Pinocchio (Platinum Edition - Standard DVD) [Blu-ray]

Celebrate the 70th anniversary of Walt Disney's Pinocchio! The legendary masterpiece that inspired millions to believe in their dreams has reawakened with an all-new, state-of-the-art digital restoration that shines brilliantly on 2-disc DVD. Now, for the first time ever, the richly detailed animation, unforgettable award-winning music When You Wish Upon A Star and heartwarming adventure-filled story comes to life like never before. Plus, all-new dazzling bonus features transport you into Pinocchio's fantastic world! Join Geppetto's beloved puppet with Jiminy Cricket as his guide on a thrilling quest that tests Pinocchio's bravery, loyalty and honesty, virtues he must learn to become a real boy. The one and only Pinocchio will live on forever in the heart of anyone who has wished upon a star.

Bonus Features include the Pinocchio Knows Trivia Challenge, an all-new Making Of Pinocchio, the Sweat Box, Walt Disney's Artistic Review Process, Disney View, Expand Your Viewing Experience Beyond The Original Aspect Ratio Of The Film, Cine-Explore, Disney BD-Live: Connect, Explore And Interact, all-new When You Wish Upon A Star; Music Video Performed By Meaghan Jette Martin, Pinocchio's Puzzles Game, 18 Puzzles In A Multi-Tiered Game, Pinocchio's Matter Of Facts Discover More About Pinocchio's World With Pop-Up Trivia, Never-Before-Seen Deleted Scenes, Alternate Ending

Customer Review: FINALLY! Pinocchio gets the special treatment!

For years, the only available edition of Disney's classic "Pinocchio" has been a bare-bones movie-only version with no extras at all. Practically every other animated film in the Disney vault has been released in special 2-disc editions. Now, this will be fixed with the upcoming DVD & Blu-ray release on March 10, 2009. Released in 1940, "Pinocchio" was the 2nd animated feature, following the release of "Snow White." It also introduced the Oscar winning song, "When You Wish Upon a Star," which is one of the most memorable Disney songs ever.



For those unfamiliar with the story, it involves a wooden puppet, Pinocchio, created by lonely Gepetto the woodcarver. The Blue Fairy grants his wish of making the puppet alive, however, he can only become a real boy if he proves himself "brave, truthful, and unselfish." Assigned the character Jiminy Cricket as his conscience, Pinocchio begins his adventures to become a real boy. Without giving away too much of the plot, one of my favorite sequences is the one involving Pleasure Island. It would not be too difficult today to draw parallels to what happens to people when they get attracted to dangerous short-term pleasures that mask a life of imprisonment. Although the movie dips into some dark territory, obviously Disney brings it back to happier ground, showing the power of true love (albeit not a romantic one this time). Cliff Edwards brings Jiminy Crickett to life with his expressive vocal talents, and few can equal his singing of the classic "Wish Upon A Star" song in his trademark falsetto. Little known trivia: the voice of the Blue Fairy is actress Evelyn Venable, who played Shirley Temple's mother in "The Little Colonel" (1935).



Audio specs have not been announced yet, but I will add them as soon as they become available. However, judging from the preview clips shown on the DIsney "Tinkerbell" Blu-ray, the picture looks incredible, as a result of the recent restoration.



Since Amazon doesn't list the bonus features anymore (and many of us like to know that kind of stuff), here's what the DVD will include:



DISC ONE



* Pinocchio's Matter of Facts: Fun facts about Pinocchio and other related subjects as you watch the movie



* Audio Commentary: Leonard Maltin, Eric Goldberg and J. B. Kaufman



* Disney Song Selection: Sing along with favorite songs as the lyrics appear onscreen



DISC TWO



* "No Strings Attached: The Making of Pinocchio." Behind-the scenes magic that transformed Carlo Collodi's popular book into a classic animated film.



* 2 Deleted Scenes: The Story of the Grandfather Tree (Kindly Geppetto tells Pinocchio about the Great Pine Tree from which Pinocchio is descended) and In The Belly Of The Whale (The most elaborate of Pinocchio's deleted scenes that remain in the Disney Archives, these recently discovered storyboards reveal a different version of Geppetto inside Monstro).



* Alternate Ending: A recently uncovered set of small storyboard panels reveal plans for a different version of Pinocchio becoming a real boy.



* The Sweat Box: The Sweatbox was a small projection room at the Disney studio where Walt critiqued story reels, rough animation, and dailies of films in progress with his anxious artists. This piece traces the history of the Sweatbox and brings to life this important part of Walt Disney's artistic process.



* Live Action Reference Footage



* Pinocchio Art Galleries



* Deleted Songs: An audio collection of period "pop" recordings of songs not used in the final film.



* Pinocchio Puzzles: Hosted by Jiminy Cricket, Pinocchio's Puzzles is a multi-tiered Puzzle game that contains six unique wooden puzzles for the viewer to assemble. Each puzzle forms an image from the film that comes to life once they are complete.



For Blu-ray owners, here's the exclusive content IN ADDITION to what has been mentioned above:



* Cine-Explore



* Disney BD-Live Network - The Disney BD-Live Network is just one of the many ways viewers can continue to stay connected and engage in their favorite movies.



* Movie Chat - Communicate with your remote friends on-screen while in a synchronized viewing party using your remote control or any text enabled device such as a laptop, desk top or any PDA device such as a Blackberry, iPhone or most other regular cell phones. Your chat session will appear over the movie and occur in real-time while watching the movie together.



* Movie Mail: Record a personalized video message of yourself, superimpose that capture onto one of many pre-selected clips of the movie, and send it off to a friend, colleague, or relative.



* Movie Challenge: Test your skills against other players in a synchronized, real-time, online trivia game while watching Pinocchio with anyone online. Movie Challenge is always active no matter what time of the day it is, and there will always be a game in progress.



* Disney Movie Rewards Live: Accumulate Disney Movie Reward Points by participating in many Disney BD-Live Network activities. In return, viewers can redeem points for exclusive content such as Avatars, downloadable extras and more.



* Pinocchio Knows Trivia Challenge
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