Pinocchio 2-Disc 70th Anniversary Platinum Edition Blu-ray review |

A scene from the Disney classic Pinocchio

Disney’s classic Pinocchio is a walk back in time. While 3D technology has taken animation to new levels, watching a completely hand-drawn story, adds a certain depth, life and quirkiness to the medium. The studio’s second feature after Snow White, Pinocchio is amazingly complex and somewhat dark (for a kid’s film).

What’s so astonishing about this whimsical tale of loneliness, bravery, loyalty, honesty and hope, is the amazing world of mystery and wonder that it created. It’s the story of a carpenter/craftsman named Geppetto, who creates a wooden Marionette named Pinocchio. Gepetto lives a simple life, surrounded only by his wooden creations, a goldfish named Cleo and Figaro the cat. So one night he makes a wish that Pinocchio be made into a real boy, and so Pinocchio’s tale begins.

A magical fairy appears soon after Geppetto and his follow denizens have fallen asleep, and because of all the happiness Geppetto has given others, his wish to make Pinocchio real is granted – but of course things are never that easy are they. Pinocchio is given the opportunity to live life as a wooden puppet and if he makes the right choices, he’ll be transformed into a human child.

This isn’t as easy as it might seem, especially for a wooden puppet suddenly living in the real world. The fast-talking, wisecracking Jiminy Cricket becomes his sidekick, and helps Pinocchio along the way.

With universally loved music like the Academy Award winning original song When You Wish upon a Star, and a touching story, Pinocchio is a classic tale of magic, adventure and loyalty, and was a joy to experience in Hi-Def for the first time.

Special Features
Pinocchio is available for the first time in high-definition, and features a brilliant restoration with an ultra-crisp picture and incredible sound. The special features on the disc are worthy of their own release, as an interactive children’s game. They harness Disney’s ever-growing reach into multimedia and gaming, and leverage the possibilities of the Blu-ray format as well as, and maybe better, than any release I’ve come across thus far.

The 2-Disc Blu-ray release also includes a bonus standard definition DVD of the classic animated film in the package, and provides viewers accessibility to Disney’s BD-Live Network, a backstage pass for Blu-ray Disc owners to chat, video stream, participate in communal games, as well as download exclusive content.

Disc one includes the movie itself, plus access to Cine-Explore: Disney BD-Live Network, which allows movie lovers and families can continue to stay connected and engage in the film further. Features on the network include:

Movie Chat – Communicate with remote friends on-screen while in a synchronized viewing party using your remote control or any text enabled device such as a laptop, desk top or any PDA device such as a Blackberry, iPhone or most other regular cell phones. Your chat session will appear over the movie and occur in real-time while watching the film together.
Movie Mail – Blu-ray owners can record a personalized video message of themselves, superimpose it onto one of many pre-selected clips from the movie, and send it off to a friends. They in essense become personalized Pinocchio e-cards.
Movie Challenge – Users will be able to test their skills against other players in a synchronized, real-time, online trivia game while watching Pinocchio with anyone online.
Disney Movie Rewards Live – Pinocchio Blu-ray owners can accumulate Disney Movie Reward Points by participating in many Disney BD-Live Network activities. In return, viewers can redeem points for exclusive content such as Avatars and other downloadable extras.

Disc two features the majority of the disc-based special features. The set includes:

No Strings Attached: The Making of Pinocchio – A thorough behind-the-scenes featurette on how Disney transformed Carlo Collodi’s popular book into a classic animated film.
There are a series of deleted scenes, which are beautifully animated segments and storyboards that have been released for the first time on this anniversary set. They include:
–The Story of the Grandfather Tree – Kindly Geppetto tells Pinocchio about the Great Pine Tree from which Pinocchio is descended.
–In The Belly Of The Whale – The most elaborate of Pinocchio’s deleted scenes that remain in the Disney Archives, these recently discovered storyboards reveal a different version of Geppetto inside Monstro.
Alternate Ending– A recently uncovered set of small storyboard panels that reveal plans for a different version of Pinocchio becoming a real boy.
The Sweat Box – ‘The Sweatbox’ was a small projection room at the Disney studio where Walt Disney himself critiqued story reels, rough animation, and dailies of films in progress with his anxious artists. This featurette traces the history of the Sweatbox and brings to life this important part of Walt Disney’s artistic process.
Live Action Reference Footage
Pinocchio Art Galleries
Deleted Songs – An audio collection of period “pop” recordings of songs that aren’t used in the final film.
Pinocchio Puzzles – Hosted by Jiminy Cricket, Pinocchio’s Puzzles is a multi-tiered Puzzle game that contains six unique wooden puzzles for the viewer to assemble. Each puzzle forms an image from the film that comes to life once they are complete.
Pinocchio Knows Trivia Challenge – A trivia game that tests a child’s knowledge of the film.

Directors: Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen
Writers: Carlo Collodi, Ted Sears, Otto Englander, Webb Smith, William Cottrell
Cast: The voice talents of Mel Blanc as Cleo and Figaro, Don Brodie as Carnival Barker, Walter Catlett as Honest John, Marion Darlington as Cuckoo Clock Birds, Frankie Darro as Lampwick, Cliff Edwards as Jiminy Cricket, Charles Judels as Stromboli, Patricia Page as Marionettes, Christian Rub as Geppetto, Evelyn Venable as The Blue Fairy, and Dickie Jones as Pinocchio.

Original Release Date: February 9, 1940
Blu-ray/DVD Release Date: March 10, 2009

Film