Okay, there may have been dark imagery and
situations in Snow White, but Pinocchio is just twisted. What’s scary
is it’s not half as twisted as the book it’s based on.
Oddly
enough Pinocchio feels like more of a
Grimm Fairy Tale than Snow White
does, in that it’s trying to get across a good moral by telling a story that
shows the harshest alternative consequences. It’s also a much less traditional
story throwing twists and turns and building on each successive conflict with a
greater one.
The
story is about a wooden puppet called Pinocchio brought to life by a mysterious
Blue Fairy as reward for the good deeds of his craftsman an old childless man
called Gepetto who’s been wishing his puppet was a real boy (just go with it,
it wasn’t so creepy back then). She appoints an intelligent if meddling
vagabond Jiminy Cricket to be Pinocchio’s conscience and promises Pinocchio
that he will become a real boy if he proves himself brave, honest, and
unselfish. Gepetto is happy beyond his dreams to have had his wish come true
and the next day sends his new son off to school (odd, you’d think education could
take a back seat a little longer in favour of some more bonding time). And thus
Pinocchio is sent out into the world where he encounters a malady of
temptations, villains, and dangers leading him to learn some tough lessons.
One
of the things I like best about this film is how it portrays its characters.
Pinocchio aspires to be a real boy throughout without realizing he is a real
boy. He’s just as naïve, just as susceptible to temptation and vice as any
other kid which makes him instantly relatable. He wants to do the right thing
most of the time but keeps getting misled, proving he has a good heart but is
just a gullible, impressionable kid. Everyone’s familiar with the nose growth
scene, it’s one of the things always associated with Pinocchio, because it
demonstrates his first big development, the first time he learns something. And
because he learns from his actions, there’s nothing wrong with the mistakes he
makes, something the film doesn’t stress enough, but that I’ll get into later.
The film boasts a solid supporting cast as well. Yeah Gepetto and his pets
aren’t that interesting but they’re serviceable and the Blue Fairy is just sort
of kind and didactic without much character. But then there’s Jiminy Cricket who
though may be mistakenly the audience surrogate (it probably should be
Pinocchio) is a clever and comforting character to watch even if he may be a
little too condescending at times. And there are some great villains in the
movie, even if their dialogue is too obvious about it (in fact a lot of the
exposition in the film is a little too obvious and clumsy). Honest John and
Gideon the randomly anthropomorphized fox and cat, are entertaining con artists
whose scenes work as comic relief reminding me of Looney Tunes. Which is
interesting considering Mel Blanc was originally supposed to be the voice of
Gideon. But the menacing villains start with Stromboli, and his tendency to be
warm and jolly one minute and the next a cruel kidnapper who implies he’s just
exploiting Pinocchio until his popularity wanes and then will chop him up for
firewood. This and the fact that he’s Pinocchio’s first experience with a
sinister world gives him quite a fear factor. What about the Coachman? He’s
fairly one-note but it’s a very disturbing note. Not only does he have a creepy
face but he lures children to the unsettlingly named Pleasure Island where he
turns them into donkeys. Finally Monstro has the colossus factor going for him
and because of his size, design, and anger is pretty effective, and actually
kinda makes me wish Disney had given Moby
Dick a shot around this time. One thing’s for sure this is a pretty awful
world Pinocchio lives in. You could even make an argument all these obstacles,
dangerous characters, and situations were purposely thrown his way by the Blue
Fairy as some kind of test. It’s a world that doesn’t really make sense, but is
certainly gripping, where creepy men lurk behind every corner, no one questions
two anthropomorphic animals walking about, and everyone but Gepetto seems to have
a negative impact or bad influence on Pinocchio. Even Lampwick, another child,
is a jackass …literally!
Good
god that scene was disturbing! Finding out all the children on this island
(again, Pleasure Island…ughhh) were
being turned into donkeys was horrifying enough, but seeing Lampwick’s
transformation (while calling “Mommy” as if it wasn’t bad enough) was like an
animated, less gory version of a scene from The
Howling! Though I like how Pinocchio at first reacts by looking at his
cigar as if to say “what the hell have I been smoking?” What’s even darker is
that while Pinocchio escapes, these other kids don’t, leaving their fates
ambiguous and haunting. Lampwick and the other kids couldn’t have met a good
end. The film goes down a number of these dark avenues that really push new
boundaries. The moment Pinocchio steps out Geppetto’s door he is bound for
hardship encountering temptation, exploitation, incarceration, and even
ingestion before the films end. Each event is episodic which I understand is
akin to the book, but the grimness of Pinocchio’s situation keeps building.
Each time he tries to get back to Gepetto or safety something happens to throw
him into even more dire circumstances winding up further and further away from
his father. It actually reminds me of one of my favourite animated films, Don
Bluth’s An American Tail whose
protagonist Fievel also has danger upon danger thrown at him before he reunites
with his family. But Pinocchio does
balance it out with some moments of whimsy which though a little overly
schmaltzy, are a welcome retreat from the darkness and terror in every other
scene. And again, the fact Pinocchio clearly learns from these experiences
gives them greater meaning and importance to his development, rather than just
be a pointless attempt to look mature, which is certainly not something Disney
was going for at this time.
The
big criticism I have though is similar to Snow
White, in that there’s outdated notions around the moral. The story’s moral
revolves around following your conscience to determine right from wrong and
while I like Jiminy, personifying someone’s conscience gives the film a
definite bias. Pinocchio makes mistakes in his decisions as most young boys do
and there’s nothing wrong with that. I don’t like the films’ assertion that
there is. It shows making the wrong decisions resulting in the most horrifying
consequences, which I fear might just make some kids afraid and uncertain how
to act in the real world. And the regular use of the word “temptation” makes it
come off as very conservative and operating on a certain set of values. It’s
good to show kids that tempting vices such as misbehavior, peer pressure, and a
desire for fame won’t always work out (you could even argue likely won’t) but a
little balance is necessary. What the film should be saying is you should think
about what’s right and wrong and let that influence your decisions, let your
personal conscience be your guide. Again a hard thing to get across when
including an externalized and sometimes irritating figure in that role. Luckily
by the end of the film he becomes a real boy in another death fake-out scene
(how did he die by drowning anyway? We saw he could breathe fine underwater
earlier? And while on the subject, what happened to Geppetto’s crewmates? Does
he own a ship? If he could survive in the stomach of Monstro, couldn’t they?
How long was he even in there before Pinocchio came? Maybe he resorted to
cannibalism until he could get hold of some fish. Something the movie maybe DID
shy away from?) He gets his reward, lives happily ever after, and learns enough
that he may forge a conscience of his own. Maybe Jiminy will be out of the job.
Other
than that, the film is animated brilliantly. It’s not quite as stunning as Snow White, but really conveys the necessary
darkness and terror of a lot of the tone while still maintaining a wonderful
heart. The music plays a part in that too. Most of these songs are just sorta
cute like “Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee” and “I’ve Got No Strings”. Then of course there’s
“When You Wish Upon A Star” the future Disney anthem, and which I think is
terrific and perfectly encapsulates Disney. It’s full of heart, charm, and
whimsy even if it’s not getting across a practical message. But come on, no one
thinks wishing on a star’s going to make their dreams come true. It’s not like
I’ve tried…
Pinocchio certainly upped the ante of
what Disney could do and it’s terrific for that. As a dark and weird story I
think it works and will keep you invested the whole way through. It’s probably
not as brilliant as it’s often hyped to be, but it’s still a great outing that
showed even when putting a protagonist through the darkest and scariest of
circumstances, Disney could still produce an entertaining, memorable, and even
invigorating movie.
Next Week: Fantasia (1940)
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