Pinocchio (2022) review

This is the second adaptation of the famous Carlo Collodi story we got in 2022 (the first being Robert Zemeckis' live action version with Tom Hanks) and it's made with stop-motion animation: woodcarver Geppetto (voiced by David Bradley) loses his only son Carlo (Gregory Mann) to a bombing, out of drunken despair he builds a wooden copy of him, the Wood Sprite (Tilda Swinton) gives him life and Sebastian J. Cricket (Ewan McGregor) is instructed to keep an eye on him, Count Volpe (Christoph Waltz) steals him and forces him to work, everyone gets swallowed by The Terrible Dogfish, etc.  While I personally appreciate the grim character design, this is definitely not a movie for little kids (they'll most likely be terrified) ... and I also question why (a.) there are so many musical numbers and (b.) Del Toro and co-screenwriter Matthew Robbins decided to set it during World War I, with the likes of Il Duce strutting around and getting mocked by the jovial marionette.  Fans of the director might take away more from it than anyone else (Guillermo loves evil fathers), but I couldn't help but wonder if it wouldn't have been better as a graphic novel....