Headscratchers / Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio

• When Geppetto, in a drunken state, builds Pinocchio with the pine tree that was planted besides Carlo's grave, he drags the tree to his house like it was nothing. How can Geppetto be so strong if, by this point, he is already an old man?
  • What Geppetto drags home is not entire tree. He pulled a length of the trunk on rope, with an armful of branches for limbs.
• If the Sea Captain knew about the Terrible Dogfish's threat, why didn't he warn Geppetto about the dogfish's coming before the sea beast appears to devour the ship? The captain was already aware that the dogfish was coming seconds before it appears.
  • Perhaps the Sea Captain thought that yelling "Look out, there's a giant fish!" would have only shocked/confused Geppetto and thus wasted valuable escape time.
• Towards the film's climax, both the Podestà and Count Volpe try to murder Pinocchio. Did the two forget that Pinocchio is, well, immortal, so regardless how much they shot him or burned him, Pinocchio was going to come back anyway? The two were present when Pinocchio was revived for the first time, and both of them saw how Pinocchio survived being shot by Benito Mussolini's right-hand. Did they forget or what?
  • The Podestà is likely aware and his goal is to simply teach a harsh lesson in obedience to both Pinocchio and his son. Volpe, meanwhile, is obviously not thinking clearly after the loss of his fortune, and beside, he wants to burn Pinocchio to ashes. He may be immortal, but his injuries don't heal after each death, so being turned to ashes and scattered in the ocean could potentially represent a Fate Worse than Death, his conscience may come back, but there is nothing much to come back to.
• When Candlewick stands up to his father and shoots him with the paintball gun to save Pinocchio, the Podestà stumbles into the rope ladder, which leads to his death due to getting tangled up in the ropes, so he is unable to escape the bomb the Allies drop on him. However, two things here: 1) The Podestà only got one of his arms tangled by one of the ropes, but seconds later, his second arm gets mysteriously tangled by another rope even though he didn't put his arm through the ladder to be in that position and 2) When the Podestà is seen trying to escape from the ropes to no avail, he isn't at the ladder's bottom but a bit higher, so how he could end up in that part of the ladder if he didn't jump into it?
• How exactly was Candlewick able to survive the explosion that kills his father? Pinocchio survived it because of his immortality, but Candlewick was near of the Podestà when the bomb dropped on him, plus the explosion was big enough to catch Candlewick with the blast, but he reappears seconds later fine and unscathed.
• At the end, Geppetto passes away and then Sebastian and Spazzatura follow. If crickets don't live more than four or six months, shouldn't Sebastian have died first? It should be noted that this film takes place in a more realistic environment, which is precisely why the Fox and the Cat were omitted and the Land of Toys subplot got cut.
  • From hearing Sebastian talk about himself, it seems unlikely he has only lived a few months, so he is likely a kind of cricket that lives longer.
  • Also, sad as it is to say, Geppetto may not have lived all that much longer. He was already old and an alcoholic when he made Pinocchio, and his search for Pinocchio clearly did a number on his health. He’s not in great shape when we see them back home, and he doesn’t look all that different/older when he passes. He might have only held on for a month or two before passing away.
  • This is a fantasy film; there are creepy fairies, an immortal wooden puppet, Sebastian speaks English and knows how to write, etc. Sebastian living a little longer than usual isn't too shocking.
• How is it that earlier in the film when Pinocchio's legs are burned off, he feels no pain, but when Count Volpe ties him to a stake and begins burning him with a torch, he expresses pain and discomfort?
  • Maybe as his "humanity" develops his human senses, such as pain, also develop.
  • As mentioned on the Fridge page, when Pinocchio's legs burnt off, he didn't actually realize that fire could hurt him. When Volpe attempts to burn him to death, he fully understands that fire can kill him, and is afraid of it as a result.
• Sebastian says that the story of Pinocchio is one that "you may think you know, but really, you don't." But most versions of Pinocchio take place before this one, which is in the early 20th century. So, what does that mean? Can Sebastian see past the fourth wall, and does he know that he's in a new adaptation of the story? Or maybe, in this world, all the other Pinocchio stories also take place after the 19th century?