Pinocchio

It certainly is interesting reading other viewers comments. I can't imagine anyone being "bored" with this film. But then, I don't even go to movies anymore, because I find those made today to be either horrific and traumatizing, or brain-numbingly stoopid and poorly made. Pinocchio, on the other hand, is the ultimate in everything that is "movie" : camera-work, special effects, background music, musical numbers, characterization, story development with narrative sweep, high-drama and low-comedy (but never Lockerroom-low), color, motion, editing, use of sound, artwork, audience manipulation... and in the end, life-affirming! I cannot possibly recommend this movie too highly. In my opinion, considering cinematic effectiveness, Pinocchio rates way up with Citizen Kane, Sherlock Jr., and Battleship Potemkin.

'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.

My Rating : 9/10

This is a very complete movie. The artwork is perfect and colorful, everything is carefully drawn and painted. The film is a clever combination of some of the funniest moments in cinema history and some of the darkest and most sinister ever. Animation is terrific. The soundtrack is excellent, with lots of musical pieces to enjoy.

This is an Italian tale, so it takes place in Italy, which is great, for it benefits from a certain Italian touch of film-making and Italian charm.

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.

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.