Pinocchio
March 29, 2009
Disney has done another bang up job reissuing one of their most beloved classics as a Platinum Edition DVD, including, amongst a beautiful new print, over an hour of documentary analysis on the legendary production, coming on the heels of the how-do-we-top-this? 'Snow White', a terrific commentary track headlined by Leonard Maltin, and for art buffs, hundreds of priceless drawings, sketches, and paintings from the Glory Days of hand-drawn animation. Even though the film didn't recoup its enormous costs during the war, it was hailed instantly as a work of artistic triumph and storytelling delight, touching on basic human emotions (love, fright, need, courage) in simple, relatable characters that would come to represent stock Disney character molds, while pushing their film-making craft to almost unattainable perfection. That's all evident in the film's most magical scene, where the Blue Fairy catches Pinocchio in a lie, his wooden nose growing into a branch with leaves and a bird's nest; as one lie after another causes the nose to grow and grow - the rhythmic beats of which are seen and heard in the special effects and sounds of the fairy's magical glitter on each successive spurt – we witness, literally, the transformation of an innocent nave into a being of cunning and adventure, which in this unusually dark Disney world of hooligans and monster whale attacks, is a lesson for young children to fear, not replicate. The bonus features of the DVD fully complement the film's status as arguably the greatest animated film of all time, and as always, Disney comes out looking classy in what is sure to be another successful relaunch of an essential masterwork of the studio's greatest era.
By Adam Suraf