The Magic Kingdom Project: Pinocchio 1940

The One That Made Wishing Upon A Star Seem Reliable

Interestingly enough, Pinocchio wasn’t going to be the original follow up to Snow White. That honour was to be given to Bambi. But the production team struggled with adapting the novel and the animators struggled with animating so many animals realistically. So Bambi was pushed back and Pinocchio was started first. But it still took two years of hard work from the animators. And similtaneously, the characters and the story went through several different incarnations. Mainly stemming from the book by Carlo Collodi, which if you haven’t read… Let’s just say the movie is very light compared to the book. For example, in the book, Pinocchio is a petulant, rude, unsympathetic and ungrateful little pipsqueak who is a continuous pain in the neck of Geppetto, the genius woodcarver who brings him to life. And at the point of his completion, he kicks Geppetto before running into town and lying to the police about Geppetto mistreating him, which gets the man imprisoned. And when an unnamed talking cricket tries to teach the boy a few life lessons, he smashes it with a hammer, albeit accidentally, but… doesn’t… THAT… make Pinocchio so much more attractive?

So, needless to say, this wasn’t what Disney was going for with their adaptation. Walt encourages his team to keep Pinocchio’s rambunctiousness but also add innocence, coyness and naïveté to make him more likeable. And also to make him look and move less like a puppet, which was the first instinct of animators Frank Thomas & Ollie Johnston, because Walt feared the audience mght not connect so much with such a stiff looking character. So, animator Milt Kahl came up with the solution of creating an ordinary - looking boy with wooden joints and Walt advised everyone to follow his lead. But then Walt also realised that Pinocchio needed a truly great supporting character to guide him. So Walt kept the cricket from the original story, named him Jiminy and made him Pinocchio’s conscience. Animator Ward Kimball continuously reworked his design until he barely resembled a cricket at all, but more a tiny egghead with no ears. And thus one of Disney’s most enduring and beloved characters (by some) was born.

THE STORY
One cold night, in 19th century Italy, The travels of Jiminy Cricket (voiced by Cliff Edwards aka Ukulele Ike) bring him to a small woodcarver’s shop; wherein he invites himself to warm up. And he arrives just in time to see the woodcarver, named Geppetto, putting the finishing touches on his latest invention, a marionette boy, who he dubs Pinocchio. As he goes to bed, he sees a wishing star, and wishes that Pinocchio were flesh and blood. So while Geppetto sleeps, the Wishing Star takes the form of a beautiful, blonde fairy dressed in a blue gown, and she brings Pinocchio to life, making him a walking, talking, wooden puppet (voiced by Dickie Jones). Telling him that if he can successfully learn the virtues of bravery, truth and selflessness, he will become flesh and blood. She then appoints Jiminy Cricket, who has been watching all of this unfold, as Pinocchio’s conscience; helping him choose between right & wrong. And thus, the tale begins.

MY VERDICT

The crowning achievements of this film are twofold. Firstly, the Oscar-winning music by Leigh Harline and newcomer Ned Washington; including what is now almost Disney's theme song, When You Wish Upon A Star, which has since been covered by everyone from Louis Armstrong to Glenn Miller. Those were the first competitive Oscars Disney ever won, but, of course, not nearly the last.

And secondly, the animation, which is an incredible sight to behold even today. To the extent that, astoundingly, the animators became embarrassed to look back on Snow White when they compare it to Pinocchio. From the attention to detail in the backgrounds to the incredible solidity of every colour in every character to the groundbreaking water effects in the ocean sequence. Incidentally, later Disney animators used that sequence as inspiration for another film with several underwater scenes.

In short, Snow White established the animated film genre, but Pinocchio took it all to the next level and remains a masterpiece of that genre.

Is Pinocchio a Disney classic?: Astoundingly, it failed at the time, but it has since earned it’s place among the standard of Disney Classics.