I've always thought Pinocchio was an odd story. An old lonely toy maker finds that one of his creations has come to life, and sends him out into the world the day after being created. (But he'll be okay right? He has a grasshopper to guide him!) Unfortunately, the questionable vagrant grasshopper fails in his duties pretty quickly when Pinocchio runs away with a fox to become an actor. He gets kidnapped by an extremely creepy beard man and is put in a bird cage. A fairy comes and bails them out.
On his way home, Pinocchio runs into the aforementioned fox, and he convinces Pinocchio that he is sick. Pinocchio runs away AGAIN and goes to Pleasure Island. A bunch of boys go crazy on said island and get turned into donkeys, which are then sent to work in the mines. Pinocchio escapes before going full donkey and runs home. (How he expected to explain his newly acquired donkey parts to his father, I'll never know.) But lo! What is this? Gepetto is gone! He somehow got swallowed by a whale! Somehow...
Naturally, Pinocchio goes to save him. (take notice, the water has no effect on his ability to survive. Jiminy is also unaffected which makes zero biological sense.) They eventually find the whale. (He probably got picked on in whale school for being named Monstro, which is probably why he's so angry.) Gepetto accidentally pulls Pinocchio and Jiminy out of the water while fishing. There is a happy reunion. Then they light the whale on fire from the inside. He sneezes them out. Somehow Pinocchio manages to almost drown himself during the ruckus, despite his insensitivity to water earlier in the movie. Gepetto finds him washed up on the beach and Pinocchio becomes a real boy. Yay.
Trippin' right?
But while the story is very strange, (especially through a child's eyes) there is something to say for the smaller things in Pinocchio.
While watching this, my brother pointed out something called "Mickey Mousing". This is the style that many early Disney films share in respect to sound. When something happens visually, it also happens musically. Instead of sound effects as we know them, these effects were more playful and pleasant. For instance, when something crashes or drops or anything loud happens, it was usually accompanied with a drum or a cymbal or a triangle.
Another thing that is great about Pinocchio is the music in general. "When You Wish Upon a Star" won an academy award for Best Original Song. It later went on to be a Disney icon seconded only by Mickey Mouse himself. And the other songs in the movie aren't so terrible either. For one thing, they're extremely catchy. ("Give a Little Whistle" is stuck in my head as I type this.) And anyone who has seen Pinocchio will recognize the songs "An Actor's Life for Me" and "I Got No Strings".
The animation has something to be said for it too. It is very detailed, especially scenes in Gepetto's workshop with creative, funny little toys and clocks scattered everywhere and kittens and goldfish dancing and singing along with the old toy maker.
So, while Pinocchio is a very strange movie in and of itself, it is still a Disney classic with great aesthetic value.
Next movie: Fantasia
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