HISTORY | pinocchio

Pinocchio is the second film in the Disney Animated Canon. It was produced by Buena Vista Distribution and was originally released to theatres by RKO Radio Pictures on February 7, 1940. The film was theatrically re-released in 1945, 1954, 1962, 1971, 1978, 1984, and1992. Pinocchio was made in response to the enormous worldwide success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Based on the book by Carlo Collodi, the film stars a puppet - brought to life by a fairy - who tries to earn his right to become a real boy, as he faces the challenges and dangers of a dark, hostile world of crooks, villains and monsters.

Though Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is generally considered to be Walt Disney's most significant contribution to cinema,Pinocchio is considered his greatest achievement and representative of the Disney studio at the peak of its golden age, as well as one of the greatest achievements in animation. It is one of the most critically acclaimed of all the Disney animated features and is considered to be one of the greatest animated films of all time. However, on its first release, Disney only recouped about half of its $2.6 million budget in 1940.

The plan for the original film was considerably different from what was released. Numerous characters and plot points, many of which came from the original novel, were used in early drafts. Walt Disneywas displeased with the work that was being done and stopped the project midway into production so that the concept could be rethought and the characters redesigned. It was at this stage that the character of the cricket was expanded. Jiminy Cricket, voiced byCliff Edwards, became central to the story.

The song "When You Wish Upon a Star," became a major hit and is still identified with the film, and later as a fanfare for Walt Disney Studios itself. Pinocchio also won the Academy Award for Best Song and the Academy Award for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture. The film has been deemed "culturally significant" by the Library of Congress and in 1994 was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry, and in the second slot, behind onlySnow White and the Seven Dwarfs, in the American Film Institute’s Top ten Animated Feature Films of all time in 2008. The film is constantly considered the greatest film in the animation medium, despite the inital failure at the box office

'Pinocchio' benefits from one of the finest collection of songs to grace a Disney cartoon; from 'I Got No Strings', to 'An Actor's Life For Me', and (best of all) 'When You Wish Upon A Star' - brilliant sung by 'Ukelele Ike' Edwards as Jiminy Cricket.

This cute adaptation from Carlo Corolli's classic novel adds pets with the 'aw' factor (cat and fish), as well as a truly scary sequence involving donkeys. The characters are all memorable and Pinocchio is convincing in his move from a wooden puppet to a real boy, even in cartoon form. Good voice talent from Evelyn Venable as the Blue Fairy too, especially in the bits where Pinocchio can't help revealing he isn't telling the truth!

Short, sweet, funny, and involving, 'Pinocchio' is worth an hour of anybody's time, young or old.