Geppetto’s beloved puppet, Pinocchio, granted life by the Blue Fairy, embarks on a thrilling adventure to become a real boy. With Jiminy Cricket as his guide, Pinocchio must be brave. loyal, and honest to make his greatest wish come true.
- Based on the novel The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi.
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I decided it was time to check out one of the older Disney animated films. But which one? While scrolling through the streaming service, I randomly picked one: Pinocchio. I barely remember watching this when I was a kid, so didn’t know if it would still be worthwhile today (after all, there are problems with The Aristocats and Peter Pan, among others). So, was there anything bad about this film nowadays?
The voice cast is pretty good in Pinocchio. Although none of them are credited, some research shows Dickie Jones voiced the title character, while Christian Rub was Geppetto and Cliff Edwards was Jiminy Cricket. They all do pretty good jobs, with each bringing a different aspect to their character – Dickie Jones brings out the youth in Pinocchio, while Christian delivers old man vibes, and Cliff Edwards gives Jiminy a Fred Astaire vibe.
Everyone knows the basic story of Pinocchio. A puppet is brought to life, and has to be good to become a real boy. Of course, he gets into all sorts of trouble along the way. This could have gone totally different if it was a new story now, but Disney delivers this tale with a charm that’s contagious. You can’t help but be charmed by Pinocchio’s innocence, putting his trust in all the wrong people.
So is there anything bad these days with Pinocchio. That depends. It shows kids drinking and smoking cigars, but it’s nothing like the blatant racism from Peter Pan and the like. Also, it’s not just random. These are “bad” kids, and get turned into donkeys for what they do, so the message is still positive. The whole moral is to not do what Pinocchio does if you want to be a “good” kid, so kids should still get a positive message.
All in all, Pinocchio still retains most of its charm even 85 years after it was released. The wide-eyed innocence of the title character throughout most of the film is something to appreciate, and really shows how the world can be cruel to folks who are too trusting. There isn’t much scary for kids until the end, with a whale attack that might frighten the really young, but honestly, it’s a lot more tame than more recent films like The Lion King or something similar.
Pinocchio is obviously from a different era than we are in now, but in this case, that actually helps the enchanted wonder and youthful innocence that it encompasses.
