Pinocchio (1940)
An old, lonely woodcarver along with his cat and fish, wishes upon a star for a real boy. The blue fairy appears and makes his wooden puppet Pinocchio come to life and designates a little cricket known as Jiminy Cricket as his conscience. He must prove himself to be brave, truthful and unselfish before becoming a real boy. It won’t be easy with all the evil in the world trying to use and take advantage of poor Pinocchio.
We all know Pinocchio and if you don’t, I feel sorry for your childhood, but let’s explain this story from a different point of view; a creepy, old man who may or may not have a smoking and drinking problem, (examples include; a cuckoo clock containing a hiccupping drunkard with a liquor bottle around his neck, a pocket watch showcasing a pair of frosty filled beers and the need to smoke a pipe of I don’t know what before going to bed) wishes upon a star for his doll to come alive. As soon as Geppetto discovers Pinocchio is alive, he sends him off to school without any guidance or chaperone. His son is immediately kidnapped.
As a kid, Gideon the Cat blowing smoke rings, grabbing one from the air, dipping it into his beer and eating it like a donut, fascinated me. I always found that so appealing and wanted to smoke just so I could try to make a smoke ring that I could grab and eat. The temptation island fun world also looked very appealing. Kids breaking things, getting into fights, and playing pool while smoking and drinking. Sure they were punished for their sins by turning into jack asses, but showing kids actually doing that would never fly in today’s films, much less a Disney film. By the way, does anyone else think kidnapping kids and turning them into talking donkeys seem like an extremely weird, maniacal plan? Most of the donkeys can’t even talk so it only works some of the time. What are they going to do with all these regular donkeys? I don’t think they fully thought this through. For that matter, how is this even happening?
I’m dwelling on all these negative aspects for today’s politically correct world but I truly love this film! It is so much fun and one of my absolute favorite Disney films! I love the world that is created full of color and life. Children will love it and as an adult I appreciate the visuals. I could spend the entire movie’s running time watching each of the creative individual clocks do their thing in Geppettos workshop. I love the adventures they go on, becoming a traveling marionette show, playing at a dark theme park and getting swallowed by a whale. If for some reason you missed Pinocchio as a child definitely check it out.
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