DVD Review: Pinocchio - The Signature Collection (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital HD)
Disney returns with another one of its classic animated films put to a Blu-ray Signature Collection edition, and this time it's Pinocchio. Like the other releases, it comes with all the bells and whistles; in addition to a bunch of bonus features, you also get a DVD version and a digital HD version so you can watch this thing pretty much anywhere you have a screen. The transfer to HD looks fantastic, looking crisp and clean like it could have been made today and not 77 years ago. It's been at least seven or eight years since I've seen Pinocchio and it's not one of favorite Disney films so I was surprised by how much I had forgotten about it, like how his knows only grows once in the whole movie.
I'm sure there's nobody out there that doesn't know the basic story of Pinocchio, but I guess I'll tell ya anyway because I'm a jerk like that. Old man Geppetto lives alone with his cat Figaro and his fish Cleo, both who are totally adorable by the way. Since there's no cable TV or videogames, Geppetto gets a bit bored and decides to build a wooden marionette doll ("action figure"?) and names him Pinocchio. Then he goes to bed and forgets to open the window (yeah, people were a little backwards back then), so he tells his cat to go open it even though he is laying right next to it and would only have to sit up to reach it... good to see I'm not the only jerk around here.
With the window open, old man Geppetto spies a star and wishes on it that Pinocchio was a real boy. Now, since he's been a good dude and helped lots of people, a hot translucent lady in blue comes down from the sky and and grants Pinocchio life, even though he's still made of wood... so I guess that makes him a wooden android or something? Oh, and we can't forget poor Jiminy Cricket (who doesn't really look anything like a cricket, but whatever). The Blue Fairy decided to make this little fellow Pinocchio's conscious, for whatever good that ends up doing (uh, no good actually).
On Pinocchio's first day of school, he never arrives. Amber alert! Amber alert! C'mon, I know Geppetto is old but you'd think he'd walk his new wooden son to school on his first day. Anyway, he's fast-talked by Red Fox into going into showbiz (aka working for an evil puppeteer). All seems good at first until the puppeteer locks Pinocchio in a cage and drives away. Meany! But Jiminy arrives to save the day! Unfortunately, he can't... wow, big help he is. So the Blue Fairy appears and helps them out. So now everything's good, right?
Nope! Red Fox is back, and before long Pinocchio winds up on Pleasure Island, which is kinda like that place in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles where all the bad kids were hanging out, you know, the East warehouse over on Lairdman Island. Except at pleasure island, the kids don't turn into ninjas, they turn into jackasses... literally. The reason? I dunno. Maybe major or something. That parts conveniently never explained. Luckily, Pinocchio escapes with just a pair of donkey ears and a tail. Okay, so now everything's good, right?
Nope! Now there's another adventure involving a whale, but I won't go into that. Instead let me switch gears and talk about the extra features. These are the new ones:
- The Pinocchio Project: "When You Wish Upon A Star" - Today's hottest music influencers create their own version of the iconic song.
- Walt's Story Meetings: Pleasure Island - Recently discovered original artwork reveals a Pleasure Island that never made it to the big screen.
- In Walt's Words: Pinocchio - Through recordings of rare interviews, Walt discusses the magical making of his legendary classic.
- Oswald The Lucky Rabbit In "Poor Papa" - When the storks bring Oswald's family a special delivery, his house is soon overrun by a rambunctious brood of baby bunnies
And these are the features from previous releases:
- Commentary - I think this is the same commentary from the 70th Anniverary edition I watched around 7-8 years ago
- Deleted Scenes
- A Wish Come True: The Making of 'Pinocchio' - This is a short 5 minute making-of featurette
- No Strings Attached: The Making of Pinocchio - This is the longer hour-long making-of featurette
- Song Selection - Karaoke-like feature. Other Disney release have this too but I never use it.
- The Sweat Box
- Geppettos Then and Now
- Live Action Reference Footage
- Publicity
- When You Wish Upon a Star Music Video by Meaghan Jette Martin
- Storyboard-to-Film Comparison
That is a ton of extras! Thought to be fair not all of them are worth watching. But still, there's enough to make it worth the money, assuming you like the movie.
