Pinocchio (Ben Sharpsteen & Hamilton Luske, 1940)
Disney's second animated feature is a wonderful family film but it's also much more.
Pinocchio not only tells the story of how an inanimate object can become a human being but it tells the story in a subtle manner which can be seen as an allegory for those who believe in such things as spiritual awakening and resurrection.
Pinocchio is a little wooden puppet who is the pride and joy of carver Geppetto (voice of Christian Rub). One night, a wandering cricket named Jiminy (voice of Cliff Edwards) stops at Geppetto's house to try to keep warm and witnesses the man wish upon the wishing star for Pinocchio to become a real boy. Later, the Blue Fairy (voice of Evelyn Venable) comes to the house and animates Pinocchio, telling him that he can become a real flesh-and-blood boy if he proves himself to be brave, truthful and unselfish. Since Pinocchio needs lessons in these matters, the Fairy appoints Jiminy as his "Conscience".
The next morning, Pinocchio bids goodbye to his father and his cat Figaro and goldfish Cleo and heads off to school, but he falls into temptation before he even reaches there. It's difficult for Jiminy to keep up with Pinocchio who becomes an "actor" after being sold by the poorly-named Honest John (voice of Walter Catlett) to the menacing Stromboli (voice of Charles Judels). Later, Pinocchio goes to an even-more terrible place where boys can do whatever antisocial behavior they choose until they literally turn themselves into jackasses. With Pinocchio gone, Geppetto goes in search of him and ends up in the belly of the huge whale Monstro. That's when it's up to Pinocchio to search for and try to save his father.
Pinocchio is charming, lovingly-animated, surprisingly scary, teaches simple life lessons unobtrusively, is very funny and contains some wonderful songs. Besides the beautiful opener "When You Wish Upon a Star", it contains the wonderful "Give a Little Whistle", "Hi-Diddle-Dee" and "I've Got No Strings". The animation accompanying the songs is of extremely high visual quality and wit. In fact, sometimes it's difficult to believe how eye-popping the imagery is in this almost 70-year-old classic. Without benefit of computers, there is a remarkable 3-D quality to many of the shots, and some of the scenes underwater seem mind-boggling in their complexity and believabilty.
Pinocchio was always my fave early Disney cartoon when I was younger, not only because it had the best story but because the animation was incredible. Seeing it on DVD, it truly is timeless as it seems to have just been made yesterday.
Pinocchio gets scarier the longer it progresses. Stromboli is a fiend who treats the "living" wooden boy the same way he does his fire wood. The Coachman who takes the unruly boys to Pleasure Island is devilish, and there are plenty of freaky scenes at the island which can only be described as horrific. Monstro is a truly awe-inspiring creature who can move extremely quickly and generate massive power; think the shark in
Jaws, only a hundred times larger.
Pinocchio does seem to mix a large amount of adventure in with its fantasy, and it's not surprising that the film's final song ends at just about the time that Stromboli gets a hold of his ax.
Even with all the qualities mentioned above,
Pinocchio earns some extra credit for actually having a very deep story. It's true that you may find some parallels between the tales of Geppetto and Monstro and that of Noah and the great fish, but Noah didn't have a wooden boy attempting to be brave, truthful and unselfish in it. Without giving away the ending of
Pinocchio for those few who may not know it, it does seem to grow out of a self-realization which is taught by many of the world's religions. It can also be argued that many of Disney's animated features repeat the concept of bringing the dead back to life and creatures being transformed by some important acts which they accomplish near the end of the story. It's just that
Pinocchio did it first and, at least to me, the most-honestly, so that's why it's one of the few (along with
Dumbo) which can move me to tears when that little bug reprises his trademark song as the film ends.
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