Pinocchio (1940)
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Pinocchio Movie Review
Pinocchio is a 1940 animated fantasy drama film which is Disney’s second animated feature. It is by far their finest achievement and in my opinion the best animated film of all time.
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“Prove yourself brave, truthful and unselfish,
and someday you will be a real boy“
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The story is amazing. This is by far Disney’s darkest outing ever, at least it’s in the discussion with ‘The Black Cauldron’ and ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’. It is a fairy tale, but a more grounded in reality one where it acts as a drama with fantastical elements and that is a perfect combination. That makes the film still feel like a Disney classic, but also a different kind of beast altogether as certainly the studio has never made a film like this ever again.
Walt Disney made Pinocchio three years after ‘Snow White’ and unfortunately this was a different box office story as the film was a bomb. However, it endured over time as a masterpiece and thankfully today’s critics acknowledge it as such. It was a huge risk by the studio to adapt such a dark novel and it paid off significantly as we got an instant classic.
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As in ‘Snow White’, Pinocchio as well has some impeccably executed tonal shifts. The first half of the film is lightweight, happy, childlike and entertaining, while the second half is quite dark, serious and even terrifying at times. And it all ends with an uplifting and beautiful closing sequence. Both tones worked splendidly and we got two great movies in a way.
The reason why the first act is somewhat extended and so endearing is because they wanted us to get to know the characters and feel for them and thus later we get to have our hearts broken and also get scared by the sudden terrible things that start to happen to our protagonist. It’s filmmaking 101: introduce us to the characters, give us a strong, long build-up and then eventually let them go through hell with us the audience watching in fear.
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So I loved that first act so much as it was so sweet, but the theatre part is naturally one of the highlights of the film, so dark and hopeless. The ending is beautiful, as I said before, and emotionally rewarding while the Monstro/ocean scenes are wonderfully adventurous and highly original.
By far the standout part of the film though is Pleasure Island which features kids smoking and drinking alcohol and thus is groundbreaking and remains the only animated film to showcase that imagery. But those scenes where kids turn into jackasses remain among the most purely frightening scenes in the history of Disney Animation. I, as an adult, find it horrible and thus the children ought to be scared out of their minds.
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And that brings me to my next point which is the film’s message as the main reason why this is the best animated film ever made in my humble opinion. This is the film that every parent should give to their children to watch at least a couple of times. Don’t lie or your nose will grow! Don’t drink and smoke or you will grow donkey tail and ears! Those messages are simple, but are realized in such an effective and frightening way that hasn’t been done since and probably won’t be done in the near future. Pinocchio shows us what it means to be human and a good man through the eyes of a wooden boy and through his terrific journey.
Now let’s talk about the characters. The character development is far more superior here than in ‘Snow White’. The main protagonist is, unlike Snow, developed so well. He starts with childlike innocence and naivety, but as the film progresses he learns valuable lessons along the way and becomes a better person in the progress. It was a great choice to make him sweet and naive, but also easily influenced and with nastier urges. Thus he becomes a very relatable boy and the reason why this film is particularly important and relevant for young boys to see.
Geppetto is a charming old man longing to have a child of his own and he is a warm and caring father figure to the protagonist. The film is so important for giving us a non-biological dad, at least I took it that way. It shows us how anyone can be a great parent, even if he is without a partner.
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Jiminy Cricket grew on me over time. He did not appeal to me as much upon first viewing, but now I find him to be probably the best Disney sidekick ever alongside Sebastian from ‘The Little Mermaid’ of course. On the one hand, he is smart and acts as main character’s conscience, and on the other hand, he is a comic relief as well. That dual nature to him is so well established as he can be goofy and funny, but still remains clever, a great friend to Pinocchio and such a caring cricket. The relationship between the two is the heart of the film for sure, even more moving than the relationship between Pinocchio and Geppetto.
Sidekicks in the film also include Cleo and Figaro. They are a great duo, but of the two Figaro stands out as a wonderful comic relief. Cleo’s sweet too. Figaro’s like Dopey and Grumpy – stubborn, but caring and cute. Disney pushed the idea of silent characters again and it shows how great those characters can be.
These two certainly take a bit too much of the screen time, but they are so cute and endearing that I ended up being fine with that choice. The Blue Fairy is a terrific plot device and very elegant and royal whereas Monstro remains one of the scariest and most imposing animals in all of Disney films. Very mythical too. Lampwick is also very memorable and important as this bad boy with a terrible influence on our protagonist.
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The villains here are perhaps the best in the whole Disney canon. They are simply believable in terms that they don’t have any powers and they don’t make any foolish mistakes or judgments, as is the case with most Disney films and animated films in general. They are mean and their only goal is to make a profit. The fact that none of them gets punished for their menaces in the end is to be admired. They just come in and out of the movie which is very realistic as in real life many people just get away with their crimes. That is the most admirable choice in the film with many great choices and I wish that the rest of the Disney films followed suit in that area.
Honest John and Gideon the Cat are an excellent, fun and yet very capable and smart duo. I loved their amusing cartoony interactions and certainly the cartoony action in this film appealed to me as it was classical and typical of its time. I loved how the film managed to include that element along with all the darkness and doesn’t make it jarring in tone. Gideon is silent and goofy whereas John is smart and very manipulative and I loved both of them. Stromboli is of course immensely menacing and scary whereas the Coachman appears in just a couple of scenes, but manages to leave an impression as the most brutal and worst villain of them all.
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The animation in Pinocchio is impeccable. It is detailed, mostly in the scenes in the house, and it is quite impressive when looking at scenes with Monstro the whale. The house is filled with a lot of phenomenal details and I loved how it was explored with the clocks, the dolls and everything getting its role in the film. The ocean is so well animated as are the theatre and the Italian town which features terrific imagery. The character design is probably Disney’s best with the main character’s amiable and cute appearance and the look of the villains is fantastic as well with all of them being so memorable in looks and movements. ‘Snow White’ may be the more groundbreaking film, but Pinocchio is more polished and artistic with great colors, character designs and a lot of memorable imagery. Also the realism is to be admired here.
Pinocchio is not a musical. It has five songs, but all appear in the first half of the film and are not as essential to the plot as are films like ‘Snow White’, ‘Beauty and the Beast’ or ‘The Little Mermaid’. And I didn’t mind that as the film is best off as a sophisticated, realistic drama with fantastical and some musical elements. But the songs themselves are still all excellent.
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Little Wooden Head is such an endearing number and the most lightweight and sweet part of the entire film. I really enjoyed this scene and the catchy, childlike tone of the song. Give a Little Whistle is terrific as a great showcase of Jiminy’s importance in Pinocchio’s future journey with terrific lyrics and a catchy tune. Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee is also very catchy and a fun, amusing scene overall which was a great choice to sell off Honest John’s manipulation.
When You Wish Upon a Star, like Jiminy, grew on me over time. I still do not adore it as much as I should as I still find it too slow, but the number remains iconic in Disney’s history for setting up their entire importance of dreaming ideals. It is so well sung and with wonderful lyrics, though admittedly I prefer it in the Disney modern logo without singing as that way it’s simply breathtaking and indescribably pleasing and enchanting.
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I’ve Got No Strings is easily the musical highlight, at least for me personally. It’s the most entertaining scene of the film with all the puppets and theatrics being so well executed with the highlight being their diverse heritage and languages spoken. That was terrific. The song is good in its lyrics at first, but the second half is where its biggest power lies with that incredibly catchy, fast and iconic music. It’s such an underrated song for sure.
The humor in Pinocchio is quite strong as is the endearing charm of it. The dialogue is fantastic as it has some highly iconic lines of dialogue. The direction is great and the attention to detail is again meticulous. It truly is the pinnacle of Disney studio’s filmmaking and the best proof of how striking and powerful the animation medium can be. I love this film more every time I see it and I will continue to watch it for decades to come.
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With polished and simply brilliant, realistic animation, wonderful songs and an admirable tone which smoothly shifts from sweet and endearing to dangerous and dark, Pinocchio truly is the most unique Disney film ever made as the studio never did anything like it again. The highlights include the Monstro scenes as well as Pleasure Island with the transformation scenes being so effective and scary even for adults. The film teaches children about the importance of being a good man through a couple of strikingly scary scenes and is thus important for every child to watch at least once. It also features superbly developed, wonderful characters along with very realistic and menacing villains. The fact that they entirely get away with their crimes is the film’s most admirable achievement. It succeeds as a terrific, realistic and very moving drama with great fantastical elements to it. For all of those reasons, Pinocchio is not only Walt Disney Animation Studios’ magnum opus, but also the very best animated film of all time, period.
