Pinocchio (Disney film)/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Anvilicious:
    • The fairy gives Pinocchio a lecture about lying, obviously meant as An Aesop for the audience.
    • Also the bit "If you don't go to school, you'll become a donkey". Justified in that barely any Italian kids went to school when the book was written.
    • Don't be an actor. They have no conscience.
  • Awesome Music: The whole soundtrack can count, but special mention goes to "When You Wish Upon a Star". That one song was so good, it became Disney's de facto theme song.
    • Not to mention that the song and score both won Oscars.
  • Complete Monster: The Coachman may be Disney's most sadistic underrated villain. The really scary part is that, unlike other Disney villains, he's never made to pay for the evil he does.
    • The Nightmare Face he gives might just imply that he's not even human, but an actual demon in human disguise.
    • Stromboli qualifies as well. Even if he is a puppet, Pinocchio is still a child. How do you threaten to keep him caged, exploit him, and then murder him by chopping him into firewood after you're done with him, and live with yourself?
  • Designated Villain: Monstro. He's classified as a villain since he deliberately tries to kill Pinocchio and Geppetto after they escape from inside him...but as the book "The Encyclopedia of Disney Characters" puts it, if someone lit a fire inside you, you probably wouldn't be very happy with them either.
    • Mean Character, Nice Actor: Monstro even guest-starred as a good guy in a Bonkers comic story. According to this comic, he is a well mannered but destructive (due to his size) Toon actor who has not had much work since this film.
  • Ear Worm: The soundtrack has remained in public conscience for over 70 years now, and not just the film's Bootstrapped Theme.
  • Ensemble Darkhorse: Stromboli, mainly due to the over-the-top hamminess of the voice actor.

"I WILL POOOSH YOU IN DE PUBLIC'S EYE!"

"They never come back... as BOYS!!!"

    • Mama...Mamaaaaa-HEEHAWHEEHAWHEEHAW!!!
  • Moral Event Horizon: The Coachman's entire operation that he hides beneath the surface of Pleasure Island is sick, but seeing him him ship boys-turned-donkeys off for labor while shoving ones that can still talk into a corner until they've become fully donkey-fied like the rest is what really sends him far over the edge of this.
    • Stromboli locking Pinocchio in a cage and telling him he plans to exploit him for profit all over the world and then chop him up for firewood once he's served his purpose.
  • Narm: It's difficult to take the SNES game seriously because of all the ridiculous sound effects!
  • Nausea Fuel: When Pinocchio inhales the whole cigar with one breath, and first turns red and then green.
  • Nightmare Fuel: Stromboli's speech about someday turning Pinnochio into fire wood. The Coachman's Nightmare Face, Lampwick's transformation and Monstro.
  • Once-Acceptable Targets: Honest John briefly mentions that Stromboli is a Gypsy.
  • Tear Jerker: Pinocchio's apparent death. Also included should be the Adult Fear moment when Geppetto walks desperately through pouring rain in search of Pinocchio when he doesn't come from school. His increasingly desperate cries of "Pinocchio!" ringing out while his puppet-son is unknowingly being carted away just in front of him is pretty agonizing for anyone who's ever been in charge of the welfare of another.
    • Oddly, enough. you can't even help but feel sorry for Lampwick during the tranformation scene. It's not a good view seeing him while he desperately gets down on his knees and begs Pinocchio and even asking for Jiminy's help.
  • Values Dissonance: Lampwick gets cursed and transformed into a donkey because he drinks, smokes and... plays billiards. The first two are pretty clearly substances that should be either avoided (in the case of tobacco) or consumed very modestly (alcohol), but most people get befuddled at the game of billiards being depicted as bad. This was because billiards were oftentimes a cover for gambling and wagering money, so to prevent an illegal activity that was actively destroying people's lives many American states banned billiards altogether. As time went on billiards became more acceptable to play (and was, thus decriminalized again), mostly because extorsion moved towards other means of monetary transaction, and nowadays there are even middle-class homes with their own pool table.
  • The Woobie: Geppetto. Seriously, he first desperately looks for his kid, then he get swallowed along Figaro and Cleo in the belly of a whale where he risks to die starving.
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Pinocchio_(Disney_film)/YMMV?oldid=2046262"