First up in my 4 part revisiting of some of those Disney classics, Pinocchio. Adapted, apparently by about 7 or 8 people (a part of the credit that boggled my mind), from the writing of Italian writer Carlo Collodi and directed by Hamilton Luske & Ben Sharpsteen Pinocchio is, without a single doubt, one of the most beautifully animated films of all time and is certainly numerous pegs above today's animation in any regards from the main action in the frame or the backgrounds (which are actually a bit more phenomenal than most of the main animation.) The one moment of note is the encounter with Monstro; a lot of people see this as truly frightening, akin to the creeping moments of Jaws, but I simply found it a spectacle to behold.
So, with that said, the animation is beyond brilliant....the story, however, is, unfortunately, bordering in some kind of disgusting.
It's no secret that Disney hated Communists and despised basically anyone who lived outside of American societal norms ( he actually refused to allow Hitchcock to film in Disney because Hitchcock had made "that disgusting movie Psycho") so, the fact that Pinocchio is a mouthpiece of the Mousey Fuhrer to spout out his morals and ethics isn't a shock.
Pinocchio is created by Geppetto, a lonely wood crafter (and possibly an alcoholic: look at those red cheeks and nose, there's no way he doesn't regularly hit the sauce: that and he goes out of his way to pet his fish; seriously? Petting a fish? Yikes, settle down Jack Daniels.) When he heads to sleep he notices a star and makes a wish that his newest creation could be a real boy.
In enters the Blue Fairy, a pillar in the argument that not only is Geppetto an alcoholic but also a homosexual, or some kind of man with such a degree of misogyny that he feels the only good women are for is bringing little kids, more particularly little boys, to life. She brings the wood boy to life, but only to a degree; he's still wood and in order to become a real boy, or to become a real human being, he has to listen to his conscience; not something Pinocchio himself forms, but something that's bestowed upon, in the form of Jimini, him by this grandiose woman.Pinocchio must learn to resist temptation, this involves fighting the urge to not go to school in pursuit of other endeavors, smoking cigars in Pleasure Island and, this is one that caught me off guard and made me exclaim in its absurdity: playing pool (we all know how horrid this activity is.) In order to become a real boy, again a human being, he has to be able to differentiate between animalistic decadence, which would turn him into a donkey (an Jackass, GET IT?!) and the ability to hold back, to show some kinds of restraint.
He also must show courage (which involves literally tossing himself off of a cliff to save the alcoholic who made him) in the vein of selflessness; so, risk your life for the sake of others; great message, Walt, good stuff. That's what the world needs, more "pure" Christian garbage.
GRADE: D
LOL.
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