Original release date: February 23, 1940 nationwide, premiered at the Center Theatre in New York City on February 7, 1940

Rating: G. “Contains tobacco depictions.”

Length: 1 hour, 28 minutes

Background: You’ve heard of this one. It is a Disney classic. Even if you’ve never seen the movie, you’ve heard somebody say that a nose is growing like Pinocchio’s because of a lie.

“Pinocchio” is Disney’s second feature-length animated film and one of its most endearing. Based on the 1883 Italian children’s novel, “Pinocchio” was originally meant to be the third Disney animated film after “Bambi.” The poor deer, however, had some technical difficulties that pushed it back after “Pinocchio.”

With the success of “Snow White,” Walt wanted to hire celebrity voices. While most of the names don’t stick out to you and me in 2020, Cliff Edwards is a name to know. He’s the voice of Jiminy Cricket in “Pinocchio” (and future movies where he appears, which we will get to one day). He was also a popular musicians in the 1920s and 30s under the name Ukulele Ike. Ah yes, Ukulele Ike. A true artist’s name indeed.

Mel Blanc, most famous for being the voice of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and a large number of the popular Looney Tunes characters, was also hired on to do vocals for “Pinocchio.” He was set to be the voice of Gideon the fish. However, as development went on, Gideon became a fish with no words. One thing he recorded for the film – a hiccup – was left in. Easy work.

The movie was not a box office success, underperforming and making about a million dollars less than it cost to make the movie. Of course, that amount has been made up many times in later day VHS, DVD, and Blu ray sales.

It was a success in the awards world, winning Academy Awards for Best Original Song and Best Original Score, the first Disney film to win either. The movie was deemed significant enough to be added to the National Film Register, while Time magazine named it the best animated film of all.

The movie and its characters live on daily at Disney theme parks. Pinocchio’s Daring Journey takes guests on a ride in California, Tokyo, and Paris, while Pinocchio, Geppetto, and Fowlfellow all meet guests at parks around the world. Pinocchio has his own quick service restaurant at Orlando’s Magic Kingdom as well as parks in Tokyo and Paris.

Pleasure Island, a central location in the firm, was also the longtime namesake of part of what is now Disney Springs at Walt Disney World. It offered adult-only nightclubs.

The wooden boy had his own video game on the Sega Master Drive, Sega Genesis, Game Boy, and Super Nintendo. He also appears in the Disney hybrid game “Kingdom Hearts” as well as one of its followup games.

Review:

In my review of the 1940 version of “Swiss Family Robinson,” I pondered about perhaps the movie being from 1940 being why I didn’t enjoy it. Nope. This one is a 1940 movie and is words better. Sorry Robinson family, you’re just boring.

The movie begins with the credits sequence but, more notably, the voice of Jiminy Cricket singing “When You Wish Upon a Star.” “When You Wish Upon a Star” is maybe the most notable song in Disney history, used in Disney commercials, parades, fireworks shows, and anywhere else they can find to stick it.

Following the opening credits, we meet Jiminy as he sings, a little green cricket (imagine that) with his top hat, coat, and yellow shoes along with his fashionable umbrella. He opens the rather large nearby book – “Pinocchio” – and tells us the story. The “let’s look into a book” gimmick is one used in many early Disney movies.

The animation is well done and the colors look great, a testament to both the original animation crew and the teams that have worked on remastering the film for the HD era.

Jiminy’s story starts with himself, showing a more poorly dressed version of himself finding his way into a house as bugs often do. He notices the various wooden toys and clocks around before noticing a wooden puppet boy, strings and all. As he does, Geppetto, the woodworker, as well as his cat Figaro come down the stairs. Jiminy runs for cover, taking a spot next to a rather… rear-enhanced doll.

Early parts of the film really show how the Disney crew had already mastered the art of a great animated film. While Geppetto makes Pinocchio dance to his song, several other of his other creations play the song. At the same time, Jiminy has to run around both undetected and unharmed by the gears of the items.

Geppetto does his nightly wishing on the stars, wishing the Pinocchio would be a real boy. That’ll never happen, he’s a wooden puppet. And that’s where the movie ends.

Not really. A magical blue fairy comes and turns Pinocchio into a real boy. She dubs Jiminy as Pinocchio’s conscience as well, giving him a spiffy outfit as she does. “Always let your conscience be your guide,” she advises him – and us – before she disappears into Fairyville.

As the film goes on, we meet some of the supporting cast. Honest Jon, a fox who probably doesn’t deserve his name, roams the streets with Gideon the cat. As with a lot of Disney lore, some animals have evolved more than others. While Figaro is a housecat, Gideon walks on two legs and wears clothes. Figaro, however, might be smarter.

Honest Jon sees a naïve child and tells Pinocchio about the world of theatre. His name will be in lights! Pinocchio is warned by Jiminy about Honest Jon (“Honest Jon???”) With Stromboli directing, Pinocchio performs “I’ve Got No Strings.” Jiminy thinks he looks like a fool while Stromboli sees dollar signs. It’s a little of both, with Jiminy leaving dejected and Stromboli counting his money.

Stromboli, of course, is not a nice man. As Pinocchio plans to leave to see his father, Stromboli locks him in a cage. He’s just an act now. As they ride off in Stromboli’s carriage, Jiminy sadly watches them go… before decide to chase and wish Pinocchio luck. What he sees needs more than wishes though, as he unsuccessfully breaks the boy out of the cage. The fairy appears again, wondering what happened as if she isn’t a magical fairy. She asks why he didn’t go to school and he lies, causing his nose to do some growing. Nope, don’t like that.

She helps him shrink it back down and warns him that she’s done helping. Oh, and he’s out of the cage too. Pinocchio and Jiminy head down the road. Meanwhile at the Red Lobster Inn (free cheddar bay biscuits?), the wolf and cat are smoking up a storm (hence the disclaimer). They meet an old creeper who offers them good money to find him “stupid little boys” to take to Pleasure Island.

Sure enough, the bad animal crew meet the wooden boy and cricket on their way home. Ol’ blockhead falls for it, joining a sea of other white boys on the island. There’s all the food the want, Tobacco Row with all the free smokes they could want (the 2020 version would just be a strip mall of vape shops), as well as gambling and fighting. Creepy old man watches and demands the doors locked, knowing his experiment is off to a good start.

Jiminy finds Pinocchio mid-cigar and mid-pool game, demanding he leave at once. When Pinocchio declines, Jiminy says he’s done and tells him to go ahead and make a jackass of himself. Foreshadowing!

The boys begin to turn into donkeys, which is probably a weird side effect of the island. This goes for Pinocchio too, who begins growing ears and a tail before escaping the island with Jiminy.

Finally making it home, Pinocchio and Jiminy notice that not only is Geppetto gone, but the house is full of spider webs. A certain fairy drops a message saying he went looking for his child and was swallowed by a whale. Well, that’s a sudden plot twist.

We learn Geppetto is still alive in the whale, so Pinocchio decides to go after it. Jiminy warns him that it is Monstro, a monster of a whale. Down they go into the water to find this whale, something that is apparently much easier than it seems.

I’m not going to spoil things for you, but I’m pretty sure you can figure out how the movie ends. The underwater effects are very impressive for 1940.

Extras:

We get five of them for this feature. First, “Pinocchio Trailer” is exactly that… a minute or so trailer for the movie that was used for one of the many reissues.

“Deleted Scene: Alternate Ending” is a two-minute clip put together by storyboard art.

“Deleted Scene: In the Belly of the Whale,” is a little over four minutes. It is put together with storyboards, early artwork as well as audio.

“In Walt’s Words: Pinocchio” is what it sounds like, Walt talking about the movie. In addition to classic footage of Walt and the movie development, this is several 1956 interviews spliced together.

“Deleted Scene: The Story of the Grandfather Tree” is another deleted scene lasting three minutes, splicing together story notes, a storyboard, and model sheets of character artwork.

Should you watch it?

You 100% should watch it. It’s one of the best Disney classics of all time. The animation is great, the story is good, and the music is superb. I’d also recommend watching the “In Walt’s Words” bonus feature both for insight and for the footage of scary early Dwarf costumes.