Pinocchio (1940)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1940
	Director: Hamilton Luske (Peter Pan, 101 Dalmatians), Ben Sharpsteen (Dumbo)
	Actors (voices): Dickie Jones, Christian Rub, Mel Blanc
	Country: USA
	Genre: Animation, Adventure
	Conditions of visioning: 26.05.2015, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: In a small village, wood-worker Gepetto gives the final touch to a string-puppet and wishes that it could be a real boy.
Review: I am slowly acquiring all the Disney classics in Blu-ray although their price is usually quite high because targeted at children to whom parents cannot refuse anything. I have thus recently seen Bambi, Lady and the Tramp, Fantasia and The Lion King. By classics I mean not the more recent ones or the Pixar movies which I also try to see. I am doing the same with the Ghibli movies, also distributed by Disney at an excessive price. My next choice was Pinocchio since I read a lot about its making in The Lost Notebook: Herman Schultheis and the Secrets of Walt Disney's Movie Magic (article to come). I was indeed looking forward to see in Blu-ray some amazing shots that led people to say that Pinocchio is technically the pinnacle of what Disney has ever produced in animation. And there are in particular two scenes that use the technique of multi-plane cameras to produce incredible effects, for an outrageous cost at the time (25 000 dollars for 30 seconds which was huge in 1940 and would be 450 000 dollars today with inflation adjustment). And those scene are pretty impressive even though the great quality of the Blu-ray transfer makes all defects pop-up. I remember being amazed by a modern use of this technique in the Japanese Steamboy, and notice its use (with less success) in Heavy Metal. The rest of the movie is also very good-looking and the animation of the characters very smooth and realistic, but I found that the living beings seem to have no bones, i.e. all rigidity is removed from the animation of their movements. This could to be a Disney trademark of that period. On to the story: I have read that it was adapted a lot from original novel (1883) by Carlo Collodi, in order to be more fantastic and less crude. And what remains looks a lot like a lesson to naughty kids teaching them what happens when you are bad. And many possible bad behaviors are addressed: lying, not listening to parents, skipping school for an easier but short-lived life, smoking, drinking... But in the end there is redemption. Actually not much happens in this 88-minute movie: Introduction, Pinocchio is alive, First adventure: Stromboli the puppeteer, Second adventure: Pleasure Island, Third adventure and conclusion: Monstro the Whale. But this means that the rhythm is slow and easy to follow, giving the movie a dreamy quality. Below you can find the original poster for the movie. My next Disney classic: Dumbo.
Rating: 8 /10