I’m beginning to think I should have titled this series of posts, “Twenty Thoughts on…” because I clearly have a lot of thoughts about Disney movies. Anyway, Pinocchio (1940) is the second film from Walt Disney Productions, coming three years after Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. I’m not sure I’ve ever sat and watched the whole thing straight through before, but I know I’ve seen it in bits and pieces, probably in an edited form on TV when I was a kid.
- One of the Sequence Directors in the opening credits is T. Hee. A quick internet search reveals his real name is Thornton. I love that he used his initial to turn his professional name into laughter. I think I would have liked him.
- The attention to detail in the animation is amazing, particularly in Geppetto’s workshop. Everything looks like something he made himself. You could pause on any frame and find something you didn’t notice before. Still, the house is filled to overflowing with toys. Does Geppetto ever sell anything? Is he a hoarder? Watch out, Figero! Somebody’s going to find your skeleton under a pile of TV Guides in a couple of years!
- That is one sexy fish.
- Geppetto sleeps with a gun under his pillow. That bears repeating. Geppetto sleeps with a gun under his pillow.
- Geppetto’s just going to send Pinocchio off to school by himself? He’s only a few hours old! Someone call Child Services.
- “Hi-diddle-dee-day! An actor’s life is gay!” (It sure is!) I love the whole “I Got No Strings” number, but the sexy French puppet makes me uncomfortable.
- The nose-growing thing has become such the focal point of Pinocchio’s story, I didn’t realize it only happens once in the movie, when the Blue Fairy frees him from Stromboli’s wagon.
- Pleasure Island is awesome. I would turn into a jackass in the first ten minutes.
- Are we supposed to believe that Pinocchio drowned? Because we just watched him walk across the bottom of the ocean floor not five minutes ago.
- As much as I enjoy Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio is a better film. There’s an actual story, for one thing, and that final action sequence with Monstro is pretty great. The scope of the film is so vast. Snow White feels like a feature-length animated short. Pinocchio is a movie.
