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| Ben
Sharpsteen & Hamilton Luske |
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Anamorphic
widescreen |
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Dolby Digital
4.0 |
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DTS |
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Trailer(s) |
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Featurette(s) |
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Documentary |
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Audio commentary
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Deleted scenes
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Concept art
/ storyboards |
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Multi-angle
feature |
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The
Blue Fairy: A lie keeps growing and growing until it's as clear
as the nose on your face.
A
marionet is magically brought to life but must prove he can be good
before he is allowed to become a real boy.
 The
second full-length animated feature was produced by the Disney studio
when it was at the height of its powers both technically and creatively,
and it remains unsurpassed in its combination of animation wizardry
and storytelling skills. The entire picture has a consistent, warm look
to it with far more sense of detail and perspective than the preceding
feature Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and it moves along at
a great pace. The narrative is incredibly dynamic, shifting effortlessly
back and forth between adventure, comedy, drama, scariness and some
beautifully integrated musical numbers.
Pinocchio dates back to a time when it was alright for a cartoon
to be scary as well as charming, and it includes some grim scenes, most
notably of faceless ghouls closing the doors on the children who were
foolish enough to let themselves be turned into donkeys. Unlike all
recent Disney features whose moralizing goes no further than 'you should
always be yourself', Pinocchio really communicates about the
dangers and temptations that children must face in the outside world.
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Region
1 and Region 2 versions are identical apart from the language options.
This
movie, which is now over sixty years old, has been restored various
times over the course of its long lifetime. Some of these restorations
have done more harm than good, but now Disney has done its best to present
it in its final and definite form. The picture has been carefully cleaned
and restored frame by frame, and though there are various shots that
remain visibly damaged or grainy beyond repair, most of the film now
probably looks better on DVD than it did on its initial release back
in 1940. Colors are bright and clear, there is hardly any grain or visible
noise apart from the few defects in the source print. Pinocchio
has truly never looked this good.
The soundtrack has been remastered in Dolby Digital 4.0, drawing the
original monaural score and sound effects into the surround field while
keeping the voices and dialogues in the center speaker, and the surround
sound never feels forced as it sometimes does with remastered mono recordings.
There are even some excellent directional effects that they managed
to incorporate in the more exciting sequences.
The
only extra is the original theatrical trailer, which is pretty hokey
as it introduces you to every single character in the movie one at a
time. The
menu screens are disappointingly flat, using the cover art for background
images and standard text buttons for navigation.
Dan Hassler-Forest
Reviewed: 2001
Click
here for IMDB info on Pinocchio.
Click here
to return to the front page.
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