Pinocchio (1940) Movie Review

Walt Disney doesn't make 'em like this any more. Hell, they didn't make 'em like this for very long at all. Disney's second feature after Snow White, Pinocchio is a scary and perplexing "children's movie." How so? Jiminy Cricket is a voyeur and a womanizer (even of fish). Gepetto builds sadistic cuckoo clocks with women spanking bare-assed children. When inexplicably swallowed by a whale, he even overfishes the whale's belly for all the tuna it swallowed, not realizing his wooden son is in the water. The blue fairy is mean and vindictive. Even the fish Cleo blows smoke rings.

All this to tell a story that if you don't go to school, you'll get kidnapped and (literally) turn into a jackass. Not only is beer and smoking vilified -- so is playing pool. Now I wouldn't want my kids ditching school and smoking all day, but I don't want them to think playing billiards is bad. As for the movie, the animation is so-so and the storyline is bizarre (example: Pinocchio and Jiminy discover Gepetto has been swallowed by a whale when a note magically drops from the sky).

Altogether, Pinocchio is truly a frightening tale that parents need to carefully consider whether to show their children.

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