The film was adapted by several storyboard artists from Collodi's book. The production was supervised byBen Sharpsteen andHamilton Luske, and the film's sequences were directed byNorman Ferguson,T. Hee,Wilfred Jackson,Jack Kinney, and Bill Roberts.Pinocchio was a groundbreaking achievement in the area of effects animation, giving realistic movement to vehicles and machinery as well as natural elements such as rain, water, lightning, smoke, and shadow. After premiering at theCenter Theatre in New York City on February 7, 1940,Pinocchio was released in theatres on February 23, 1940.
In a sleepy village inItaly,Jiminy Cricket arrives at the shop of a woodworker and toymaker namedGeppetto, who creates apuppet he namesPinocchio. As he falls asleep, Geppetto wishes upon a star for Pinocchio to be a real boy. Late that night, theBlue Fairy visits the workshop and brings Pinocchio to life, although he remains a puppet. She informs him that if he proves himself to be brave, truthful, and unselfish, he will become a real boy. When Jiminy reveals himself, the Blue Fairy assigns him to be Pinocchio's conscience. Geppetto awakens upon hearing the commotion from Pinocchio falling, and is overjoyed to discover that he is alive and will become a real boy.
The next morning, while walking to school, Pinocchio is led astray by con artist foxHonest John and his sidekickGideon the Cat. Honest John convinces him to joinStromboli's puppet show, despite Jiminy's protestations. Pinocchio becomes Stromboli's star attraction, but when he tries to go home, Stromboli locks him in a bird cage and leaves to tour the world with Pinocchio. After Jiminy unsuccessfully tries to free his friend, the Blue Fairy appears, and an anxious Pinocchio lies about what happened, causing his nose to grow and become a tree branch with a bird's nest. The Blue Fairy restores his nose and frees Pinocchio when he promises to make amends, but warns him that she can offer no further help.
Meanwhile,a mysterious Coachman hires Honest John to find disobedient and naughty boys for him to take toPleasure Island, a notorious and infamous place. Honest John, despite the legal risks and the Coachman's implication of what happens to the boys, accepts the job out of fear, and finds Pinocchio, persuading him to take a vacation on Pleasure Island. On the way to the island, Pinocchio befriendsLampwick, a delinquent boy. At Pleasure Island, without rules or authority to enforce their activity, Pinocchio, Lampwick, and many other boys soon engage in vices such as vandalism, fighting, smoking and drinking. Jiminy eventually finds Pinocchio in a bar smoking and playing pool with Lampwick, and the two have a falling out after Pinocchio defends Lampwick for his actions. As Jiminy tries leaving Pleasure Island, he discovers that the island hides a horrible curse that transforms the boys into donkeys after making "jackasses" of themselves, and they are sold by the Coachman into slave labor. Pinocchio witnesses Lampwick transform into a donkey, and with Jiminy's help, he flees before he can be fully transformed himself, though he still has a donkey's ears and tail.
Upon returning home, Pinocchio and Jiminy find Geppetto's workshop deserted, and obtain a letter from the Blue Fairy in the form of a dove, stating that Geppetto had set out to sea in search for Pinocchio, but got swallowed by a gigantic and vicioussperm whale calledMonstro and is now trapped in its belly. Determined to rescue his father, Pinocchio jumps into theMediterranean Sea with Jiminy and is soon swallowed by Monstro, where he reunites with Geppetto. Pinocchio devises a scheme to make Monstro sneeze and allow them to escape, but the whale chases them and destroys their raft with his tail. Pinocchio selflessly pulls Geppetto to safety in a cove just as Monstro crashes into it and Pinocchio is killed.
Back at home, Geppetto, Jiminy, Figaro, and Cleo mourn Pinocchio. Having succeeded in proving himself brave, truthful, and unselfish, Pinocchio is revived and turned into a real human boy by the Blue Fairy, much to everyone's joy. As the group celebrates, Jiminy steps outside to thank the Fairy and is rewarded with a solid gold badge that certifies him as an official conscience.
Dickie Jones as Pinocchio, a woodenpuppet carved by Geppetto and brought to life by the Blue Fairy.
Jones also voiced Alexander, a boy who is turned into a donkey at Pleasure Island, but still talks.
Cliff Edwards as Jiminy Cricket, acricket who acts as Pinocchio's "conscience" and is the partial narrator of the story.
Christian Rub as Geppetto, an elderlywood-carver and Pinocchio's creator, who wishes for him to become a real boy.
Clarence Nash as Figaro, Geppetto's pet cat who is prone to sulk. Cleo, Geppetto's pet goldfish with a habit of being Figaro's counselor, is unvoiced. Figaro and Cleo were original characters not present in the original story, and were added to the script by the Disney team.[6] Nash also voices the rough house statue and makes the braying sounds for the donkeys on Pleasure Island, after the boys have been transformed into them.
Mel Blanc as Gideon the Cat, Honest John's mute anthropomorphicfeline partner and sidekick who serves ascomic relief. He was originally intended to be voiced by Blanc, in his second work for Disney until his final work inWho Framed Roger Rabbit, but the filmmakers instead went with a mute performance for the character.[7] However, Gideon's hiccups were provided by Blanc.
Charles Judels as Stromboli, a puppeteer who buys Pinocchio for a miserable amount of money from Honest John and Gideon, and intends to force said Pinocchio to perform onstage to make money and use as "firewood" once he gets "too old" to perform. He speaks English with an Italian accent, and curses in Italian gibberish when angry. He is called "gypsy" by Honest John, likely due to his theatre and caravan always travelling, as well as other names like "rascal" and "faker".
Judels also voiced the Coachman, the owner and operator of Pleasure Island with aCockney accent.
Evelyn Venable as the Blue Fairy, who brings Pinocchio to life and promises to turn him into a real boy if he proves himself brave, truthful, and selfless. Live-action references for the Blue Fairy were provided byMarge Champion, who served as the live-action reference for the titular heroine inSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Frankie Darro as Lampwick, a boy whom Pinocchio befriends on his way to Pleasure Island and is turned into a donkey for his mischief.
Stuart Buchanan as the Carnival Barker, the announcer at Pleasure Island. In a book adaptation of the film, "Barker" is the Coachman's name or alias.
Thurl Ravenscroft as Monstro, the sperm whale.[8] He swallows Pinocchio, Geppetto, Figaro, and Cleo, then tries to kill them after they escape from his belly by making him sneeze.
In September 1937, during the production ofSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs, animatorNorman Ferguson brought a translated version ofCarlo Collodi's 1883 Italian children's novelThe Adventures of Pinocchio to the attention ofWalt Disney. After reading the book, "Walt was busting his guts with enthusiasm," as Ferguson later recalled. Disney then commissioned storyboard artistBianca Majolie to write a new story outline for the book, but after reading it, he felt her outline was too faithful.[9]Pinocchio was intended to be the studio's third feature, afterBambi (1942). However, due to difficulties withBambi (adapting the story and animating the animals realistically), Disney announced thatBambi would be postponed whilePinocchio would move ahead in production.Ben Sharpsteen was then re-assigned to supervise the production whileJack Kinney was given directional reins.[9][10]
UnlikeSnow White, which was a short story that the writers could expand and experiment with,Pinocchio was based on a novel with a very fixed, although episodic, story. Therefore, the story went through drastic changes before reaching its final incarnation.[7] In the original novel, Pinocchio is a cold, rude, ungrateful, inhuman brat that often repels sympathy and only learns his lessons the hard way.[11] The writers decided to modernize the character and depict him similar toEdgar Bergen's dummyCharlie McCarthy,[12] but equally as rambunctious as the puppet in the book. The story was still being developed in the early stages of animation.[11]
Early scenes animated byOllie Johnston andFrank Thomas show that Pinocchio's design was exactly like that of a real wooden puppet with a long pointed nose, a peaked cap and bare wooden hands.[7]
Early scenes animated byFrank Thomas andOllie Johnston show that Pinocchio's design was exactly like a real wooden puppet with a long pointed nose, a peaked cap, and bare wooden hands.[13] Disney, however, was not impressed with the work that was being done on the film. He felt that no one could really sympathize with such a character and called for an immediate halt in production.[11][12]Fred Moore redesigned the character slightly to make him more appealing, but the design still retained a wooden feel.[14]
Young and upcoming animatorMilt Kahl felt that Thomas, Johnston, and Moore were "rather obsessed with the idea of this boy being a wooden puppet" and felt that they should "forget that he was a puppet and get a cute little boy; you can always draw the wooden joints and make him a wooden puppet afterwards." Co-supervising directorHamilton Luske suggested to Kahl that he should demonstrate his beliefs by animating a test sequence.[15]
Kahl then showed Disney an animation test scene in which Pinocchio is underwater looking for his father.[16] From this scene, Kahl re-envisioned the character by making him look more like a real boy, with a child'sTyrolean hat and standard cartoon character four-fingered (or three and a thumb) hands withMickey Mouse-type gloves.[17] The only parts of Pinocchio that still looked more or less like a puppet were his arms, legs, and little button wooden nose. Disney embraced Kahl's scene and immediately urged the writers to evolve Pinocchio into a more innocent, naïve, somewhat coy personality reflecting Kahl's design.[18]
However, Disney discovered that the newPinocchio was too helpless and was far too often led astray by deceiving characters. Therefore, in the summer of 1938, Disney and his story team established the character of the cricket. Originally, the talking cricket was only a minor character whom Pinocchio abruptly killed by squashing with a mallet and who later returned as a ghost. Disney dubbed the cricket "Jiminy", and made him a character who would try to guide Pinocchio into the right decisions.[19] Once the character was expanded, he was depicted as a realistic cricket with toothed legs and waving antennae, but Disney wanted something more likable.Ward Kimball had spent several months animating two sequences—a soup-eating musical number and a bed-building sequence—inSnow White, which was cut from the film due to pacing reasons. Kimball was about to quit when Disney rewarded him for his work by promoting him to the supervising animator of Jiminy Cricket.[20] Kimball then conjured up the design for Jiminy Cricket, whom he described as a little man with an egg head and no ears.[21] Jiminy "was a cricket because we called him a cricket," Kimball later joked.[19]
Dickie Jones (right, as an adult) voices Pinocchio in the film.
Due to the huge success ofSnow White, Walt Disney wanted more famous voices forPinocchio, which marked the first time an animated film had used celebrities as voice actors.[22] He cast popular singerCliff Edwards, also known as "Ukulele Ike", as Jiminy Cricket.[23] Disney rejected the idea of having an adult play Pinocchio and insisted that the character be voiced by a real child. He cast 11-year-old child actorDickie Jones, who had previously been inFrank Capra'sMr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939).[24] He also castFrankie Darro as Lampwick,Walter Catlett as "Honest" John Foulfellow the Fox,Evelyn Venable as the Blue Fairy,Charles Judels as both the villainous Stromboli and the Coachman, andChristian Rub as Geppetto, whose design was even a caricature of Rub.[25] Another actor voiced Geppetto originally, but Disney recast him with Rub after feeling that his voice was "too harsh".[26]
Another voice actor recruited wasMel Blanc, best remembered for voicing many of the characters inWarner Bros. cartoon shorts, includingLooney Tunes andMerrie Melodies. Blanc recorded the voice ofGideon the Cat in sixteen days. However, it was eventually decided that Gideon would be mute, so all of Blanc's recorded dialogue was subsequently deleted except for a solitary hiccup,[27] which was heard three times in the finished film.
Animation on the film began in January 1938, but work on Pinocchio's animation was discontinued as the writers sought to re-work his characterization and the film's narrative structure. However, animation on the film's supporting characters started in April 1938.[13] Animation would not resume again with the revised story until September.[18]
During the production of the film, story artistJoe Grant formed a character model department, which would be responsible for building three-dimensional clay models of the characters in the film, known as maquettes. These models were then given to the staff to observe how a character should be drawn from any given angle desired by the artists.[16] The model makers also built working models of Geppetto's elaborate cuckoo clocks designed by Albert Hurter, as well as Stromboli's gypsy wagon and wooden cage, and the Coachman's carriage. However, owing to the difficulty of animating a realistic moving vehicle, the artists filmed the carriage maquettes on a miniature set usingstop motion animation. Then, each frame of the animation was transferred ontoanimation cels using an early version of aXerox. The cels were then painted on the back and overlaid on top of background images with the cels of the characters to create the completed shot on therostrum camera. LikeSnow White, live-action footage was shot forPinocchio with the actors playing the scenes in pantomime, supervised by Luske.[28] Rather than tracing, which would result in stiff unnatural movement, the animators used the footage as a guide for animation by studying human movement and then incorporating some poses into the animation (though slightly exaggerated).[28]
Pinocchio was a groundbreaking achievement in the area of effects animation, led byJoshua Meador. In contrast to thecharacter animators who concentrate on the acting of the characters, effects animators create everything that moves other than the characters—vehicles, machinery, and natural effects such as rain, lightning, snow, smoke, shadows and water, as well as the fantasy or science-fiction type effects like the pixie dust ofPeter Pan (1953). The influential abstract animatorOskar Fischinger, who mainly worked onFantasia (1940), contributed to the effects animation of the Blue Fairy's wand.[29] Effects animator Sandy Strother kept a diary about his year-long animation of the water effects, which included splashes, ripples, bubbles, waves, and the illusion of being underwater. To help give depth to the ocean, the animators put more detail into the waves on the water surface in the foreground, and put in less detail as the surface moved further back. After the animation was traced onto cels, the assistant animators would trace it once more with blue and black pencil leads to give the waves a sculptured look.[30] To save time and money, the splashes were kept impressionistic. These techniques enabledPinocchio to be one of the first animated films to have highly realistic effects animation. Ollie Johnston called it "one of the finest things the studio's ever done, as Frank Thomas said, 'The water looks so real a person can drown in it, and they do.'"[31]
Commentator Nicholas Sammond considersPinocchio to be a metaphor for American child-rearing in the mid-20th century.
M. Keith Booker considers the film to be the most down-to-earth of the Disney animated films despite its theme song and magic, noting that the film's protagonist has to work to prove his worth, which he remarked seemed "more in line with the ethos of capitalism" than most of the Disney films.[34] Claudia Mitchell and Jacqueline Reid-Walsh believe that the male protagonists of films likePinocchio andBambi (1942) were purposefully constructed by Disney to appeal to both boys and girls.[35] Mark I. Pinsky said that it is "a simple morality tale—cautionary and schematic—ideal for moral instruction, save for some of its darker moments" and noted that the film is a favorite of parents of young children.[36]
Nicolas Sammond argues that the film is "an apt metaphor for the metaphysics of midcentury American child-rearing" and is "ultimately an assimilationist fable".[37] He considered it to be the central Disney film and the most strongly middle class, intended to relay the message that indulging in "the pleasures of the working class, of vaudeville, or of pool halls and amusement parks, led to a life as a beast of burden". For Sammond, the purpose ofPinocchio is to help convey to children the "middle-class virtues of deferred gratification, self-denial, thrift, and perseverance, naturalized as the experience of the most average American".[38]
Author and illustratorMaurice Sendak, who saw the film in theaters in 1940, called it superior to Collodi's novel in its depiction of children and growing up. "The Pinocchio in the film is not the unruly, sulking, vicious, devious (albeit still charming) marionette that Collodi created. Neither is he an innately evil, doomed-to-calamity child of sin. He is, rather, both lovable and loved. Therein lies Disney's triumph. His Pinocchio is a mischievous, innocent, and very naive little wooden boy. What makes our anxiety over his fate endurable is a reassuring sense that Pinocchio is loved for himself – and not for what he should or shouldn't be. Disney has corrected a terrible wrong. Pinocchio, he says, is good; his "badness" is only a matter of inexperience," and also that "Pinocchio's wish to be a real boy remains the film's underlying theme, but "becoming a real boy" now signifies the wish to grow up, not the wish to be good."[39]
Canadian psychologistJordan Peterson has spoken about the film extensively in his lectures, citing it as an example of "the manner in which great mythological and archetypal themes inform and permeate narrative."[40]
On July 16, 1985, it was released on VHS, Betamax, CED, andLaserDisc in North America for the first time as part of theWalt Disney Classics label, the second title with the Classics label afterRobin Hood (1973) which was released the previous December.[41] It would become the best-selling home video title of the year selling 130–150,000 units at $80 each.[42] It was re-issued on October 14, 1986 to advertise the home video debut ofSleeping Beauty (1959), this release also helped leave out the preview ofThe Black Cauldron from the original 1985 VHS release due to the preview being too dark and scary for kids. Then, for the first time, it was released on VHS in the UK in 1988, 1995, and 2000.[43] The digital restoration that was completed for the 1992 cinema re-issue was released on VHS and Laserdisc on March 26, 1993 and sold 13.5 million copies.[44][45] Its fourth VHS release and first release onDisney DVD was the 60th Anniversary Edition released on October 26, 1999.[46] For this version, both releases would now beTHX certified.[47]
The film was re-issued on DVD and one final time on VHS as part of the Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection release on March 7, 2000.[48] Along the film, the VHS edition also contained a making-of documentary while the DVD had the film's original theatrical trailer as supplemental features.[49] The Gold Classic Collection release was returned to theDisney Vault on January 31, 2002.[50]
A special edition VHS and DVD of the film was released in the United Kingdom on March 3, 2003.[51] The fourth DVD release and firstBlu-ray Disc release (the second Blu-ray in the Walt Disney Platinum Editions series) was the 70th Anniversary Edition released on March 10, 2009.[52] Like the 2008Sleeping Beauty Blu-ray release, thePinocchio Blu-ray package featured a new restoration byLowry Digital in a two-disc Blu-ray set, with a bonus DVD version of the film also included.[53] This set returned to the Disney Vault on April 30, 2011.[54] A Signature Edition was released on Digital HD on January 10, 2017 and was followed by a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack on January 31, 2017.[55][56]
Upon its release,Pinocchio received widespread critical acclaim.[57][58][59]Frank S. Nugent ofThe New York Times gave the film five out of five stars, saying "Pinocchio is here at last, is every bit as fine as we had prayed it would be—if not finer—and that it is as gay and clever and delightful a fantasy as any well-behaved youngster or jaded oldster could hope to see."[60]Time magazine gave the film a positive review, stating "In craftsmanship and delicacy of drawing and coloring, in the articulation of its dozens of characters, in the greater variety and depth of its photographic effects, it tops the high standardSnow White set. The charm, humor and loving care with which it treats its inanimate characters puts it in a class by itself."[61]
Variety praised the animation as superior toSnow White's writing the "[a]nimation is so smooth that cartoon figures carry impression of real persons and settings rather than drawings to onlooker." In summary, they feltPinocchio "will stand on [its] own as a substantial piece of entertainment for young and old, providing attention through its perfection in animation and photographic effects.[62]The Hollywood Reporter wrote "Pinocchio is entertainment for every one of every age, so completely charming and delightful that there is profound regret when it reaches the final fade-out. Since comparisons will be inevitable, it may as well be said at once that, from a technical standpoint, conception and production, this picture is infinitely superior toSnow White."[63]
At first,Pinocchio was not a box-office success.[64] The box office returns from the film's initial release were both belowSnow White's unprecedented success and below studio expectations.[65] Of the film's $2.6 millionnegative cost—twice the cost ofSnow White[4]—Disney only recouped $1 million by late 1940, with studio reports of the film's final original box office take varying between $1.4 million and $1.9 million.[66] Animation historianMichael Barrier notes thatPinocchio returned rentals of less than one million by September 1940, and in its first public annual report, Walt Disney Productionscharged off a $1 million loss to the film.[67] Barrier relays that a 1947Pinocchio balance sheet listed total receipts to the studio of $1.4 million. This was primarily due to the fact thatWorld War II and its aftermath had cut off the European and Asian markets overseas, and hindered the international success ofPinocchio and other Disney releases during the early and mid-1940s.[68]Joe Grant recalled Walt Disney being "very, very depressed" aboutPinocchio's initial returns at the box office.[65] The distributor RKO recorded a loss of $94,000 for the film from worldwide rentals of $3,238,000.[69]
With the re-release ofSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1944 came the tradition of re-releasing Disney films every seven to ten years.[76]Pinocchio was theatrically re-released in 1945, 1954, 1962, 1971, 1978, 1984, and 1992. RKO handled the first two reissues in 1945 and 1954, while Disney itself reissued the film from 1962 on through itsBuena Vista Distribution division. The 1992 re-issue was digitally restored by cleaning and removing scratches from the original negatives one frame at a time, eliminating soundtrack distortions, and revitalizing the color.[77]
Despite its initial struggles at the box office, a series of reissues in the years after World War II proved more successful and allowed the film to turn a profit. By 1973, the film had earned rentals of $13 million in the United States and Canada from the initial 1940 release and four reissues.[78][79] After the 1978 reissue, the rentals had increased to $19.9 million[80] from a total gross of $39 million.[81] The 1984 reissue grossed $26.4 million in the U.S. and Canada,[82] bringing its total gross there to $65.4 million[81] and $145 million worldwide.[41] The 1992 reissue grossed $18.9 million in the U.S. and Canada bringingPinocchio's lifetime gross to $84.3 million at the U.S. and Canadian box office.[81]
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, the film hasa rating of 100% based on 64 reviews, with an average rating of 9.1/10.[83] The general consensus of the film on the site is "Ambitious, adventurous, and sometimes frightening,Pinocchio arguably represents the pinnacle of Disney's collected works – it's beautifully crafted and emotionally resonant.".[83] OnMetacritic,Pinocchio has a weighted score of 99 out of 100 based on 17 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". It is currently the highest-rated animated film on the site, as well as the highest-rated Disney animated film.[84]
Many film historians consider this to be the film that most closely approaches technical perfection of all the Disney animated features.[85] Film criticLeonard Maltin said, "withPinocchio, Disney reached not only the height of his powers, but the apex of what many critics consider to be the realm of the animated cartoon."[86]
Roger Ebert of theChicago Sun-Times awarded the film 4 stars out of 4 and said, "Pinocchio" is a parable for children, and generations have grown up remembering the words "Let your conscience be your guide" and "A lie keeps growing and growing until it's as plain as the nose on your face." The power of the film is generated, I think, because it is really about something. It isn't just a concocted fable or a silly fairy tale, but a narrative with deep archetypal reverberations."[87] Alan Morrison ofEmpire Magazine gave the film 4 stars out of 5 and said, "Not up there with the very top echelon of Disney classics, but Pinocchio will still work its magic on younger viewers."[88]
In 1994,Pinocchio was added to the United StatesNational Film Registry as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[5] FilmmakerTerry Gilliam selected it as one of the ten best animated films of all time in a 2001 article written forThe Guardian[89] and in 2005,Time magazine named it one of the 100 best films of the last 80 years, and then in June 2011 named it the best animated movie of "The 25 All-TIME Best Animated Films".[90]
On June 29, 2018,Pinocchio was named the 13th best Disney animated film byIGN.[99] Film criticRoger Ebert, adding it to his list of "Great Movies", wrote that the movie "isn't just a concocted fable or a silly fairy tale, but a narrative with deep archetypal reverberations."[100] In November 2024,IndieWire listed it first in its ranking of every Walt Disney Animation Studios film. Writer Christian Blauvelt elaborated: "This is not a film you'll ever fully wrap your head around, never 'solve', never stop finding things to wonder at. It's a singular work of depth and ambition, the kind that all artists would aspire to from the core of their being."[101]
Figaro, Geppetto's kitten, primarily animated byEric Larson, has been described as a "hit with the audiences", which resulted in him making appearances in several subsequent Disney short films in the 1940s.[102] He continues to appear in multiple media, mostly as the pet ofMinnie Mouse.
The Blue Fairy is the main character in the prequel novelWhen You Wish Upon a Star which is mostly set 40 years prior to the events of the film. It was written by Elizabeth Lim and published on April 4, 2023 as part of Disney'sA Twisted Tale anthology series. The story details her origins as Chiara Belmagio, a baker's eldest daughter and philanthropist in the small Italian town of Pariva, her complex relationship with her narcissistic younger sister Ilaria and her eventual transformation into afairy.[103]
Disney on Ice starringPinocchio, toured internationally from 1987 to 1992.[108] A shorter version of the story is also presented in the current Disney on Ice production "One Hundred Years of Magic".[108]
In the mid-2000s,Disneytoon Studios began development on adirect-to-video sequel toPinocchio. Robert Reece co-wrote the film's screenplay, which saw Pinocchio on a "strange journey" for the sake of something dear to him. "It's a story that leads Pinocchio to question why life appears unfair sometimes," said Reece.[110]John Lasseter cancelledPinocchio II soon after being named Chief Creative Officer ofWalt Disney Animation Studios in 2006.[111]
A Disney television movie titledGeppetto was released in 2000 that retold the original 1883 Pinocchio book from Geppetto's perspective.[112][113] A few elements from the 1940 animated film were incorporated, such as the character of Figaro, the song "I've Got No Strings", and Pleasure Island. It starsDrew Carey as Geppetto andSeth Adkins as Pinocchio, and features music and lyrics byStephen Schwartz.[113]
TheSilly Symphony Sunday comic strip published an adaptation ofPinocchio from December 24, 1939 to April 7, 1940. The sequences were scripted byMerrill De Maris and drawn by Hank Porter.[124]
In theKingdom Hearts series, Jiminy Cricket accompanies Sora and records player progress and game events in his journal forKingdom Hearts,Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories,Kingdom Hearts II, andKingdom Hearts III.[125] Pinocchio, Geppetto, Cleo, and Monstro also appear as characters inKingdom Hearts and the inside of Monstro is featured as one of the worlds.[125] Pinocchio's home world was slated to appear inKingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, but was omitted due to time restrictions, although talk-sprites of Pinocchio, Geppetto, Honest John and Gideon have been revealed.[126] This world did appear inKingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance under the name "Prankster's Paradise", with Dream world versions of Pinocchio, Jiminy Cricket, Geppetto, Monstro and the Blue Fairy appearing.[126]
Pinocchio, Jiminy Cricket, Geppetto, Figaro, the Blue Fairy, Honest John and Stromboli appear as playable characters in the video gameDisney Magic Kingdoms, along with some attractions based on locations in the film. Monstro also appears as aBoss Battle during the limited time "Pinocchio Event", in which the characters and material related to the film were included. In the game, the characters are involved in new storylines that serve as a continuation of the film.[127]
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