- āProve yourself brave, truthful, and unselfish, and someday, you will be a real boy.ā
- ―The Blue Fairy to Pinocchio
Pinocchio is the main protagonist from the 1939 /1940 film of the same name. He is a living puppet who must prove himself worthy to become a real boy, with the help of Jiminy Cricket as his conscience. Pinocchio was voiced by Dickie Jones in the original film.
Background
Development
One of the most challenging tasks the Disney studios went through during the making of the film was finding the perfect Pinocchio. The animators tried and tried to get the right wooden boy. The task was so frustrating that Walt Disney actually ceased production on the film until they were able to find the right Pinocchio. Soon enough, animator Milt Kahl created a small piece of animation that would eventually become Walt Disney's Pinocchio.
In early drafts, Pinocchio retained his more obnoxious traits from the original story, but Walt hated the direction as Pinocchio was not likeable enough. Eventually, further development lead to Pinocchio taking on the more innocent traits that he has in the final film.
Personality
- āRemember, a boy who won't be good might just as well be made of woodā
- ―The Blue Fairy
Once he's given life by the Blue Fairy , Pinnochio acts his age, being very whimsical, childlike, naive, and impressionable. Because of his youthful ignorance, he can be seen as rather mischievous, and often lands himself into trouble; albeit unintentionally. This is seen several times throughout the film, and the trait, unfortunately, makes Pinocchio an easy pawn in the schemes or motivations of various villains and antagonists. Even so, as the film progresses, Pinocchio notably learns from experiences and takes them into account; eventually becoming selfless, sensible, heroic, and obtaining impressive leadership qualities. This is finally put into the forefront once the film nears its climax, as Pinocchio is faced with the task of rescuing his father from the jaws of the deadly whale, Monstro. Pinocchio's daring decision to risk his life for his loved ones ultimately grants him his wish of becoming a real boy.
Appearances
Pinocchio
Pinocchio in the original film.
In the film, Pinocchio was first introduced as a lifeless puppet. When it was time for bed, Geppetto caught sight of a wishing star and wished Pinocchio to become a real boy. Once Geppetto fell asleep, his home was visited by the Blue Fairy, who brought Pinocchio to life and Jiminy Cricket became his official conscience to tell him right from wrong, for, if Pinocchio proved himself brave, truthful and unselfish, he would be transformed into a real boy. Geppetto discovered his puppet is alive and celebrated along with Figaro the kitten and Cleo the goldfish.
The next morning, Pinocchio is ready for school, but is stopped by a pair of shady con artists: J. Worthington Foulfellow (a.k.a. "Honest John") and his silent sidekick, Gideon, who trick him into working for Stromboli, a puppeteer. They tell him being rich and famous is the only way to live. Pinocchio listens, believes, and ends up following the wrong path. Jiminy tries to stop him, but is unsuccessful, so he chases after him.
Pinocchio immediately becomes the star of Stromboli's marionette show. Stromboli is paid beyond his wildest dreams for Pinocchio's magnificent performance. After the show, Pinocchio and Stromboli are dining and the man's true nature is revealed as parsimonious, evil and rotten. He cages Pinocchio and threatens him to perform. Pinocchio tries to tell the Blue Fairy the truth, but he doesn't know how. Pinocchio manages to escape or flee with the help of Jiminy and the Blue Fairy.
During their trip home, Pinocchio and Jiminy race home, but Pinocchio is stopped once again by Foulfellow and Gideon. They tell Pinocchio he's sick and the only cure is a vacation on Pleasure Island. They take him to the Coachman, along with many other boys, including a brat named Lampwick, who Pinocchio calls his best friend.
Once the place is torn apart, everyone has vanished, except Lampwick and Pinocchio, who are smoking and drinking while playing pool. Once Jiminy confronts the two, he is so upset, he storms out. Soon, Jiminy discovers the plan; Pleasure Island has the terrifying power to transform bad boys into donkeys, which the Coachman sells into slavery, and rushes back to get Pinocchio. Lampwick's hideous transformation is complete, but Pinocchio and Jiminy escape the island. Unfortunately, Pinocchio has grown donkey ears and a tail.
The two reach home, but realize there's no one home. They sit and wait on the steps for everyone to return. Suddenly, the Blue Fairy comes in the shape of a dove and gives them a letter which tells them Geppetto was eaten by Monstro the Whale.
The pair start searching the ocean for Monstro with very little luck. When they ask sea creatures such as clams and seahorses, they swim and hide in fear at the mention of Monstro's name. Meanwhile, after a nap, Monstro awakens and begins an eating frenzy, Everything in his path was either devoured or destroyed (including Pinocchio). Once Monstro was found, Pinocchio was able to reunite with Geppetto, Figaro and Cleo. Pinocchio soon thinks of a plan to escape Monstro by making him sneeze.
Once Pinocchio is able to get Monstro to sneeze, the enraged animal chases after him and his father. The whale destroys the raft, sending Pinocchio and Geppetto into the unforgiving sea. After witnessing his father almost drowning, Pinocchio grabs him and swims to shore as quick as he can, but it's too late. Even before he gets there, Monstro slams into a rocky wall, creating a forty foot tidal wave. Gepetto, Figaro, Cleo, and Jiminy survive. When Jiminy looks for Pinocchio, he makes a very depressing discovery. Pinocchio is lying face down in a large puddle, in which he has drowned.
Geppetto, Figaro, Cleo, and Jiminy return home and mourn over the loss of Pinocchio. Then the Blue Fairy revives Pinocchio and transforms him into a real human boy because he has now proved himself brave, truthful and unselfish. Jiminy is then awarded with a certified 14-karat conscience badge.
House of Mouse
Pinocchio in House of Mouse.
Pinocchio, in his puppet form, made numerous cameo appearances in the television series House of Mouse, where he was voiced by child actor Michael Welch.
His most prominent appearance on the show was in the episode "Jiminy Cricket", in which Pain and Panic convince him to hang out with them and ditch Jiminy. He is sad when he finds out that Jiminy is now Mickey Mouse's conscience instead of his, so he leaves with Pain and Panic. In the end, however, Pinocchio and Jiminy are reunited.
In "Goofy's Menu Magic", Pinocchio and Geppetto can be briefly seen sailing on their raft in a sea of Goofy's stew.
In Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse Pinocchio is seen onscreen telling Mickey what he wants for Christmas--no strings to hold him down.
Other animated productions
In All Together, a wartime cartoon, Pinocchio (in his puppet form) is seen with other characters from his film during the parade.
Pinocchio, in his puppet form, makes a cameo appearance at the end of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, among the group of toons wondering what sort of Toon that Judge Doom really was. Pinocchio suggests that he couldn't have been a little wooden boy. Peter Westly voiced Pinocchio in the film.
Pinocchio's cameo in Aladdin.
In the Aladdin film, the Genie briefly transformed his face into Pinocchio when he thinks Aladdin is lying about using his third wish to set him free.
In one episode of the Aladdin TV series, Genie briefly transformed into Geppetto and was seen controlling Pinocchio.
Pinocchio made a cameo appearance at the beginning of the Teacher's Pet film. During the opening sequence, Spot Helperman has a dream where he's watching Pinocchio.
Pinocchio makes two interesting cameos in Phineas and Ferb. The first is in the episode "Unfair Science Fair". A human boy baring a great resemblance to him is shown to be the kid Heinz Doofenshmirtz lost his first science fair to. His other cameo is in "Wizard of Odd", where he's shown to be among the many people, including Santa Claus that Good Witch Isabella tells to take the yellow brick road. This cameo notably depicts Pinocchio baring more resemblance to a typical puppet and looks quite different from his usual design in Disney productions.
In Tangled, Pinocchio had a cameo inside the Snuggly Duckling during the song "I've Got a Dream".
Live-action appearances
The Mouse Factory
Pinocchio made recurring appearances in the live-action wrap-around skits alongside the other costumed characters and celebrity guests.
Once Upon a Time
Young Pinocchio in the Enchanted Forest
Pinocchio (Eion Bailey, Jakob Davies as a young Pinocchio) is a puppet Geppetto carved from an enchanted tree. As a little boy puppet, he gives his life to save Geppetto from drowning in a storm. As a reward, the Blue Fairy turns Pinocchio into a real boy, promising that the spell will hold so long as he is selfless and good. However, the boy remained mischievous, though he means no harm. The Blue Fairy asks Geppetto to carve another enchanted tree into a magical wardrobe with the ability to save two people, the pregnant Snow White and Prince James, from the Evil Queen's curse. However, the curse will send everyone else to a land without magic and happy endings.
Pinocchio, who is a real boy because of magic, may turn back into a puppet. Geppetto bargains with the Blue Fairy to use the second spot for Pinocchio instead, and the Blue Fairy lies to the others and says that the wardrobe can only save one. However, Snow White gives birth to Emma. Instead of giving up Pinocchio's spot to Snow as the Blue Fairy asks, Geppetto sends his son ahead and asks him to protect the child and get her to believe when the time is right. After emerging in the real world, Pinocchio and the infant Emma are taken to an orphanage, where Pinocchio looked after her like a sister. However, he leaves Emma to run away as the man taking care of them was cruel.
Pinocchio's alias, August W. Booth.
August Wayne Booth (Eion Bailey), previously known as The Stranger, is a mysterious young man visiting Storybrooke. He first appears at the end of "True North" after Henry Mills states that no one ever comes to Storybrooke and Emma is the first stranger there. Shortly after, he rides into town on his motorcycle and asks Henry and Emma for directions to a place to stay, but never names himself. He also carries everywhere a large wooden box whose contents are unknown until Emma confronts him at the diner and he tells her that he will show her what is in the wooden box if she agrees to let him buy her a drink sometime. She agrees, and he shows her that the box contains a typewriter and he tells her that he is a writer. Later, he is revealed to have possession of Henry's storybook, which was hidden then lost. He finally names himself when he tries to take Emma out for the drink she promised him, but she refuses to let him because she believes a man who will not tell her his name is probably hiding other things. He is later seen working with the storybook in a dark room: applying chemicals to the pages and reassembling the book. He plants it by Emma's car to make it look like it washed away in a storm; she finds it and returns the book to Henry. He later tells Henry that he believes in the curse and wants to convince Emma that it is real. He later tries to control Mr. Gold with the Dark One's dagger, who is Rumplestiltskin in the Enchanted Forest. Mr. Gold calls his bluff, and threatens to kill him.
August reveals that he is deathly ill and needs magic to get better, so he tried to help Emma bring magic to Storybrooke. However, he believes that Emma will be too late to save him. Gold points out that not even he can help August as there is no magic in Storybrooke and leaves August to find a different way. His illness turns out to be that he is turning back into wood because he broke his promise to Geppetto. Desperate, he conspires with Gold to force Emma to ask August for help to beat Regina. When she does, August takes her out of Storybrooke to tell her his story. He reveals that he is the seven-year-old boy who found the infant Emma. He says he was across the world when Emma decided to stay in Storybrooke and his leg began to feel pain as time began to move forward again. He tries to prove the curse's existence by showing his now-wooden leg but Emma's denial is so strong that she does not see it as wood. Afterward, he goes to see Marco, who is his father Geppetto, and tells him that he failed his father and though he tried to keep his promise, he tried too late.
Marco says that if he had a son, that would be enough. August offers to work as Marco's assistant though he cannot be paid, stating that he simply likes to fix things. When Emma tries to leave Storybrooke, Henry comes to August, who shows that his arm is also turning into wood and says that soon he will be completely wooden. He gives up on making Emma believe in the curse and wants to spend his remaining time with his father. When Emma finally believes, she goes to August for help. However, August completely turns to wood before her eyes. It is not known whether August's life as Peocchio edhim returning to normal was regained after the curse was lifted.
August in his wooden form.
In the second season premiere, August is seen still laying in his bed at Granny's Bed and Breakfast, and he blinks. Later, Marco is putting up missing posters, believing his son to be lost and still a child. After an uproar in which many citizens, Henry Mills reveals August's true identity to Marco. Marco visits August's room in Granny's, but discovers an empty bed. It is revealed later on that after the curse was broken, August was able to move again but was trapped in his wooden form, much like when he was as a child. He had been living in the forest in a trailer, afraid of how everyone, especially Marco, would think of him. Mary Margaret (Snow White) finds him while practicing archery, having accidentally hit him with one of her arrows. He tells her to keep the encounter a secret because of his guilt for selfish actions, which she promises. However, he is found by Tamara, a woman whom he stole money from to cure himself in Hong Kong, who offers him the cure that she managed to take back from him when he robbed her.
Deciding to get the cure, August drives out of Storybrooke to Tamara's apartment in New York using her car. Just as he leaves, he then finds a photo of Tamara with her grandmother, the valuable object she was supposed to give the healer along with the money to receive the cure for her cancer. Remembering the day when he came back to find the healer dead, August realizes that Tamara was the one who killed him and was trying to get August out of Storybrooke. August rushes back to Storybrooke to warn Emma and the others, but is confronted by Tamara herself. He reveals to her that he knew she did not have cancer but was actually after the cure to discover the magic within it.
She quips at this, and tells him that he was a weak and selfish man who needed the cure for himself, but August defends himself stating that he never needed magic, but by correcting his mistakes he will break the curse, and will start by stopping Tamara. Tamara, in response, shocks him with a taser before he attacks. In his last few moments, August trudges quickly to the others to try and warn them. He is caught by Marco as he falls, as father and son are finally reunited. August apologizes and admits for all his selfish deeds, but finally dies as he is about to tell the group of Tamara's treachery. However, Henry notices that August died admitting his mistakes and doing what he could to help the others, making him selfless, brave, and true. This meant that August could receive a second chance and be revived if this was true. The Blue Fairy quickly tests this, and August is revived, but instead of becoming his own self he reverts to his human form as a child, Pinocchio.
Video games
Pinocchio
Pinocchio in the SNES game.
In the video game adaptation of the film, Pinocchio lives out (mostly) the same role as the film, traveling through the world filled with temptations and battling various forces.
Disney's Villains' Revenge
Pinocchio makes a cameo at the end of the game, alongside other Disney protagonists, though his world isn't featured anywhere in the game, unlike the other characters.
Kingdom Hearts series
Pinocchio is a recurring character in the popular series.
In the original Kingdom Hearts, Pinocchio's world was destroyed by the Heartless, separating his family. Jiminy ends up in Disney Castle, a world ruled by Mickey Mouse, whilst Geppetto's whereabouts remain unknown. As for Pinocchio, he finds himself in Traverse Town, eventually bumping into Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy. Jiminy is able to set him straight after leading the wooden boy has been misbehaving without his conscience by his side. Pinocchio then explains his troubles in trying to find Geppetto, to which Jiminy replies by offering to have Sora and company search whilst Pinocchio stays in Traverse Town where it's safe.
Later on, after the heroes are eaten by a wandering Monstro the Whale, they find Pinocchio trapped inside as well, along with Geppetto, who's reveled to have been trapped within the monstrous whale the whole time. The reunion is short lived as Pinocchio soon runs into Riku and loses his heart. Sora and company travel through the creature's body to stop him, eventually succeeding. After being freed from the whale, Geppetto and Pinocchio take residence in Traverse Town, along with other characters who've unfortunately lost their worlds. After the primary antagonist of the story is defeated and the world's are restored, it can be assumed Pinocchio and Geppetto returned to their rightful home.
Pinocchio also appears in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories as a figment of Sora's memories and in Kingdom Hearts II during a flashback at the early stages of the game.
A larger role for the puppet comes into fruition in Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, where Pinocchio's world, Prankster's Paradise, is revealed for the first time.
Kinect Disneyland Adventures
Pinocchio in Kinect Disneyland Adventures.
Pinocchio appears as a meet-and-greet character next to Dumbo the Flying Elephant in Fantasyland and has several quests for the player, one of which includes getting some toffee apples for him and his school friends. At one point in the game, Pinocchio's school books are eaten by Monstro. Pinocchio and the player then use some pepper pots to make Monstro sneeze, thus returning the books. For a school assignment, Pinocchio asks the player to take a few pictures so that he can complete some of his books. Later on, Pinocchio is playing by the lake and accidentally loses Geppetto's lamp. To retrieve the lamp, the player uses the fishing pole given to them by Stinky Pete.
Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion
Pinocchio is featured as one of the many iconic Disney characters kidnapped by the evil witch, Mizrabel in her plot to dominate their world. He's imprisoned alongside Genie in the Cave of Wonders until eventually being rescued by Mickey Mouse.
Disney Parks
Pinocchio posing for a photo at Hong Kong Disneyland.
In the Disney Parks, Pinocchio appears as a meetable character and is seen in parades and shows. He is a very common character. Pinocchio makes appearances in Main Street Electrical Parade, SpectroMagic and Jubilation!
Pinocchio can be found in Fantasyland in the Magic Kingdom and Disneyland Paris for meet and greets. Pinocchio also has his own spell card known as "Pinocchio's Sawdust Blast" in the attraction Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom.
Pinocchio's Daring Journey
Pinocchio appears as an audio animatronic in the dark ride at both Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland, where he plays the same role as he did in the film. He can be seen performing for Stromboli as well as escaping Monstro.
Fantasmic!
In the Disneyland version Pinocchio has a small bit where he appears dancing alongside female puppets. For a few years, he also appeared on the Mark Twain riverboat, though he was removed in 2008.
In the Hollywood Studios version, Pinocchio appears in the bubble montage and is later seen riding Steamboat Willie at the end.
In the Tokyo DisneySea version, Pinocchio appears during the finale with Geppetto and Jiminy Cricket.
One Man's Dream II: The Magic Lives On
Pinocchio is seen in the opening dance number and later on during the show's finale arriving in Hollywood with Jiminy and a cast of Disney characters.
Gallery
Trivia
- Pinocchio is dubbed in Spanish by the actor Mario "Cielito" GonzƔlez in Argentina.
- Pinocchio's name means "Pine Seed" in Italian. This means that he is definitely made of pine wood, as the Blue Fairy also called him "little puppet made of pine" before bringing him to life.
- It is strange that Pinocchio appeared as one of the heroes of the story book in Disney's Villains' Revenge but none of the villains from the film do.
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