Pinocchio (1940) **Overall Synopsis**

Hmm, where to start with this...? Honestly, I don't know. After pouring out paragraphs with reviewing Snow White, which could easily make the Top Ten list of any Disney fan, Pinocchio in many ways might seem like a step down in all basic Disney elements. Well, let's just go with what we have, first of all.
The story follows the adventures of a little wooden puppet named Pinocchio, brought to life by a Blue Fairy, after his father wished upon a star for him to become a "real boy". Now, in itself, this is a strange wish for the father, Geppetto to make. Why on earth would anyone wish for a puppet to become real? If you think about it, it's actually a creepy prospect.

In Geppetto's case though, it does sort of make sense since we can see that he's lonely and unmarried, living only with his cat Figaro, and his fish Cleo. It would only be natural that he'd want a son, so of course the Blue Fairy grants his wish and brings Pinocchio to life.
Dancing around he edges of this main plot, we see a character called Jiminy Cricket, literally a cricket who acts as a conscience to the newly-born puppet. So what happens? Soon after being brought to life--the very next morning in fact--Geppetto sends Pinocchio to school, looking forward to a bright future ahead of them. In many ways, this doesn't make sense. Why would he send Pinocchio out into the world so soon? Is Pinocchio even old enough for school? Does Geppetto honestly expect the outside world to accept Pinocchio as their equal even though he's clearly as a phenomenon even to a life-size fox and cat whom he later encounters? Well, the audience can clearly define this as the mistake that started it all.
If not for two sketchy characters--a large fox named Honest John and his sidekick, Kitty--things could have gone as smoothly as planned, although we never know for sure. Pinocchio gets convinced into going the theatre, despite useless warnings by Jiminy to go back to school. Honestly, what kid would want to go back to school as opposed to becoming actors?  Well, acting turns out to be Pinocchio's downfall when Stromboli, the money-hungry puppet master, reveals his true nature and locks Pinocchio in a cage, outlining his future abused-life before him in just a few sentences.

The Blue Fairy and Jiminy Cricket--separately--then show up just on time and free Pinocchio, but not before the famous lying scene when his nose grows. And so thus, with a lesson learned, Pinocchio heads home, only to be caught by Honest John and Kitty once again. More forcefully this time, they encourage him on another reckless adventure, this time to a place called "Pleasure Island" with many other school bad-boys who usually skip. Here Pinocchio makes a friend, a delinquent who of course is anything but a good influence. Jiminy Cricket follows along, still trying to stop Pinocchio from doing bad things. We're given some pretty disturbing images of all the bad things boys can do, all leading up to a scene at a pool table where Jiminy makes his last desperate attempt to get Pinocchio to cooperate.
After Jiminy leaves in a huff, he finds out that the boys were actually brought to the island to be turned into donkeys for being bad boys. There are really dark messages that can be interpreted with this, but I won't get into those. Instead, I'll focus on the aspect of how Pinocchio discovers this for himself, and just narrowly escapes being turned into a donkey himself thanks to Jiminy's last minute return. They then escape the island and go back to Pinocchio's home, only to discover that Geppetto left earlier in search of Pinocchio. Like a ray of hope from heaven, a dove arrives with a letter explaining everything, and Pinocchio takes off in search of his father. The search leads him to the bottom of the ocean, where we get amazing 1940s' effects of being underwater. Considering the difference in years between The Little Mermaid and Pinocchio, one can't help but be impressed by this.

Pinocchio finally finds his father in the belly of a whale named Monstro, alive and well, and luckily not starving since Monstro's just opened up his mouth to eat several hundred fish. Geppetto insists that there's no way out of their current situation, but Pinocchio disagrees and rapidly starts a fire in hopes of making the whale sneeze. His plan is successful, but he's also successfully managed to get Monstro mad, which leads to a life-threatening climax in the ocean. Geppetto near the end is close to drowning, and so Pinocchio saves him, later crashing into some rocks and somehow dying.
Along with Jiminy and his pets, Geppetto goes back home and then cries at the loss of his only son. For some people this may be a tear-jerker, for others it might not be. But then we hear the Blue Fairy's voice repeating the lesson she meant for Pinocchio to learn from the beginning, and then as her gift to him for his courage, she brings him back to life and turns him into a real boy.

A joyful reunion and celebration follows, all ending with Jiminy singing the famous song "When You Wish Upon A Star", which is basically how the entire movie came to pass.
So, what do I have to say about Pinocchio overall? Well, it's definitely not bad, but at the same time, now that I look back on it, it's also not as innocent as I first perceived as a child. I don't really find it one of those movies you can go back on and enjoy, because as you get older you can just read into the darker elements of it and wonder how you didn't pick up on them as children.
For overall movie stats, I think:

Pinocchio Movie Stats

Animation: 9/10 impressive underwater effects considering the year, and a decent follow-up to Snow White
Story-line: 6/10 Not all that impressive overall, in that in some parts it can just get plain disturbing (the entire idea of "Pleasure Island")
Timing: 9/10; decent, just like Snow White
Characters: 7/10; not as great as Snow White; character analysis-es and relationship links below
Soundtrack & Details: 2/10 sorry, but not impressive at all in my opinion

Overall Total (/10): 6.6
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