Pinocchio-Portrait

This series has been a nice excuse for me to do something I've been wanting to do for some time, watching the entire Disney animated film catalogue from start to finish.

Starting with Snow White, as I've said previously it was never one of my favorites and upon a rewatch I'll it was just okay. Not my intention to rag on the film, it was the first one of its kind, and its historical significance can't be understated, but as a piece of entertainment it just didn't do as much to amaze as one would think.

Then I got to Pinocchio, a favorite of mine as a child I remember watching often, and I was blown away by the dramatic increase in quality compared to Snow White. Not only was the animation quality leaps beyond, but it was also more ambitious in what they actually showed on screen. The characters and acting were much improved as well, with Pinocchio being a much more nuanced character than Snow White, getting himself into one misadventure after another.

The biggest difference was the climax featuring a desperate struggle to outrace Monstro the Whale, and really Monstro isn't any kind of proper whale, he's a pure monster, a giant angry tube with a massive mouth that devours everything in his path. There is so much action, tension and raw desperation in that final sequence it's unreal.

Disney really went for broke with their second outing and it did not disappoint. It's no wonder they adopted "When You Wish Upon a Star" as the theme song for their entire brand.