Pinocchio (1940)

Pinocchio movie storyline. The second full-length animated feature classic from Walt Disney Studios – about a wooden puppet who yearns to be a real boy. Based on a story written by Carlo Collodi in the 1800’s. Beautifully drawn with technically-superior animation and memorable characterizations – Geppetto the kindly woodcarver, Figaro the cat, Cleo the goldfish, Stromboli the puppeteer, Monstro the whale, the Blue Fairy, Lampwick – and obviously Jiminy Cricket and Pinocchio.

The carver’s creation – a puppet boy, is turned into a flesh-and-blood boy, with the stipulation that he must be brave, unselfish, and learn right from wrong in order to earn real life. The boy is accompanied by his conscience, Jiminy Cricket for his adventures. Pinocchio is tempted by a conniving fox J. Worthington Foulfellow, exploited by a puppet master Stromboli, and sent to Pleasure Island (where naughty boys are turned into donkeys) for truly terrifying experiences and a daring rescue from the belly of a monstrous whale. Includes Jiminy Cricket singing the future Disney theme song “When You Wish Upon a Star.”

Pinocchio is a 1940 American animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and based on the Italian children’s novel The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. It was the second animated feature film produced by Disney, made after the success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937).

Directed by: Bill Roberts, Norman Ferguson, Jack Kinney, Wilfred Jackson, T. Hee
Starring: Cliff Edwards, Dickie Jones, Christian Rub, Mel Blanc, Walter Catlett, Charles Judels, Evelyn Venable, Frankie Darro
Screenplay by: Ted Sears, Otto Englander, Webb Smith, William Cottrell, Joseph Sabo, Erdman Penner, Aurelius Battaglia
Art Direction by: Ken Anderson, Hugh Hennesy, John Hubley, Dick Kelsey, Kendall O’Connor, Charles Philippi, Thor Putnam
Music by: Leigh Harline, Paul J. Smith
Distributed by: RKO Radio Pictures
Release Date: February 23, 1940