In Walt Disney's second feature film, February 1940's "Pinocchio," the movie demonstrated his studio's incredible advancements in animated cartoon technology beyond his pioneering first full-length picture, 1937's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." Wrote critic Leonard Maltin, "Disney reached not only the height of his powers, but the apex of what many critics consider to be the realm of the animated cartoon." The fantasy movie about a puppet-turned-human fulfilled Walt's vision that his staff of artists was capable of producing high quality full length cel-animated films to supplement his short cartoons.
Disney was still busy working on 'Snow White," when animator Norman Ferguson handed him Italian Carlo Collodi's 1883 children's novel 'The Adventures of Pinocchio.' Disney fell in love with the tale on the transformation of a puppet into a living innocent boy. "Walt was busting his guts with enthusiasm," Ferguson recalled. The studio boss assigned several animators to work on "Pinocchio," a coming-of-age film about a boy who learns life's lessons the hard way.
"The story is surprisingly dark and complex for a Disney movie as it deals with themes such as responsibility and morality," describes film reviewer Sonia Cerca. The first treatment of "Pinocchio" clung too closely to the book's characters, where the boy is a snarky wise guy who murders Jiminy Cricket. The original storyboard featured sharp angles to the boy's body and a face with a long pointy nose, an appearance Walt rejected as too unsympathetic. With a modified softer, more rounded look, the young Pinocchio possessed a characteristic designed to melt viewers' hearts. Animator Ward Kimball remembers bringing Walt an early version of Jiminy Cricket with all the features of a real cricket. "Too gross," said Disney, adding he felt the insect should be cute. After several sketches, Kimball's final drawing shows a little green man topped with an oversized head, erasing all the insect's cricket physical traits. Walt loved it. Kimball disliked his new "Jiminy," later commenting,"The audience accepts him as a cricket because the other characters say he is."
Jiminy is the puppet boy's conscience, and is responsible for guiding Pinocchio into making correct and moral decisions in the face of evil outside forces. Throughout the film, Pinocchio learns his lessons the hard way. As an ideal teaching tool for young, impressionable children, "Pinocchio" instructs not to skip school, refrain from running away from home, don't smoke or drink alcohol-and as a wooden puppet, stay away from fire. Film critic Roger Ebert points out, "The key is Pinocchio's desire to become a 'real little boy,' not just a wooden puppet that can walk and talk without strings. At a very deep level, all children want to become real and doubt they can." In the process, Pinocchio tells a series of lies to the Blue Fairy, seeing his nose grow bigger and bigger with every fib.
"Pinocchio" was an innovative technological marvel at the time. Disney animators vastly improved on the company's multi-plane camera showing a depth of field never seen before on the screen. Everything from water effects, including ripples, bubbles and splashes, to dark forests appeared more realistic than seen in previous cartoons. Disney animator Ollie Johnson described the feature film as "one of the finest things the studio's ever done, as Frank Thomas said, 'The water looks so real a person can drown in it, and they do.'"
Reviews were nearly unanimous in their praise of "Pinocchio." Time magazine was effusive, writing, "In craftsmanship and delicacy of drawing and coloring, in the articulation of its dozens of characters, in the greater variety and depth of its photographic effects, it tops the high standard Snow White set. The charm, humor and loving care with which it treats its inanimate characters puts it in a class by itself."
Released during the early months of World War Two when the European and Asian cinema markets were consolidating, "Pinocchio" initially failed to make up for its $2.5 million budget, one of the most expensive movies made at the time. After the war, with several re-releases as well as distribution in the home market on VHS and DVD formats, Disney has profited from its 1940 feature a thousand fold.
"Pinocchio" earned two Oscars, for Best Musical Original Score and Best Original Song, "When You Wish Upon a Star," a tune Disney adopted for his company's theme song. This was the first time one movie won in those two categories. Time magazine included "Pinocchio" in its Best 100 Movies and was the tops in '25 All-TIME Best Animated Films." The American Film Institute ranked "Pinocchio" second behind "Snow White" in the Best Animated Cartoon category, listing "When You Wish Upon A Star" number 7 for Best Movie Song and number 38 for Most Cheerful Film. AFI also nominated it as one of the 100 Best Movies Ever Made, the Most Thrilling, Stromboli as one of Movies' Most Famous Villains as well as the Best Movie Quote, "A lie keeps growing and growing until it's as plain as the nose on your face." It's also one of '1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die.'
Disney was still busy working on 'Snow White," when animator Norman Ferguson handed him Italian Carlo Collodi's 1883 children's novel 'The Adventures of Pinocchio.' Disney fell in love with the tale on the transformation of a puppet into a living innocent boy. "Walt was busting his guts with enthusiasm," Ferguson recalled. The studio boss assigned several animators to work on "Pinocchio," a coming-of-age film about a boy who learns life's lessons the hard way.
"The story is surprisingly dark and complex for a Disney movie as it deals with themes such as responsibility and morality," describes film reviewer Sonia Cerca. The first treatment of "Pinocchio" clung too closely to the book's characters, where the boy is a snarky wise guy who murders Jiminy Cricket. The original storyboard featured sharp angles to the boy's body and a face with a long pointy nose, an appearance Walt rejected as too unsympathetic. With a modified softer, more rounded look, the young Pinocchio possessed a characteristic designed to melt viewers' hearts. Animator Ward Kimball remembers bringing Walt an early version of Jiminy Cricket with all the features of a real cricket. "Too gross," said Disney, adding he felt the insect should be cute. After several sketches, Kimball's final drawing shows a little green man topped with an oversized head, erasing all the insect's cricket physical traits. Walt loved it. Kimball disliked his new "Jiminy," later commenting,"The audience accepts him as a cricket because the other characters say he is."
Jiminy is the puppet boy's conscience, and is responsible for guiding Pinocchio into making correct and moral decisions in the face of evil outside forces. Throughout the film, Pinocchio learns his lessons the hard way. As an ideal teaching tool for young, impressionable children, "Pinocchio" instructs not to skip school, refrain from running away from home, don't smoke or drink alcohol-and as a wooden puppet, stay away from fire. Film critic Roger Ebert points out, "The key is Pinocchio's desire to become a 'real little boy,' not just a wooden puppet that can walk and talk without strings. At a very deep level, all children want to become real and doubt they can." In the process, Pinocchio tells a series of lies to the Blue Fairy, seeing his nose grow bigger and bigger with every fib.
"Pinocchio" was an innovative technological marvel at the time. Disney animators vastly improved on the company's multi-plane camera showing a depth of field never seen before on the screen. Everything from water effects, including ripples, bubbles and splashes, to dark forests appeared more realistic than seen in previous cartoons. Disney animator Ollie Johnson described the feature film as "one of the finest things the studio's ever done, as Frank Thomas said, 'The water looks so real a person can drown in it, and they do.'"
Reviews were nearly unanimous in their praise of "Pinocchio." Time magazine was effusive, writing, "In craftsmanship and delicacy of drawing and coloring, in the articulation of its dozens of characters, in the greater variety and depth of its photographic effects, it tops the high standard Snow White set. The charm, humor and loving care with which it treats its inanimate characters puts it in a class by itself."
Released during the early months of World War Two when the European and Asian cinema markets were consolidating, "Pinocchio" initially failed to make up for its $2.5 million budget, one of the most expensive movies made at the time. After the war, with several re-releases as well as distribution in the home market on VHS and DVD formats, Disney has profited from its 1940 feature a thousand fold.
"Pinocchio" earned two Oscars, for Best Musical Original Score and Best Original Song, "When You Wish Upon a Star," a tune Disney adopted for his company's theme song. This was the first time one movie won in those two categories. Time magazine included "Pinocchio" in its Best 100 Movies and was the tops in '25 All-TIME Best Animated Films." The American Film Institute ranked "Pinocchio" second behind "Snow White" in the Best Animated Cartoon category, listing "When You Wish Upon A Star" number 7 for Best Movie Song and number 38 for Most Cheerful Film. AFI also nominated it as one of the 100 Best Movies Ever Made, the Most Thrilling, Stromboli as one of Movies' Most Famous Villains as well as the Best Movie Quote, "A lie keeps growing and growing until it's as plain as the nose on your face." It's also one of '1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die.'