and that trying your best is the best anyone can do.
Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:
This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:
Tip: Leave out the first A, An or The
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Content is age appropriate for children this age
Some content may not be appropriate for children this age. Parental guidance recommended
Content is not age appropriate for children this age
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