Pinocchio no Espaço

I saw this on the big screen. It changed my life. Well, OK. Perhaps I would have become a Sci-Fi fan anyway, but at age six, this was the coolest thing I had ever seen. I should note that when this came out, I still thought Clutch Cargo was at least moderately cool. Years after I had seen it, I had dreams about it. As an adult, I remembered this little tale whenever I saw a reference to "Pinocchio". (Disney tosses them around like beads at Mardi Gras) It was so obscure that I thought I might have dreamed it up myself. I was excited to have unearthed this gem and bring it into the light of today. I think it might be fun to see this again just for the nostalgia. Then again, I've listened to some of the music I liked so much back then and found it just... scary. Perhaps this should remain wrapped in the rose colored cloak of the past as my first full length, animated, Sci-fi feature film. For that alone, I'll give it six stars.

Buried in the annals of my childhood fears is this movie that I saw when I was too young to experience anything except sensual sensation. I don't even remember the plot except that there was a horrible space whale with a weird thruster thing instead of a blowhole and terrible martian space monsters that absolutely scared the crap out of me. The whole film is extremely frightening and disturbing.

I like it :)

"Pinocchio in Outer Space" may not be in the same "all time classic" league as the Disney "Pinocchio", but what it lacks in budget and grandeur it makes up for in imagination and well-crafted ambience. Rather than being a lame attempt to cash in on the audience's good memories of the Disney version, this film is actually an exercise in the classic science-fiction "what-if" scenario. And it works. It has some of the most evocative outer-space scenes ever animated, with some truly haunting extra-terrestrial landscapes and a host of alien monsters sure to thrill the still young-at-heart. It's not for everyone, but for those who can find themselves enthralled by its peculiar charms, this film is a gold mine of Sunday morning kraft dinner bliss.

...despite the fact that they made him a blonde... It's true that while this film is a visual departure from the Disney version (as it should be, IMO), it does have some elements that make it enjoyable nonetheless. The songs ("In the Little Toy Shop", "Goody Good Morning" and "Doin' the Impossible") are very decent and fun to listen to. Then there's the combination of a classic fairy tale and the space age (Pinocchio saves the Earth from Astro the flying whale). Throw in Arnold Stang (Nertle the Turtle), some scary intergalactic mutants, an atomic blast, and you've got...well, a decent 60's animated movie about a puppet saving the world.

You know, this wasn't half bad. It can't compare to arguably the greatest animated film of all time, but "Pinocchio In Outer Space" has its own merits. The animation is good. (It's much better than most modern animated TV shows.) The story is interesting. Even the three songs are lively and pleasant. It's also clear that the film strove to be a bit educational, as a number of space facts are brought up. Pinocchio and his friend Twertle, voiced by the inimitable Arnold Stang, have good chemistry and a pretty exciting adventure. If you have a small tot, there are many, many worse kid's movies you could rent for them.