Pinocchio

For it's second full length animated feature, Walt Disney Studios picked the Carlo Collodi children's classic Pinocchio. The wooden puppet boy who turns into flesh and blood because of a heroic deed has been done a few times on screen, but the Disney version remains the standard.

In some of the animated features of recent years we've come full circle in the fact that a lot of well known Hollywood figures have sought to lend their voices to animated productions. Coming to mind immediately are Mel Gibson as Captain John Smith and Eddie Murphy as the donkey in the Shrek movies. It wasn't as chic a thing to do back in Disney's day, still Walt came up with several good ones like young Dickie Jones as Pinocchio, Walter Catlett as J. Worthington Foulfellow, Frankie Darro as Lampwick, and most important Cliff Edwards as Jiminy Cricket.

These folks lend their voices to one of Disney's best musical scores with Catlett making immortal the thespians ballad An Actor's Life For Me, Jones celebrating the fact he's been liberated from all manner of restraint with I've Got No Strings and Cliff Edwards talking about his new responsibilities as the puppet boy's conscience in Give A Little Whistle.

Most important though is the Academy Award given to that most plaintive song of yearning When You Wish Upon A Star as introduced by Cliff Edwards. Edwards was a major performer in the Twenties and early Thirties with his ukulele Ike character and introduced many popular songs like It's Only A Paper Moon and Singing In The Rain. But he had come up on hard times with a lot of substance abuse problems when Walt Disney offered him the part of Jiminy Cricket's voice. The movie Pinocchio and the songs he sang there resurrected his career and even when down and out, Edwards could always get work at the Disney Studio because of Jiminy Cricket's enduring popularity.

Animation never really dates and the best animation in the world was pioneered at Disney Studio. People can see Pinocchio on the same bill as Shrek even today and I daresay the audience would be equally responsive.

And you can appreciate Pinocchio today as much as your grandparents and great grandparents did through the magic of YouTube or Amazon. If not wish upon a star and fate will step in and see you through.

Last night I watched Pinocchio, Disney's second feature-length film and in my opinion one of the studio's best features. Based on the 19th century book by Carlo Collodi, but not half as unpleasant, Pinocchio combines winning animation with great humor and excitement. There are songs, but they're never like the huge production numbers that last four minutes and feature the voice of some up-and-coming princess of pop (who'll be gone in a year) that the studio later adopted with the applicable exception of When you Wish Upon a Star. My favorite song is "Little Wooden Head" which is featured in the beginning and is a truly wonderful scene as Gepetto and Figaro play happily with the new puppet.

The movie takes a sadistic, cruel, heartless little wooden boy (Collodi's character) and turns him into an interesting, 3-dimensional kid with a good heart but who is weak-willed and doesn't always listen to reason. The animation makes brilliant use of the multiplane camera, featuring a sprawling opening sequence in which the viewer practically sees the entire village at night. The characters are colorful and fun (I especially love Honest John Foulfellow and his sidekick Gideon) and the story has never a dull moment. This film is a reminder of the sort of efforts Disney put int o their films; the man himself had a great storytelling passion that was lost in later works (Alice in Wonderland, 101 Dalmatians). Pinocchio was never as famous as some of the others, and this is unfortunate because it is his masterpiece.

I think Pinocchio is Disney's best animated movie ever made (as already speculated by many other cartoon fans). The movie just so happens to be an artistic advancement over Snow White, the movie of which the Disney artists initiated their most expensive animation techniques at the time. Pinocchio is partially known as the film of which they successfully mastered the multi-plane camera filming, which gives the background art breathtaking strokes of realism.

Pinocchio has much more than beautiful artwork. It also has creative writing (borrowed respectively from the original novel), great character development, fresh humor, wonderful music, and emotional impact.

Every character, ranging from Pinocchio and Jiminy Cricket to Stromboli, the Coachman, and Monstro, has helped make this a milestone in American filmography. I like Pinocchio, because his innocence is used instead of ignorance as the cause for his downfall in both incidents (first with Stromboli, and later with his trip to Pleasure Island). This personifies how many bad things we might do in life are derived from our GOOD intentions, instead of bad. But my favorite character would have to be Jiminy Cricket, who's probably the smartest character in this whole presentation.

The story itself is so emotionally compelling, one would wonder if Carlo Collodi used the Bible for a little inspiration. A lot of what we see in Pinocchio would seem like it. The protagonist (Pinocchio) is brought to life upon his dad's (Geppetto) wish, but must prove himself a good person before he can become a real boy. The one who witnesses his coming-to-life (Jiminy Cricket) is appointed his conscience by the life-bearer (The Blue Fairy). Pinoke is tempted to do bad, what seems good at the time (by Honest John, Gideon, Stromboli, and the Coachman), and befriends one who is eventually condemned from following the wrong path (Lampwick). Pinoke narrowly escapes from being completely condemned, and has to use his mind to save his father from the beast (Monstro). Along with Figaro & Cleo as supporting players, this storyline goes on and on bringing joy where there's joy, grief where there's grief, fear where there's fear, and so on, to the point of stimulating the notion that Pinocchio is a morality tale derived from the Bible. We may never know for sure.

Walt Disney has conquered the art of retelling classic novels more than twice, and here he especially succeeds with flying colors. Pinocchio went on to win 2 Academy Awards following its 1940 debut, and several other states of recognition as recently as the mid-1990's. This is also one of the many pieces of evidence proving how wonderful Walt was (despite scorn from cynics, serious critics and fun-hating intellectuals).

Pinocchio truly is a milestone, not just in American animation, but American filmography in general. But beware: the current Disney Studio has been churning out terrible sequels to vintage animated films. They already got Peter Pan, Cinderella, and Lady and the Tramp, and more are due in the near future. We must make sure that Disney doesn't destroy this movie. As I said in my Sleeping Beauty review, some people just don't know when to LEAVE WELL ENOUGH ALONE. Again, Pinocchio is a masterpiece that has touched the hearts of the past few generations, and will continue to do the same for many future generations.

'Pinocchio' benefits from one of the finest collection of songs to grace a Disney cartoon; from 'I Got No Strings', to 'An Actor's Life For Me', and (best of all) 'When You Wish Upon A Star' - brilliant sung by 'Ukelele Ike' Edwards as Jiminy Cricket.

This cute adaptation from Carlo Corolli's classic novel adds pets with the 'aw' factor (cat and fish), as well as a truly scary sequence involving donkeys. The characters are all memorable and Pinocchio is convincing in his move from a wooden puppet to a real boy, even in cartoon form. Good voice talent from Evelyn Venable as the Blue Fairy too, especially in the bits where Pinocchio can't help revealing he isn't telling the truth!

Short, sweet, funny, and involving, 'Pinocchio' is worth an hour of anybody's time, young or old.

Pinocchio is a true classic in the world of movies. Pinocchio is based on the Italian story about the puppet who became a real boy. Pinocchio is one of Disney`s finest and it beats all the new ultracommercial cartoons, which the company produces nowadays. The story is good, the characters are very likable and warmhearted, and the music is sheer perfection. These old Disney classics are cartoons that are suitable for the WHOLE family, not just the small kids. Watch it, and prepare to be stunned! 9/10