What is it about these early Disney movies that captures me so much more than the Pixar work? I have softened significantly toward Pixar movies, since for many years I thought all of them were overrated. I don't feel as strongly that way anymore, but I still feel that many of the classic Disney films overshadow the Pixar films, in spite of the technical wizardry of the newer films.
One of the main reasons I respect Pinocchio so much is the same reason the first Star Wars film is such a landmark. These movies had their filmmakers making things up as they went along. The first shot in Pinocchio was revolutionary at the time, as the camera pans over the Italian village, and then slowly makes its way into the story. The only thing comparable to Pinocchio these days is Toy Story, since it was the first movie to be 100% computer animated. But Toy Story relied on the voices of famous actors (albeit fine actors-Tom Hanks does become Woody), while Pinocchio even more fully relies on the power of its story and the imagination to realize it.
By now, the story is very much a part of our consciousness. A lonely old puppeteer constructs a little boy and wishes upon a star that his puppet would become a real boy. The blue fairy brings the puppet to life, but the wooden boy must decide for himself whether or not he will be a real boy. His adventures and temptations are what the movie is about.
But it is about so much more. There is a warmth and charm to this movie that I have never found anywhere else. The simple story is beautifully told, and in it I see myself-my struggles to deal with going the easy way and not following the more difficult path.
Not to spoil too much, but in the end, Pinocchio does become a real boy. But since he has spent the majority of the film as a selfish boy, it never to me seemed that he had quite proven himself. May I suggest that there is a tremendous grace to Pinocchio becoming a real boy? Could it be that Gepetto's faith in the wish is what gave Pinocchio the ability all along?
