Diane M (dmmgirl)

There are a hundred great things about "Pinocchio". Pleasure Island, for one. I'm amazed how quick the Disney artists were to discover that the multiplane camera, as well as providing accurate perspective and spectacular landscape shots, could be used more subtly to suggest sinister murk. (We get a similar effect in "Fantasia" in the first half of "The Rite of Spring".) And Lampwick's transformation into a donkey is a disturbing moment, for many reasons ... today they might have made the mistake of using flashy computer morphing, which would have been a mistake: expert animation and cutting gives us the distinct impression - almost all done with shadows - that there is a donkey BREAKING THROUGH from inside; which, in his case, is metaphorically accurate. (Probably the reason Pinocchio survives us that he is as free from native vice as from native virtue. He must LEARN to adopt the mind-set of Pleasure Island. This takes time: time enough for him to escape.)

But there's much, much more: clever use of songs (note the obvious, but none the less effective, irony of "I've Got No Strings"); daring use of stark WHITE backgrounds as well dense crowded ones; an intelligent, mythic story; a wonderful dash of humanity in the form of a cricket; a good musical score; rich atmosphere. The last is hard to describe. Of all Disney's films this one has the most pronounced Old World feeling, yet it doesn't seem to take place anywhere in particular - not even in Italy. Nor does it seem to take place in any particular era. I fear that no modern film could be so imprecisely evocative; the artistic innocence in which "Pinocchio" was forged may be lost forever.

This is a triumph for Don Bluth! I really enjoyed it. The songs are sweet, & memorable. Jodi Benson (Ariel, The Little Mermaid) plays the title role, & she has such a great voice. I would recommend this movie to any family who is stuck in the Disney collection only rut. Give Thumbelina a chance!

Disney animated films had become somewhat second-rate by 1989 and it appeared that one of the great genres in the cinema was on life-support. But that all changed with "The Little Mermaid". The film is a cinematic classic that tells the story of a young mermaid princess who just wants to be human so she makes a deal with an evil sea witch to get her wish, but she loses her beautiful voice in the process and she must be kissed by her true love to get it back. A really great motion picture that has some really memorable songs in it. 5 stars out of 5.