'Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey' director Rhys Frake-Waterfield returns to the twisted-kidlit well for a narratively anemic but technically creative spin on the wooden-boy tale.
By Guy Lodge
Plus IconGuy Lodge
Film Critic
@guylodge See All
DAVID INCE British indie director Rhys Frake-Waterfield gained a measure of notoriety for his 2023 film “Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey,” at best an amusing sketch idea that could hardly support a feature-length horror movie, let alone a very slapdash sequel. But it wasn’t memorably bad enough to merit either cultists or a shelf full of Razzies, both of which it found: As a prankster on a shoestring budget, Frake-Waterfield has technical resourcefulness and even a bit of wit. Both are again in evidence on his latest, “Pinocchio: Unstrung,” though so are are clear shortfalls in storytelling and basic scare-mongering. Anyone who was tickled by an evil Pooh Bear may get a kick out of an evil Pinocchio, but the director’s so-called Twisted Childhood Universe remains a pretty old-hat idea, not mined here with any great daring.
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