The Best Movies and TV Shows Like Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

Set against the turbulent backdrop of 1930s Fascist Italy, grieving woodcarver Geppetto struggles with the tragic loss of his beloved young son, Carlo, during a stray bombing raid in World War I. Consumed by decades of grief, a drunken Geppetto aggressively chops down the pine tree that grew near Carlo’s grave and furiously carves a crude, chaotic wooden puppet as a replacement. His profound sorrow attracts the attention of a benevolent Wood Sprite, who breathes magical life into the creation, naming him Pinocchio.Pinocchio awakens as an energetic, naive, and disobedient boy, causing immediate chaos in the quiet village. Meanwhile, Sebastian J. Cricket—a displaced insect who made his home inside the wooden heart of the puppet—agrees to act as Pinocchio’s conscience in exchange for the Sprite granting him a single wish. As Italy falls under the strict, totalitarian thumb of Benito Mussolini’s regime, Geppetto desperately tries to force Pinocchio to conform, attend school, and behave like a "normal" human boy.Craving validation and hoping to please his frustrated father, Pinocchio rebels against societal expectations. He runs away to join Count Volpe’s traveling carnivalesque freak show. Volpe exploits the immortal wooden boy for financial gain, treating him cruelly while promising fame. Pinocchio remains blissfully unaware of the danger until Sebastian and Geppetto track him down. During a confrontation, the fascist Podestà drafts Pinocchio into a brutal military youth training camp, believing his wooden body makes him the ultimate indestructible soldier.When Pinocchio refuses to shoot a captured rabbit during a war game, the Podestà orders him destroyed, leading to an explosion that seemingly kills Pinocchio. However, because he is made of magical wood, Pinocchio does not truly die; instead, his soul travels to a liminal underworld ruled by a stern Death Bunny and her chatty black rabbits. Trapped in this purgatory waiting for his hourglass to empty, Pinocchio grows impatient as time passes, realizing his father is in mortal danger.Geppetto, Sebastian, and a reformed circus monkey named Spazzatura embark on a desperate rescue mission, diving into the ocean to save Pinocchio from the belly of a giant dogfish monster. Inside the beast's stomach, the family reunites. Through a daring escape involving sneezing the monster out and detonating a naval mine, Pinocchio sacrifices his own life to save Geppetto from drowning, shattering his wooden body.Deeply moved by this ultimate act of selfless love, the Death Bunny revives Pinocchio one final time, transforming him into a mortal boy. Though Pinocchio must eventually age and die like any human, he returns home to live a rich, albeit brief, life with Geppetto. Years later, an aged Pinocchio peacefully passes away, leaving behind his loyal cricket companion to recount the tale of a wooden boy who taught a broken father how to truly love again.