Pinocchio (1940)

Released in February 1940, Pinocchio was Walt Disney Productions' second animated feature, arriving on the heels of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and carrying with it all the pressure of proving that the studio's ambitions were no one-time achievement. The source material is Carlo Collodi's 1883 Italian novel The Adventures of Pinocchio, though the Disney version draws as much from a 1937 stage adaptation as from the original text, softening some of Collodi's more brutal episodes while still retaining a surprisingly unsettling edge in places. The production was an enormous undertaking for its time, with the studio experimenting heavily with multiplane camera techniques to give the two-dimensional animation a genuine sense of depth and space. It was, by any reasonable measure, a technically ambitious piece of work, polished but not always emotionally consistent, a film that pushed the craft of animation forward even when the storytelling stumbled. For anyone interested in how the medium developed through the 1940s, it sits alongside other notable works of that era, such as the films covered in our reviews of The Bank Dick (1940) and The Ox-Bow Incident (1943), as a useful marker of where popular American filmmaking was at the time.

The film was co-directed by a team of seven, including Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen, and Norman Ferguson, among others. Luske in particular would go on to shape much of Disney's output over the following two decades, later directing Alice in Wonderland (1951) and One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961). That collaborative, committee-driven approach to direction was common at Disney during this period, with different sequences handed to different units, which perhaps goes some way to explaining the tonal unevenness the film has attracted over the years. The story itself follows Pinocchio, a wooden puppet carved by the kindly woodcarver Geppetto, who is brought to life by a benevolent fairy and must prove himself brave, truthful, and unselfish before he can become a real boy.

On the voice cast side, Dickie Jones provides the voice of Pinocchio himself, while Cliff Edwards, a singer and entertainer already well known at the time, voices Jiminy Cricket, the puppet's appointed conscience and the film's moral anchor. Christian Rub voices Geppetto, and Evelyn Venable takes the role of the Blue Fairy. It is a modest ensemble by later standards, but Edwards in particular brings genuine warmth and a touch of world-weariness to Jiminy that gives the character more weight than the role might otherwise have carried. His delivery of "When You Wish Upon a Star" is the moment most people, rightly or wrongly, carry away from the film. For those curious how Pinocchio compares to other animation that has come through on this blog, it is worth having a look at the review of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), another Disney animation that wrestles with darkness and tone in ways that divide opinion.

Disney’s Pinocchio is often praised as a classic, and it’s easy to see why. The animation is detailed and ambitious for its time, with rich, hand-drawn scenes that bring the fairy tale world to life. From the warm glow of Geppetto’s workshop to the eerie darkness of Pleasure Island. The story follows the wooden boy who wants to become real, learning lessons about honesty, bravery, and listening to your conscience, mostly through a series of increasingly dangerous mistakes. The film has charm, and moments like Jiminy Cricket singing “When You Wish Upon a Star” still carry real magic. That song, in particular, became Disney’s signature promise, that dreams can come true. But the rest of the film doesn’t always match that warmth. It’s quite dark in places, with scenes that feel more frightening than meaningful. The tone swings between sweet and scary without always finding a good balance. It’s also slow in parts, and Pinocchio himself can be frustrating. He keeps making the same poor choices, even after being warned. That’s the point, maybe, but it doesn’t always make for satisfying storytelling. As a piece of animation history, it’s important and well-made. But as a film to actually enjoy from start to finish, it falls short of the best Disney has to offer. It’s good, but not quite timeless.

I keep coming back to that tension between the craft and the experience of actually sitting with the film. There is no question the technical achievement is real, and I have a lot of time for what the animators managed to pull off in 1940. But a film has to work as a film, not just as an artefact, and for me Pinocchio never quite earns the unconditional love it tends to receive. It is worth seeing, worth appreciating, and the best moments are genuinely lovely. It just does not quite stick the landing the way a true classic should. Good, then, but perhaps more monument than movie.

Rating: ★★★  | Year: 1940  | Watched: 2025-07-26

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Trailer

▶ Watch the official trailer for Pinocchio (1940) on YouTube

Where to watch

Watch in the UK
Stream: Disney Plus · Artiflix
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Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
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Watch in the US
Stream: Disney Plus · Artiflix
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Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon US

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Related on Movies With Macca

More from Hamilton Luske: Alice in Wonderland (1951) · One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)
More from the 1940s: Louisiana Story (1948) · The Ox-Bow Incident (1943) · Men Without Wings (1946) · The Bank Dick (1940)
More animation: Fantastic Planet (1973) · Alice in Wonderland (1951) · Mononoke the Movie: The Phantom in the Rain (2024) · Mononoke the Movie: Chapter II - The Ashes of Rage (2025)
More family: Alice in Wonderland (1951) · Wonder (2017) · Kirikou and the Wild Beasts (2005) · Anastasia (1997)