Generally, I’m not a fan of Disney, but there’s always one film of theirs I’ve loved very much…Pinocchio. Perhaps it’s because it’s the only film of theirs that doesn’t promote a nauseatingly sweet, sunshiny view of life. In fact, the world it portrays is quite corrupt and cruel. With the exception of the four main characters we meet in the first twenty minutes—Pinocchio, Jiminy Cricket, Geppetto, and the Blue Fairy—all of the characters are scum. They’re either con artists—Honest John, hoodlums—Lampwick, abusers—Stromboli, and simply downright evil—the Coachman. Not a nice, Disneyesque world at all, really. I still have the 1985 VHS release, and before writing this, I actually popped into the VCR to see if it still works after being watched at least a billion times—it does. It’s rundown and worn out, but it works, amazingly enough. At any rate, here’s one of the most famous scenes from the film, if you really wanna see how it differs from later Disney films:
As an interesting side note, I’m betting this movie started my trend for feeling sorry for young punks named Alex. You know who I’m talking about.
Unfortunately, this film wasn’t a box office success when it came out for whatever reason, and thus Disney decided to revert to the insipid formula of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs for later films, instead of Pinocchio, which is actually far better for both children and adults. However, they did incorporate the film’s song as the theme music for the entire company, and allowed its lyrics to become their slogan. Here it is:
