Within one of the biggest months of 2026, in between box office hits like The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day, there’s a surprisingly quiet week. Seemingly, nobody has the guts to battle with the likes of Christopher Nolan or the Marvel Cinematic Universe for its box office returns — except one.
The man who attempted Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey has returned to this twisted Disney horror universe with one that does seem like it lends itself much more to the genre than a loveable yellow bear who eats too much honey; that being Pinocchio. As far as this subgenre of iconic Disney characters turned murderous psychos goes, Pinocchio: Unstrung is actually not that bad. However, that isn’t really the highest of praise.
While the dialogue within this movie is almost always quite weak, the character of Pinocchio is brought to life in such an interesting way, which you see in great detail in the behind-the-scenes during the credits. I truly admire the dedication to so many practical effects, which instantly adds a few points for me. It seems as if almost all of what you see on screen is shot in camera, even down to the title card.
I absolutely loved the design of Pinocchio here. Even before he does anything psychotic, the first time you see him on screen, a shiver runs down your spine. These lifeless, yet alive eyes, the cracks all around his face, and the unnaturally wide mouth — feeling somewhat reminiscent of the Joker from The Dark Knight — all work together to create something incredibly horrifying.
How I thought this movie would play out, after the first 20 or so minutes, was Pinocchio taking on his quest to become a ‘real boy’ in a much more psychotic fashion than in the original movies. Around the end of the first act, Pinocchio learns that to become a real boy, he needs to close the gap of differences between him and James, Geppetto’s grandson and Pinocchio’s only friend.
These differences that Pinocchio observes are skin, teeth, hair, and eyes. In turn, he’d go out into the world in search of these things, torturing and killing people in the process. After he’s acquired these body parts that make him a ‘real boy’, Pinocchio goes to show James, thinking he’ll appreciate the effort and sentiment. After James is horrified by what he’s done, Pinocchio becomes resentful of him — as well as ‘real’ people in general — taking him on a murderous rampage.
While many of these ideas are presented throughout, and some brought to fruition — like Pinocchio dressing himself up in his victims’ body parts — the third act moves this in a much different direction. Geppetto being the twist villain, playing God and resurrecting people through his dolls, only for them to experience unending suffering, didn’t seem like an out of pocket progression, and is even quite an interesting one — helped by the detail that James’ dead friend has been reincarnated in Pinocchio. However, this twist did feel like it detracted from what made this concept interesting in the first place.
Not only this, I would have liked to have seen Geppetto win. Imagine how interesting it would have been for Geppetto’s God complex to take over, killing both James and his friends, only to later resurrect them as dolls, consuming his entire life and surrounding himself with these reanimations. While I’m not mad at the finale of this movie, simply seeing the groundwork for something much more interesting, and me being able to imagine that in great detail because of that groundwork, the direction this does go ultimately feels somewhat bittersweet.
The inclusion of Jiminy Cricket felt so unnecessary to me. It seemed like he was only there because the creators felt as if they had to, even though their own original character, being one of Geppetto’s older, failed experiments, filled that spot as Pinocchio’s conscience. If Cricket was introduced much earlier then my opinion may have been different, as he could have been what pushed Pinocchio to do what he did, but by the time he actually did show himself, Pinocchio was already set on his mission — and even near the end of it. Cricket ended up just adding a few moments of unnecessary comic relief and took up way too much screen time.
One thing I absolutely despised within this is something that is absolutely tiny, yet incredibly important to me. That is, in the pool scene, they used music from Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey. This music simply being used isn’t the sin here, however. It could’ve been a small easter egg for fans of that movie, as well as a nod for what paved the way for this movie to exist. But, they didn’t just use the music, they also showed a completely unnecessary shot of one character’s phone, in which the poster for Blood and Honey is front and centre.
This immediately reminded me of a small moment in Regretting You — the movie from last year based on Colleen Hoover’s novel of the same name — in which the final triumphant kiss happens in a cinema… with a poster for The Running Man, which released the following month, in the background — both distributed by Domain Entertainment. Not only does this feel cheap, but also incredibly egregious. Not only do we have to sit through 25 minutes of ads and trailers before a movie starts, but are we now going to tolerate promo for other movies being baked into the movie we’re currently watching? This better not become a trend.
All in all, while this is leagues better than Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey and its sequel, that doesn’t mean this is a great movie on its own. Its main drawback is the abysmal dialogue and much of its acting feeling quite weak — despite the inclusion of Barbarian’s Richard Brake and the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise’s Robert Englund, playing Geppetto and Jiminy Cricket respectively. However, this can often feel somewhat terrifying, mostly in Pinocchio’s first moments, and an enjoyable watch overall. But please stop making these, they’ll never actually be that good.