Pinocchio=Scary

[funky monkey]

So I just watched Pinocchio for the first time in years. The animation was beautiful, but what really stuck out to me was how disturbing it is. It's a fairly dark film. Stromboli locking Pinocchio in a birdcage and the scene with Monstro the whale.

But the scariest part was the Pleasure Island part, with all the boys turning into donkeys. It seemed cleverly metaphorical though. They literally made *******es of themselves.

Did anyone else find it scary/disturbing?

 

[southern_redhead]

LOL My kids and I watched this tonight. Um, no, I guess I didn't find it any more dark or disturbing than other Disney films (Bambi - mom gets shot, Little Mermaid - Ursula is just a mean blankity-blank, Cinderella and Snow White - talk about giving stepmothers everywhere a bad name and SW has a WITCH!!) It is a VERY good moral story, though. My kids and I talked about how his nose grows with each lie because once you lie you must keep going and telling more lies to make the first lie plausible. I actually remembered it being more depressing than I found it to be this time. Perhaps becuase the last time I watched it *I* was a child? We also had fun talking about how it is based in Italy and we looked up the names for the characters to find out that Pinocchio means "pine or made of pine" which was cool. Out of my 3 only DD8 was underwhelmed by it. She found it boring. Oh well, can't please everyone all the time LOL The only thing I found shocking was that there were a suprising amount of bad words, you'd think THEY would have made an impression on my child self

 

[funky monkey]

Yes it is very moralistic. It shows the consequences of the character's actions. The consequences are often harsh though. It's like it's saying that the boys on Pleasure Island deserved to be donkeys. But, still, it is regarded as a masterpiece.

 

[kavintenison]

I have watched only few episode on web, I like it.
But I never continue this series due my busy schedule..

 

[themermaidgirl]

I agree, Pinocchio was the most terrifying Disney movie for me, even scarier than The Black Cauldron (and the Horned King is a pretty spooky guy!)

 

[wittyheroine]

This movie definitely scared me when I was little. It doesn't so much anymore but there certainly are some parts in it where it gets a little dark.

 

[Experiment_626]

Pinocchio is a movie that puzzles me when I think about it long enough, at least the Pleasure Island part. This guy -- the Coachman or whatever term the movie uses -- builds what amounts to a theme park on an island. So, $$$. The theme is essentially debauchery, at least the young boy version of it. The place appears to sustain relatively heavy damage during the time (is it overnight?) the group of boys we see are there. It seems reasonable to conclude that the park suffers similarly each time a new group of boys is delivered to the island. On top of that, there seems to be copious amounts of alcohol and cigars and such that are consumed.

Repairs to the park and resupplying it must cost a fortune on a regular basis. Wouldn't it just be cheaper and easier to establish a conventional breeding farm for small donkeys? Is the price-per-head really that lucrative? Or does the Coachman -- or whoever owns Pleasure Island -- really hate small boys so much that he's willing to lose money on the deal, selling the donkeys that result as both a way to put the finishing touch on humiliating the boys and as way to make back some of the losses?

Scott

 

[Sgt Mickey]

I remember as a little kid seeing it at the movies and it was a little scary.

 

[homedad]

that same part was the reason my dd8 said she didn't want to watch Pinochio just this last weekend, she said it scared her

 

[Queenofspoons]

Yes it is very moralistic. It shows the consequences of the character's actions. The consequences are often harsh though. It's like it's saying that the boys on Pleasure Island deserved to be donkeys. But, still, it is regarded as a masterpiece.

If you look closely during the scene some crates the donkey-boys say "Salt Mines", meaning they are going to be worked to death in the mines!

Also am I the only one who cries when the one donkey boy is crying for his mama, and the sadest part the Coachman was never stopped by Pinocchio, meaning he is still at, and their are a billions of boys who will never be reunited with their mothers.

 

[funky monkey]

So I'm not the only one who thought that scene was intense.