Pinocchio (Disney Character)

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**Pinocchio** is the title protagonist of Disney's 1940 animated feature film of the same name. He is a wooden puppet created by the kindly woodcarver Geppetto. As per Geppetto’s wish to have a son, Pinocchio was brought to life by the Blue Fairy. With Jiminy Cricket as his conscience, Pinocchio must prove himself brave, truthful and unselfish, in order to fulfill his dream of becoming a real boy.

## Background

### Development

In the original Italian serial by Carlo Collodi, Pinocchio was purposely portrayed as a bit more misbehaved, and obnoxious. The filmmakers stayed true to this once production on their adaptation began, resulting in a character that was wise-cracking and brazen, a drastically different interpretation of the final product. Walt Disney disliked this version of the character, both in terms of his personality and appearance; he was initially designed to resemble an actual puppet with a geometrical shape. Walt felt the character looked too lifeless, despite the accuracy. Animator Milt Kahl was also dissatisfied with the version of Pinocchio and did test animation of his own that featured a design much closer to what's in the final film. According to Kahl, the design came from the mindset that he was animating an actual little boy, rather than a puppet. Walt approved, and after further development, the look of Disney's Pinocchio was finalized.

Additionally, Pinocchio's personality was greatly reworked to portray that of a believable and innocent child. This shift was meant to make the character more likable to audiences, thus enhancing the overall appeal of the film, itself. Around the same time of this shift, Walt felt the story lacked "warmth" and "love"; to remedy this, he took a minor character from the Collodi stories (the "Talking Cricket") and developed him into a comedic, sidekick-character known as Jiminy Cricket, to act as Pinocchio's friend throughout the journey. The relationship between Pinocchio and Jiminy would thusly play a major role in the story's events and overall heart.

### Personality

Once he is given life by the Blue Fairy, Pinocchio acts his age; he is very whimsical, childlike, and impressionable. Because of his youthful ignorance, he can be seen as rather mischievous, pretty gullible, and over-trusting, which 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 antagonists. Even so, as the film progresses, Pinocchio notably learns from experiences and takes them into account; eventually becoming selfless, sensible, brave, 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, which he proceeds in carrying out by entirely using his own intelligence and craft. Pinocchio's daring decision to risk his life for his loved ones ultimately grants him his wish of becoming a real boy.

### Physical appearance

Pinocchio is a slender marionette that is made to look like a cute little boy with a round, chubby face and long nose. He has big, bright blue eyes and a fringe of thick jet-black hair adorned with a yellow hat with a red feather under a blue band wrapped around it. Like most animated characters in the day, he has four-fingered hands with white gloves. He wears bright red cotton fabric short overalls with yellow buttons over a light yellow shirt with a white collar. He also has a black vest, big blue bow tie, and brown wooden shoes. When he was almost transformed into a donkey, Pinocchio has long donkey ears with a gray fur and a matching gray tail with a black hairy tip that his ripped his pants.

As a real boy when he was revived by the Blue Fairy and reversing his donkey transformation due to risking his life to save his loved ones from Monstro and finally grants his wish, Pinocchio appears with fair skin, his nose is a small rounded shape, and hands become five-fingered and no longer wear white gloves. He retains wearing his outfit while he was still a marionette but is not seen wearing a black vest and his brown shoes are no longer wooden which resembles flats.

### Powers and Abilities

* **Invulnerability:** As a living puppet, Pinocchio is invulnerable to bodily harm to an extent and feels no pain. Early in the film, he lit his finger on fire without flinching, then later fell down some steps and got up unharmed.
* **Limited shapeshifting:** Whenever Pinocchio tells a lie, as a puppet his nose grows longer than usual. Only when Pinocchio tells the truth will his nose return to its normal size.
* **Aquatic adaptation:** As a puppet, Pinocchio does not require air and can survive and speak underwater. Being made of wood, however, he must use a stone to weigh his body down.
* **Strategist:** Over the course of the film, Pinocchio develops a degree of strategy and cunning, tying a stone to his tail (which he gets from Pleasure Island) to travel underwater, then starting a fire inside Monstro's belly in order to escape from the whale. He was also the only boy at Pleasure Island who was smart enough to flee before his transformation could be completed, as Jiminy implied this could work as Pinocchio realizes he's thinking what he's thinking.

## Biography

### *Pinocchio*

In the film, Pinocchio is first introduced as a lifeless puppet. When it is time for bed, Geppetto catches sight of a wishing star and wishes for Pinocchio to become a real boy. Once Geppetto fell asleep, his home is visited by the Blue Fairy, who brings Pinocchio to life and appoints Jiminy Cricket as his official conscience to tell him right from wrong, for if Pinocchio proves himself brave, truthful, and unselfish, he will be transformed into a real boy. Geppetto discovers his puppet is alive and celebrates along with Figaro the kitten and Cleo the goldfish. As of that night, Pinocchio's journey to boyhood has begun.

The next morning, Pinocchio is on his way to school, but is stopped by a pair of shady con artists: a sly fox named J. Worthington Foulfellow (a.k.a. "Honest John") and his mute sidekick and partner, Gideon, who trick him into working for Stromboli, a puppeteer, explaining to Pinocchio that 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, and 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 locks Pinocchio in a birdcage and threatens to chop him into firewood if he refuses to cooperate. Pinocchio tries to tell the Blue Fairy the truth, but he does not know how. Eventually, Pinocchio manages to escape and flee with the help of Jiminy and the Blue Fairy.

Pinocchio and Jiminy race home, but Pinocchio is stopped once again by Foulfellow and Gideon. They tell Pinocchio that he is sick, "allergic", and the only cure is a vacation on Pleasure Island. Pinocchio refuses to go at first, but they insist because "his health comes first". Foulfellow gives Pinocchio his "ticket" (a simple Ace of Spades) to convince him and the two take the wooden boy to the Coachman, with many other boys from different places on his coach, including a brat named Lampwick, who Pinocchio quickly befriends.

Once the place is torn apart, everyone has vanished, except for Lampwick and Pinocchio, who are smoking and drinking while playing pool (the former of which has made him briefly nauseous). 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, who, in the meantime sees some strange and things happening to Lampwick: He grows donkey ears then a tail then his head becomes a furry donkey head. Lampwick asks if he looks like a jackass, to which Pinocchio replies “You sure do!” and laughs with a bray. Lampwick then tells Pinocchio that he laughed like a donkey then he too laughs with a bray. Lampwick then asks Pinocchio if that bray came out of him and Pinocchio panically nods. Lampwick then feels his face, noticing it feels different then notices he has long ears and starts panicking. He then rushes to the mirror and sees he partly transformed into a donkey prompting him to run around panicking. He grabs Pinocchio and pleads him for help briefly before his hands turn into hooves much to Pinocchio’s horror. He stands quietly but nervously while watching Lampwick finish transforming into donkey then lose his voice and run around in a great panic destroying the pool hall and kicking his clothes off. Pinocchio then grows donkey ears and a tail himself and starts panicking, wondering what to do. Jiminy then returns to Pinocchio and he frantically begs him for help. Jiminy then explains to Pinocchio that the boys are all donkeys, sees he’s part donkey too, and tells him to come with him quickly before he could get any worse. He runs out of the pool hall with Jiminy and they hurry down a small rock path (which is the only way out of Pleasure Island). They successfully reach the edge of the island and jump into the water to swim back to their homeland before Pinocchio’s donkey transformation could go any further and before the Coachman and his minions could catch sight of him.

The two finally reach home, but find that the house is empty. As Pinocchio and Jiminy sit and wait for everyone to return, the Blue Fairy comes in the shape of a dove and gives them a letter which tells them Geppetto was swallowed by Monstro the Whale while searching for Pinocchio.

The pair search the ocean for Monstro with very little luck. When they ask for help from sea creatures such as clams and seahorses, they all swim and hide in fear at the mention of Monstro's name. Meanwhile, after a nap, Monstro awakens and begins a feeding frenzy. Everything in his path is either devoured or destroyed (including Pinocchio). Once inside Monstro, Pinocchio reunites with Geppetto, Figaro, and Cleo. Pinocchio soon thinks of a plan to escape Monstro by lighting a bonfire, creating enough smoke to make him sneeze.

Once Pinocchio is able to get Monstro to sneeze, the enraged whale chases after him and his father. The whale destroys the raft with his tail, sending Pinocchio and Geppetto into the water. After witnessing his father almost drowning, Pinocchio grabs him and attempts to swim to a nearby sea cave, but it's too late. Even before he gets there, Monstro slams into the rocks surrounding the cave, sending Pinocchio and his father gushing through to the shore. While Geppetto, Figaro, Cleo, and Jiminy survive, Jiminy looks for Pinocchio and makes a very heart breaking discovery: Pinocchio is lying face down in a large puddle, dead on impact.

Geppetto, Figaro, Cleo, and Jiminy return home and mourn 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, also reversing the effects of Pleasure Island on him, much to the joy of the others. Jiminy is then awarded a certified 18-karat conscience badge as thanks for his duty as Pinocchio's conscience from the Blue Fairy.

### Other appearances

In *Aladdin*, 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.

In *Tangled*, Pinocchio had a cameo inside the Snuggly Duckling during the song "I've Got a Dream".

## Trivia

* In the original novel, Pinocchio is not brought to life by the Blue Fairy: it's his own wood to be already magical and alive, even if by unknown reasons.
* Pinocchio's name means "Pine-Eye" in Italian. This means that he is definitely made of pine wood, and the Blue Fairy also called him "little puppet made of pine" before bringing him to life. In the book, however, his wood type is never revealed and Geppetto named him after a family he once knew.
	+ *"Pino"* is also an abbreviation for *Giuseppino*, the diminutive for *Giuseppe* (the Italian form of Joseph).
* Strangely, Pinocchio appears as one of the heroes of the storybook in *Disney's Villains' Revenge*, despite the fact that none of the villains from the film appear in the game; Jiminy and the Blue Fairy, however, have a central role in the game.
* For the revised versions of the ***You and Your*** series of shorts, Pinocchio was portrayed by a real-life boy, Elijah Wood; he appeared only in the live action segments of the new versions which were filmed in the 1990s.
* Pinocchio dying and then being brought back to life is the first instance of the Disney Death, a cliché/trope of Disney films where it appears a major protagonist appears to be killed, but is then revived or revealed to have never been dead.
* Ted Sears, Jackie Cooper, Tommy Bond, Scotty Beckett, Terry Kilburn, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Tommy Bupp and Freddie Bartholomew were all considered to voice Pinocchio.
* To promote the TV movie *Geppetto*, Seth Adkins appeared in character on *The Drew Carey Show* in the episode entitled *"What's Wrong with This Episode III"*.
* The people at Pickwick Publications created a two-part musical story called "The Story of Pinocchio. In this two-part story, Pinocchio sells his coat and is left out in the freezing cold. The Blue Fairy takes him in and calls Dr. Crow and Dr. Owl for him (The puppet is quite sick, I think/He's hovering right on the Brink./But if he's not sick as hell,/l tell you that he's very well!" says Dr. Crow). Chirpy Cricket then speaks last ("Please don't listen to those two,/Chirpy Cricket knows what to do./It's just that he's not very smart,/ And his papa's home with a broken heart!"). In Part Two, while looking for his father, Pinocchio goes to The Land of Boobies,where he turns into a donkey. A dip in the sea returns him to normal, and he's swallowed by a whale, in the belly of which he finds his father ("I'm here, my father, gonna rescue you,/Back to our home l'm taking you./We'll build a raft and sail/Right outta this great big whale!") They do manage to escape, and the next day Pinocchio wakes to discover he's now a real live boy. As the ending of the story would suggest, it's an unofficial adaptation of the film; the person who played Pinocchio is unknown.