Pinocchio (1940)

The year is 1940; the second film by Walt Disney is released. After the surprise success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) Disney was hoping for another movie that would be just as well received financially and critically, just like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (international gloss of $6.5 million against a $1.49 million budget) so Pinocchio had the daunting task of following in the footsteps of what many then and now called the mother of animated feature films but also turn a profit as the world falls into the madness of World War 2. Needless to say while Pinocchio was a moderate critical success that the time and was massive box office bomb with Disney getting only $1 million against a $2.289 million dollars. Time has been kind to Pinocchio however with it gradually getting it's money back and earned critical acclaim with a 100% like on Rotten Tomatoes ( a grade shared by Mary Poppins which would come out in 1964) does it deserve this much love and admiration? Well.....yes. Yes it does. The story of Pinocchio is much in the same vain as its predecessor, a simple story with good morals and characters. Geppetto (Christian Rub)is a toy maker living in what I can assume is mid to late 1800s France, he is lonely and dreams of a child of his own. One night he wishes upon a star and as result the magical Blue Fairy (Evelyn Venable) brings Geppetto's most recent puppet to life. Now Pinocchio (Dikie Jones) has to prove to the Blue Fairy that he is truthful, honest and unselfish in order to become a real boy. To help Pinocchio achieve this goal a cricket called Jiminy Cricket becomes his conscience a sort of guide through the real world. The main star of Pinocchio is the animation and artwork; the backgrounds are lush and highly detailed. They add to the magical atmosphere and make you warm and fuzzy as a result. The animation itself is typical late 1930s-early 1940s smooth and fantastically animated with tons of visual personality. Such as how Honest John (Walter Catlett) reads the school book upside down tells us that he is stupid and overconfident, Geppetto's cat is another example of this. The cat never said a word yet I feel I know everything about him. Another thing about the animation is the physical and visual comedy which is perfectly timed and thought out; my example I gave with Honest John is genuinely funny and is delivered with some nuance, all the jokes are delivered with subtlety and respect for the viewers intelligence, something a lot of children's movies throughout the years since Disney's creation have struggled to understand and have suffered as a result. It would be unfair of me to talk about the performances, they are all flawless and Dikie Jones deserves special mention as he is totally believable as Pinocchio, considering that Dikie Jones was only 11 years old at the time of playing the part. I cannot find anything wrong with his performance or any of the other actors. Pinocchio, much like Snow White has its morals told in simple but smart ways that both children and adults can relate to on some level. I do not need to explain why Please Island and the children turning into Donkey's are not only memorable and intelligent in delivering its message. The film is also not afraid to go to some dark places, the kids transforming into donkeys and the Ringmaster are only a few moments where the movie gets really dark and almost disturbing especially for a family friendly movie. However this is not a negative for the movie, the dark moments shine the happier moments all the brighter. In fact I cannot find any flaws in this film, this movie is almost perfect.Pinocchio is one of the best animated films out there, a classic that has stood the test of time. At times harrowing other times whimsical Pinocchio is an artistic marvel with themes and messages that will last forever.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I am a sucker for classic Walt Disney movies. At 59 years of age with no grandchildren I still make a point of adding the releases of classic Disney animated films to my collection. I never grow tired of watching them and they still retain the magic for me that they had when I viewed them decades ago as a child. I enjoy them with great nieces and nephews when I have the chance, exposing them to the magic that is Disney. They might find the animation lacking in a world of computer generated images but there is no mistaking that these films are works of art.So it is with the release of PINOCCHIO: THE SIGNATURE COLLECTION EDITION on blu-ray. Yes, it has been released previously but as with all Disney re-releases new features have been added and each time they attempt to offer the cleanest and brightest picture possible. They never fail.For those unaware of the story being told (where have you been to miss this?) it tells of a lonely marionette maker named Gepetto whose latest creation is a young boy he names Pinocchio. During the night a fairy arrives at his shop and brings the boy to life, placing a cricket named Jiminy in charge of watching over him, to be his conscience. Gepetto rises delighted to find him alive. But Pinocchio doesn't want to be just a marionette. He wants to be a real live boy.This goal sets Pinocchio and by association Jiminy on a set of adventures while Pinocchio tries to become that. As a young and uninformed person Pinocchio falls prey to the perils of life, kidnapped at one point and setting off to join a group of other young boys who want to grow up into a terror filled journey that finds some of them turned into burros. All the while Jiminy continues to warm Pinocchio of the dangers he is about to encounter but his warning seem to fall on deaf ears.Pinocchio's quest is a noble one. He loves his "father" Gepetto and wishes to become a real boy to be normal but also because he wants to please Gepetto. The bond between the two is as much parent to child as could be found. And before the story ends both will place themselves in danger because of the bond they have.Watching this movie again after all these years it continues to hold up to the test of time. That was one of the most magical things about the classic Disney movies. They were not rooted in one decade or another 60 years later. The stories were timeless and always offered a bit of common sense guidance not determined by social mores of the time but based on things everyone should know and learn. It isn't about political correctness or a cause but about life in general and that's why they remain some of the best films around. In a year where we have all been pounded with politics it is wonderful to see a movie not mired in that but that offers a compelling story that teaches as well.As I said earlier the movie itself is a masterwork of art, with images that were drawn by some of the best and brightest that Disney ever had working for him. Their ability to bring to life this story and to make it interesting is amazing. And it isn't just the characters that make it so but the backgrounds, the settings and the attention to detail that make this film one that is a visual feast for the eyes. To just imagine the work that went into a single minute of film is stunning. To realize that the movie contains 88 minutes of that is astounding.In addition to the remastered look of the film there are several new bonus items included as well. One is a reworking of the now famous tune from the film "When You Wish Upon a Star" as done by 3 Disney kids. Another is a behind the scenes making of on the film. A third is a behind the scenes look at items discussed for the Pleasure Island sequence that were abandoned and not used. There is a discussion with Walt Disney about the character of Pinocchio and the making of the movie. And there is a short cartoon featuring Oswald the lucky rabbit, one of the earliest creations of young animator Walt Disney. Not enough? Well there are indeed more extras to be found.In addition to that the movie is available in a packaging that includes both the blu-ray and DVD versions on disc as well as a digital download for the film making it as portable as you possibly can right now. If you aren't aware of digital downloads of films then by all means you need to begin looking into Vudu and ultra violet editions. This movie would be a great place to start.When all is said and done PINOCCHIO remains the treasure that it was the first time you saw it. If you have children then don't let this on pass you by. Normally Disney releases a film and then removes it from the market for several years. So pick this one up before that happens because by the time it comes around again your child might think themselves too "grown up" for a Disney flick. Have it on hand so they can enjoy it now. But don't let them know that you're enjoying it more than they are. Let it provide family memories now like it did for you when you were young. Isn't your family worth the investment?

I suppose an argument could be made for "Fantasia" as well, but certain sequences shine better than others, and it has that boring narrator. Pinocchio makes the best use of the revolutionary multi-plane camera and almost has a 3D quality about it. The most important and dramatic parts are animated with exquisite and exacting detail. The water and fire sequences are hypnotically lifelike and realistic. As he did in other (early) cartoon features, other connecting parts of it are drawn with a "broader" stroke and, while very well drawn, have a bit less detail and treatment, to carry the story along. Much precise and amazing rotoscopic action. Magnificent backgrounds and truly scary moments. Re-released to theaters circa 1955, I was only 5-years-old. The songs and "voice-overs" (mostly uncredited) have never been equaled. The talents of Mel Blanc and Cliff Edwards as Jiminy Cricket. They tell me that The Blue Fairy was drawn to resemble Jean Harlow. An unforgettable musical score and numbers such as "I Got No Strings" and Oscar-winning song "When you wish upon a star". As a 5-year-old I still remember being awe-stuck and truly scared when cigar-smoking Lampwick turns into a donkey on Pleasure Island and everyone is swallowed by Monstro The Whale. I was horrified when Pinocchio "died" until he became a real little boy. Worth viewing (as is Fantasia) on an old-fashioned giant-sized theater screen, if you ever can.

but incomparable to Snow White or some of the modern Disney movies. Pinocchio does have the funny 1940s slapstick, a solid story, and some good music (When You Wish Upon a Star is far from my favorite Disney song, but I can still enjoy it), though as a sucker for dark movies, I wasn't particularly thrilled by the action scenes in Pinocchio, such as Lampwick's transformation into a jackass. While the TV I saw it on did have the volume turned low, I was borderline amused by Lampwick's misfortune, and I wondered out loud if the Coachman and his goons really had an abundance of carts for what was once the Stupid Little Boys to drag. I did appreciate the voice acting (John Worthington Foulfellow's voice was my favorite), and I also appreciated the rather surreal nature of the Ligurian village the film is set in (we have a realistic cat, Figaro, and an anthropomorphic cat, Gideon, as one example), and I could see how creative the writers could get with 5 villains. Overall, Pinocchio is much too good to be called decent, but Snow White is better.