No beating around the bush on this one; I hated this movie. Sorry about it. Sort of.
The second installment of Walt Disney’s animated feature film legacy is the tale of Pinocchio. It premiered in theaters in 1940 and premiered in my life in 2020. Yep, I never saw this movie until this marathon. Do I wish I could turn back time? No. I think part of me wanted to see it considering I’ve been on the ride and I know about it in parts (cricket, puppet, fairy, fox, mean theater guy, nose, growing, island, donkeys, whale) I’ve just never had the parts connected.
Gah, I don’t want to spend the whole time bashing it. It was beautifully animated and these movies are truly pieces of art that are just, sadly, a product of their time. Okay, things I liked:
- Blue Fairy animation: stunning, truly magical and ethereal and just all around lovely
- Geppetto! This house stans Geppetto. I actually spent most of the movie feeling bad for him. Such a sweetie that just wanted a son to love. Too bad he got stuck with that dip Pinocchio.
- Figaro and that sassy personality! I loved it so much. Another Disney side character that steals the show! (Plus, I read that Figaro was actually Walt Disney’s favorite character from the film! Do I have the same taste as Walt Disney? I meannnn….)
After watching this movie and struggling to recover, I decided to look at what real critics had to say. I was ASTONISHED that this version of Pinocchio is considered, as Wikipedia states, “to be the film that most closely approaches technical perfection of all the Disney animated features.” WHAAAAAAT?! Other critics and filmmakers consider it one of the best animated films of all time!!
I don’t think this film comes close to riding Snow White’s coattails, yet here we are. To me, the technical triumphs of a film’s creation doesn’t mean it’s automatically good. Avatar is a great example. Sure, it’s cool to watch but at the end of the day that movie is not good. Same with Pinocchio, another technical maven for the age, but ultimately, it’s a hard no.
I’m willing to admit that I did myself a disservice for watching such a dated movie for the first time in the year of our quarantine 2020, where I am…er…how to put this… Not the target audience for a movie like this but, I think that only does a disservice this movie because SO many Disney classics are timeless and universally enjoyed still today. In my opinion, Pinocchio isn’t something that comes to mind quickly when I’m thinking of the best Disney animated classics, so say the critics. I guess that’s why I’m not a professional.
