3. Pinocchio

In Disney's reoccurring theme, Pinocchio was adapted from a children's novel. The Adventures of Pinocchio was published in Italy in the late 1800's. It actually did contain many of the same ideas as the movie, except that the original version ended with Pinocchio being hung for his actions. Carlo Collodi's editor encouraged him to change the ending and make it more kid friendly and voila, the Pinocchio we're familiar with was born.

The first couple lines of the opening jingle reminds me of 101 Dalmatians. That's before 'When You Wish Upon A Star' starts of course.

Jiminey Cricket singing 'Star' always makes me sleepy. First of all, it's a song about wishing on stars. When do stars come out? At night. Right before bed. Second of all, Cliff Edward's voice reminds me of something I used to listen to on my grandmother's Polka station and it always bored me. Unless she started dancing around to the Polkas and would drag me out of my chair. This happened frequently. But since there's no one pulling me out of my chair now, I'm sleepy.

I think it's hilarious when Geppetto names the wooden doll Pinocchio and then asks the cat and goldfish what they think and no one likes it. Made me wonder what Pinocchio actually means. There's some debate going on online, but it could possibly mean pine nut. Either that or pine eye. Quite a few people also think it's just a name and has no meaning.

I understand that clock makers are big in Italy, but being in a house with that many clocks would freak me out. Especially when they all went off at the same time. No thank you. Especially since so many of them are morbid. And why would anyone want a clock where each hour a mother spanks a child?

"Star light, star bright... first start I see tonight..." Am I the only one who sees more stars in that picture than just the one he's making a wish on?
T: He's old and wearing glasses. Maybe that's the only star he can see?

The scene where everyone is snoring in their sleep reminds me of my nights. Tyler sounds just like Geppetto.

Tyler has decided that Pinocchio looks like Elijah Wood. Then he giggled. "Elijah. Wood. Get it?" Yeah, I get it... I just don't find it as funny as you do.

hmm... Elijah does look rather block-like and wooden there. Maybe he's on to something.

I'm a little confused by Jiminey becoming Pinocchio's conscious. I mean, the cricket broke into Geppetto's house and has been spying on the family all night. But sure, he's conscious-worthy.
T: sure, we're going to make the breaking-and-entering hobo cricket the puppet's conscious. That's a great idea.

I'm impressed by how quickly Pinocchio could speak and walk and do basic things. Maybe that's why Geppetto decides he's ready for school the morning after the Blue Fairy brings him to life, equipped with the hobo conscious. And not even, Jiminey is late on Pinocchio's first day, which is one of the reasons Pinocchio falls victim to Honest John and his stray cat sidekick.

Any time I see:

 

I think:

I'm also wondering what rock Geppetto lives under that he didn't hear about the huge, successful show that involved a wooden puppet without strings...

For the record: I'm not at all surprised that Jiminy can pick locks... fits right in with the hobo image.

The rainy scenes are driving me nuts. I know it was 1940 and animation isn't what it is now... but the white "rain" looks more like the picture going bad, especially when it's "pouring."

"If boys aren't good, they might as well be made of wood." This made me giggle.

Pleasure Island is kind of creepy. Never mind all the boys running around destroying everything, but they're allowed to smoke cigars too? And if Pinocchio is made of wood and doesn't have lungs... how can he smoke?

The scene in the pool hall where Jiminey threatens Lampwick makes me chuckle too. Shouldn't consciouses not run around threatening other people?

It also makes me laugh that the boys are being turned into Donkeys. Or Jackasses as Lampwick says. Extended metaphor? I'd like to believe so.

I have a fear of being underwater. Not underwater in a pool or a shower where I can see, but under the ocean where it's dark and who knows what's crawling on the ocean floor. It's creeping me out just writing about it, so I'm having a hard time watching the scene where Pinocchio and Jiminey jump into the water and walk along the ocean floor to find the whale that swallowed Geppetto.

How exactly is Jiminey breathing underwater? I'm questioning that, but not the whole getting swallowed by a whale and surviving thing...

"I never thought it would end like this... starving to death in the belly of a whale..." I'm not sure many people do think it will end like this. Unless you're me and have envisioned every single possible death underwater scenario possible...

Side note: whenever I do a google search for Geppetto images, at least one stray image of Robert Downey Jr pops up. I'm enjoying it immensely..

Wouldn't tickling the whale's tongue be a better way of getting him to sneeze instead of starting a fire? At least you could pass off the tickle, whereas building a fire is pretty obvious. No wonder he was pissed.

This whale scares me...

Does anyone else think that Pinocchio is cuter as a wooden boy than as a human boy? I felt the same way in Beauty and the Beast when Beast changes back into a prince.

Maybe it's because he REALLY looks like Elijah Wood now...

Fun fact... Elijah Wood DID play Pinocchio in a couple of 80's short educational movies. The above picture is a still from one of those movies.

I couldn't be a fairy... I'm not entirely sure that Pinocchio and Jiminey were deserving of the awards they received from the Blue Fairy at the end of the movie. I'm all for second chances, but I think maybe making him into a real boy should have been delayed a bit longer. Maybe make sure he actually won't get sidetracked by Honest John again.

Anyways, there's Pinocchio. Maybe you were able to tell that it is not one of my favorite Disney movies. I watched it a lot as a kid, but I could never get into it (maybe it's that whole underwater scene...). It didn't hold the attention of the 3 year old either, he got very antsy towards the middle and started playing Batman.

Until next time =)