Pinocchio (1940)

Ah Pinocchio! Now this is how to make an animated film! I remember having this on VHS when I was young, and my sister and I would watch it constantly. I remember it made me think smoking wasn't cool, but I loved everything about the film and at the time could quote entire scenes from it. 

As I grew up and lost that old VHS to the mists of time, I still had sentimental memories of the film, and a few years ago tried to get a copy on DVD. Unfortunately, because of Disney and their notorious 'Disney Vault' the only legal way I could watch it was to pay massively over inflated prices on eBay. So I waited for the inevitable reissue. And waited.

By the time Pinocchio was eventually re-released in early 2009, my expectations were high. I pre-ordered the Blu-ray and counted down the days before I would be reaquainted with what I was sure must be a timeless classic.

As I've found by watching repeats of Button Moon and Rainbow, however, memories can distort and lie. Some childhood memories should not be revisited in adulthood. So imagine my delight when I fired up that Blu-ray and marvelled at the breathtaking quality of animation, the wonderful characterisation, and the (generally) high standard of storytelling. More than most films, I'm quite biased towards Pinocchio, and in my list of favourite Disney films it generally fights with two others for that top spot, depending on my mood.

This was only Walt Disney's second animated feature-length movie, and following on from the surprising success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Disney looked to an existing children's story for inspiration, the 1883 The Adventures of Pinoccio by Italian author Carlo Collodi. The basic structure of the film follows this story, including the characters getting swallowed by a "big fish" late in the film. 

Looking back on it now, though the marionette's creator, Gepetto, is a wonderful Disney character and easy to warm to, with those early scenes set in his workshop (especially the dancing to 'Little Wooden Head') demonstrating some of the best animated film I've ever seen. However, find it quite hard to find much warmth in Pinocchio's character and his continuous attempts to lie and deceive. Though it could be argued that the character is going on a journey throughout the story, and that he makes good in the end, I still find it quite hard to sympathise with the main character, which is especially important in what is fundamentally a children's film. However, one of the highlights of the film is the amount of characterisation they were able to inject into Figaro, Gepetto's cat. Considering the creature never utters a word, and therefore all of the character is imbued through animation, this really is a great achievement. This shows more than anything the confidence the Disney animators were developing, and rightly so.

Look what happens when you lie, kids

Similarly, the pivotal character of the Blue Fairy, though only seen briefly throughout the film, maintains this high standard of animation, especially considering both the time and budgetary constraints the team were working on, let alone any access to modern CGI methods. Interestingly, the Blue Fairy follows the human form that was introduced in Snow White, however Gepetto has a far more 'cartoony' depiction, similar in style to the dwarves in the previous film. We also Pinocchio wandering further into pure fantasy, with Honest John portrayed as a talking fox (actually the only non-human creature apart from Jiminy Cricket to speak) complete with top hat and a rather fetching cloak. This concept would evolve further with Disney's 1941 feature Dumbo, where most of the cast are non-human talking characters.

I couldn't fail to mention another key ingredient of Disney films, and one that is seldom utilised better than it is here: the music. From Jiminy Cricket's opener 'When You Wish Upon a Star', to Pinocchio's dancing routine to 'I've Got No Strings', the standard is set very high and really helps to lift the film to the truly great status it has earnt. Not until 1967's The Jungle Book would one song be so synonymous with a Disney film as 'When You Wish Upon a Star'.

To me, despite Walt Disney's consistently high quality of output up until the United States entered into World War II, Pinocchio still stands as their greatest animated film of this early period, and watching it now, it has aged surprisingly well. I'm glad to see my 8-year-old self had good taste in films.