I found Guillermo del Toro’s version of Pinocchio delightful (available on Netflix now).
The wooden boy perhaps has been given the soul of the deceased Carlos, for whom his father mourns deeply.
What surprised me about this movie was that the wooden Pinocchio is repeatedly reincarnated. It is as if the director knew near death experience stories because there is a common experience of being sent back quickly almost against one’s will. Pinocchio gets killed, goes to a place where there is a large being in charge who sets a sand timer and as soon as the timer runs empty Pinocchio slips through the sand ground back to his life below.
I love kid movies because they often contain more spiritual and moral truths than the junk they try to feed us adults.
One Seeker's Story 