Why have they made Pinocchio look like Freddy Krueger?

Matteo Garrone’s live-action version of Pinocchio is visually sumptuous and there are some enchanting characters (my favourite: Snail). And unlike Disney’s version (1940) this is, apparently, far more faithful to the darker, original 1883 tale by Carlo Collodi, even if the Disney version was quite dark enough for some of us. (I screamed so much when Pinocchio turned into a donkey I had to be taken from the cinema, says my mother.) But while this may be more authentic it’s not narratively powerful for some reason. It should be. It’s a terrific (if twisted) story, after all. But it’s so episodic, and this Pinocchio is so unendearing, that the film itself never properly comes to life. I think there is a word for what I’m trying to say that would be just right but I can’t think of it for now. Perhaps I will have it by the end.

Directed and co-written by Garrone (Gomorrah, Tales of Tales, Dogman; so you can see why expectations were high), the film stars Roberto Benigni as Geppetto, the poor carpenter who, inspired by a visiting marionette theatre, decides to make his own puppet. He sets to work and is astonished yet overjoyed when Pinocchio (played by child actor Federico Ielapi in prosthetics) asks: ‘Daddy?’ Geppetto had always wished for a son so he races around the village exclaiming: ‘I’m a father!’ and everyone is very happy for him and no one says: ‘Whaaaat?’, which is kind. And love is blind, thankfully, because Pinocchio is pretty creepy-looking. I was most put in mind of a mini Freddy Krueger, which didn’t exactly help in the bonding department. Truly, only a father could love him. Also, when Pinocchio first meets Jiminy Cricket he smashes him over the head with a hammer.