"Pinocchio"

This stop-motion animation, written and produced by Guillermo del Toro, is not for the youngest kids. It is dark and has much more in common with "Pans Labyrinth" than Disney's classic.

Pinocchio is a spiky, tree-limbed, knotty, and naughty boy. He is sweet but feckless, a challenge to keep on the right track. The Blue Fairy gave that job to Sebastion J. Cricket, who lives in the trunk of the tree that became the trunk of Pinocchio.

The story takes place in Italy; however, it is Benito Mussolini's fascist Italy, a hard place to be a living puppet. Pinocchio wants to be good, like Geppetto's late son, Carlo. A hard act to follow, as Carlo was a dutiful, book-loving son who loved to help his woodworker father.

The attempt to create a wooden version of Carlo takes the sad father into the dark magic territory. The Blue fairy takes pity on him and brings the puppet to life, making Sebastian his minder. And like a character in one of Carlo's books, the wooden boy's nose grows when he lies. A trait that comes in handy.

The movie is a musical, though the grimy and darkly beautiful visuals overshadow that aspect.

Del Toro engaged an army of animators and sculptors to recreate this fable. He chose the art form of stop-motion instead of digital because it tells you how it is done.

The animators have created a layered and textured world for the story to play out using live-action camera techniques, including green screen.

In the following YouTube video, tinyurl.com/pinreview, del Toro walks the viewer through his updated approach to this hands-on animation style to film this movie.

"Pinocchio" is now streaming on Netflix.