It’s been 85 years since Walt Disney shared the world the second full length animated feature film, Pinocchio.
Pinocchio is one of Disney’s crown jewels that touched so many lives in the past 85 years and there’s quite a few reasons for that to be the case.
First is the story. Pinocchio is based on a classic Italian fairy-tale “The Adventures of Pinocchio” by Italian writer Carlo Collodi. While the original story was dark, animators Frank Thomas, Milt Kahl, and Ollie Johnson decided to change to make the puppet more boy-like by hiring a child actor to bring the character to life and give Jiminy Cricket are more important role as he of course served as the storyteller of the film.
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Pinocchio has a strong message about being good, truthful and unselfish unless you deal with serious consequences like the titular character.
The story, of course, has some very dark moments which can be a little scary to children even though the film is rated G.
Second is the music. Pinocchio has tons of classic songs from main theme song which is of course Disney’s theme “When You Wish Upon A Star,” to “I’ve Got No Strings.”
Each song is very catchy but plays very well with the story and characters of the film like “Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee” being about wanting to become famous and a life lesson with “Give A Little Whistle.”
Pinocchio ended up going home with two Oscars at the 13th Academy Awards for Best Original Music Score and Best Song “When you Wish Upon a Star” which of course the song being one of the most prominent themes in Disney history.
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Third and last is the animation.
With the huge success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and being the first full length animated feature film in cinema history, Pinocchio was the follow up.
The beauty of Pinocchio is on full display at man of the locations in the film such as his hometown, the fun and haunting Pleasure Island and even inside Monstro the whale during the iconic (and enormous) chase sequence in the third act.
The animation also captures the great expressions on the characters voices, the way rain was and water were moving like it was realistic that brings you into the world, the story and its tone.
We owe a lot of thanks to Walt Disney and the 750 animators and crew who brought this magical story to life that took them at least 2 years to complete before releasing in cinemas 85 years ago. An outstanding masterpiece, it’s still brimming with life, wondrous colors, and magic today.
You can stream Pinocchio on Disney+ right now.
