Blu-Ray Review: 70th Anniversary Two-Disc Edition of ‘Pinocchio’ One of the Best Releases Yet

Blu-Ray Rating: 5.0/5.0

CHICAGO – The Blu-Ray revolution seems stuck in neutral. It’s going to take a major title to push it over the edge as a must-have technology. Some of us thought it would be “The Dark Knight,” “Iron Man,” or “The Godfather,” but the worsening economic times seem to have put the HD switch on hold. The first title of 2009 that could be at least part of the Blu-Ray tipping point is Disney’s amazing 70th Anniversary Edition release of “Pinocchio”.

Walt Disney Home Video has long-produced great DVDs, but what they’ve been doing in the world of Blu-Ray is truly remarkable. Their release of “Sleeping Beauty” was undeniably one of the best of 2008 and they have an early frontrunner for top ten lists at the end of 2009 in the nearly-as-good “Pinocchio”.

Pinocchio will be released on Blu-Ray on March 10th, 2009.
Photo credit: Walt Disney Home Video

Personally, I like “Beauty” more as a film and the picture on that one is a bit more jaw-dropping, but these are minor differences between two titles that you should undeniably own, even if you don’t have a Blu-Ray player. You’ll get one eventually and a Disney title should be one of the first things you watch.

Pinocchio will be released on Blu-Ray on March 10th, 2009. Photo credit: Walt Disney Home Video

“Pinocchio” is only the second film in the entire Disney canon. The first, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves” will hit Blu-Ray this Fall and I’m anxiously hoping that the third, “Fantasia” is soon after.

Most people remember the set-up and, of course, “When You Wish Upon a Star” and the nasal lie detector, but if you haven’t seen “Pinocchio” in years, you may forget the details of this great film. It opens with a woodworker named Geppetto building a marionette named Pinocchio and wishing on a fallen star that he could be a real boy.

Geppetto’s wish comes true and the Blue Fairy turns the puppet alive, dubbing Jiminy Cricket his conscience. She tells Pinocchio that if he wants to stay a real boy than he must be brave, truthful, unselfish and able to tell right from wrong. The boy puppet gets a job with Stromboli, a puppeteer and showman who takes him prisoner. The Blue Fairy breaks him out and he has one more chance to prove that he can listen to his conscience and make the right decision.

The final act of “Pinocchio” features one of the most nefarious villains of Disney-dom, The Coachman, a truly creepy soul who is capturing young boys and taking them off to Pleasure Island, from which “they never come back as boys”. The money-grubbing Honest John and Gideon lure Pinocchio away again and deliver him to the Coachman.

Pinocchio will be released on Blu-Ray on March 10th, 2009. Photo credit: Walt Disney Home Video

The lesson of “Pinocchio” is simple - it’s not just flesh and blood that makes a real boy. He needs a conscience and the ability to make the right decisions to be nothing more than a puppet. There’s a reason this story has held up for seven decades. It’s a great one that will hold up for seven decades more and beyond.

As with “Sleeping Beauty,” the first thing you’ll notice about “Pinocchio” is that you’ve never seen nor heard it like this before. The line detail in HD is amazing. There’s a clarity to the shoulders and hair line of Geppetto as he’s building Pinocchio that you’ve simply never seen before.

And, of course, there’s the color. Animation always look vibrant and bright in HD and “Pinocchio” is no exception. But it’s not just the bright red of the feather in the wooden boy’s cap. The shading in the color of his face, Jiminy Cricket’s green coat, the yellow buckles on Geppetto’s shoes - every color looks perfectly balanced.

The audio for “Pinocchio” is presented in English 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and it features more auditory detail than I remembered in the film. When they get to Pleasure Island, the mixing of the crowd of “boys gone bad” is more than just a wave of noise. What’s best about the track though is the music. It’s perfectly balanced with the dialogue.

Disney doesn’t skimp on the special features either with games, never-before seen scenes, a commentary, and featurettes. The commentary is by Leonard Maltin, Eric Goldberg, and J.B. Kaufman, three people clearly in love with and well-versed about “Pinocchio”.

Pinocchio will be released on Blu-Ray on March 10th, 2009. Photo credit: Walt Disney Home Video

Disney historians will be immediately drawn to the never-before seen footage - several deleted scenes and an alternate ending. A brief introduction and historical information on each scene is presented. For example, “The Story of the Grandfather Tree, Sequence 1-4” is just a series of notes, storyboards, and model sheets. They work from there, showing the storyboards of what may have been. It’s a story about Pinocchio learning about his grandfather, a noble pine tree.

The other two scenes include a detailed bit inside the whale where Geppetto actually considers eating Cleo. The ending includes the least amount of storyboards or notes, but it’s one where the roles are reversed - Geppetto dies on the beach instead of Pinocchio and is brought back to life by the Blue Fairy, who has also turned Pinocchio into a real boy. The message is the same, but I think the filmed ending is a bit stronger. This one seems more rushed and not as emotional as Geppetto crying on the bed.

Games include “Pinocchio Knows Trivia” and “Pleasure Island Carnival Games”. The highlight outside of the never-before-seen footage is the great, almost-hour-long “No Strings Attached: The Making of Pinocchio,” a piece that perfectly details the history of one of the building blocks in the foundation of the house that Walt Disney built. The Disney featurette producers should teach classes to their colleagues at other studios.

In a brilliant move, the Blu-Ray release of “Pinocchio” comes with a standard-definition DVD version of the film. Disney recognizes that kids and families watch DVDs all over the place including in the car and in family rooms that may not be HD-capable yet. With one purchase, you can watch “Pinocchio” anywhere you have a DVD player, Blu-Ray or “old-ray”.

What more can be written about “Pinocchio”? It’s a classic, a film that not only makes regular lists of the best animated films of all time, but usually ranks high on the lists of best FILMS, animated or otherwise. (Time names it as one of the best movies of the last 80 years.) Shouldn’t the films that have stood the test of time be the ones that drive us forward into the next era of technology?

Disney sent over some great clips for the Blu-Ray release of “Pinocchio,” the first of which is embedded below. Continue on to page two for more.

A Real Boy

Sweatbox Session

Rotoscoping

Transitions of Pinocchio

Honest John

Pinocchio’s Lie

The Wish

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com