An Appreciation by Jerry Saravia
Kind, older, warm-hearted Geppetto has creates toys out of wood. His shop is filled with happiness, warmth on every inch of his place, from cuckoos clocks to a black cat named Figaro and a female fish named Cleo. A sunnier disposition cannot be had in this place until he finishes creating Pinocchio, a wooden puppet in the form of a young boy.
Darkness enters the picture after Pinocchio is brought to life by the Blue Fairy, who has performed this miracle because Geppetto is such a good man. Like any good wooden puppet, a conscience is needed and who better than Jiminy Cricket - he consistently breaks the fourth wall making noises and sound observations. But Jiminy can't perform too many miracles himself when Pinocchio is easily deceived by a devious fox ironically named Honest John and his relatively mute partner, Gideon the Cat. This leads Pinocchio to be used as some sort of freak show at a puppet theatre, sans strings, managed by the mean, ugly Stromboli. This delights the audience but eventually our innocuous puppet is kept locked in a birdcage, presumably held captive forever. The Blue Fairy appears wondering how Pinocchio got led astray so quickly. We get the most famous scene perhaps in all of Disney's movies where Pinocchio lies and his nose grows longer and longer until tree branches start forming (Jiminy tells him quietly, "Leave me out of this.") After Pinocchio and Jiminy escape Stromboli's carriage, Honest John finds him again and lures him to Pleasure Island where all the kids are transformed into donkeys! And then we get a huge frightening whale that can probably makes waves around Moby Dick!
"Pinocchio" is a marvelous delight, completely memorable and tightly paced from start to finish. It also has a couple of memorable, catchy songs notably "When You Wish Upon a Star" (sung by Jiminy) and amazing three-dimensional colorful animation that is among Disney's greatest efforts ever (right up there with "Fantasia"). A movie to revisit again and again (I had the good fortune of seeing it in theaters back in its 1970 reissue) - a true national treasure and a fantastic fantasy where kids will be kids but they can learn to grow and learn from their mistakes. Only Disney could make such a message feel and look so beautiful. You just might excitingly jump up and down after seeing it.
