Product Description

Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1148 in DVD
• Brand: Disney
• Released on: 2009-03-09
• Rating: Universal, suitable for all
• Format: PAL
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .26 pounds
• Running time: 84 minutes

Synopsis
Walt Disney's second full-length animated feature is a timeless, breathtakingly beautiful classic. Based on an 1800s story by Carlo Collodi, it stars Jiminy Cricket (voiced by Cliff Edwards) as a vagabond insect who spends a rainy night at the shop of toymaker Geppetto. The Blue Fairy brings a marionette to life after Geppetto wishes on a star for a son, and Jiminy Cricket is appointed the new boy's conscience. He has a devil of a time keeping up as Pinocchio is willingly lured through various forms of temptation, the most frightening of which leads him to Pleasure Island, where he drinks, smokes, and is almost turned into a jackass. This sequence, as well as Pinocchio's brave rescue of Geppetto from the belly of a whale, ranks among the most memorable in the history of animation. With such songs as When You Wish Upon a Star, this is about as magical as cinema can get, a sublimely beautiful coming-of-age story for all to treasure.

From the Back Cover
The 2 Blu-ray discs have
- Video: 1080p High-Definition / 16x 9 / 1.33:1
- Audio Enhanced: DTS 7.1 HD: English DTS 5.1: Latin Spanish / Italian / Dutch
- Sub-titles: English, English for the Hearing Impaired, Latin Spanish, Italian and Dutch

The single DVD has
- Video: Full frame format 1.33:1
-Audio Enhanced: Dolby Digital 5.1 DEHT: English / Italian / Dutch Dolby Digital 5.1: Croatian
- Sub-titles: English, English for the Hearing Impaired, Italian, Hindi, Dutch, Croatian and Slovenian

Customer Reviews

Pinocchio - a perfect reproduction
I was so relieved to find that this glorious film had been transferred to Blu-Ray in its original 4:3 format. So many times in the past have classics been ruined by "expanding" them into 16:9, causing the loss of the top and bottom of the screen (or even worse; the up and down pan-and-scan).

This Disney classic needs no introduction. Its an excellent film that has been marvellously reproduced. The colours are vibrant and clear. Detailed backgrounds come alive with clarity that I didn't know existed in this film.

A wonderful story that both young and old can enjoy.

Also the inclusion of a DVD version is a great plus to allow the kids (or indeed the parents) to watch it in another room.

Blunocchio
I'm sure you've all seen this classic film, so I will just get down to the nitty gritty. Picture quality is absolutely stunning. The cartoon looks like it was made yesterday! This Blu-ray package also comes with a DVD copy of the film.

There is also third disc with tonnes of bonus features including deleted scenes, an alternative ending, a trivia challenge, games, a documentary, an audio commentary and more.

The Blu-ray has English, Latin Spanish, Italian and Dutch subtitles. The DVD has English, Italian, Hindi, Dutch, Croatian and Slovenian subtitles. They both have English for the hearing impaired.

I almost forgot to mention that also included is a little Pinocchio doll that dances on command!

*Nose grows*

Okay, not really.

Heigh-Diddly-Dee, A Blu-Ray life for me
Having slightly suffered in watching Disney classics such as "Cinderella" and "Sleeping Beauty" with my daughter because of the extremely slack story-telling tempo, I wasn't sure what I would think re-encountering this 70 year old film some 30 years or more after my first viewing of it. The film is a delight from start to finish, never boring, and no sense of the film being padded out to cinematic length due to insufficient material. "Pinocchio" is maybe not as slick and contemporary in feel as Pixar films but it is very entertaining for young and old and has not dated badly at all.

The picture quality is superb, with excellent colours, contrasts and sharpness, but do not expect the sense of three-dimensionality and depth associated with today's animated films on BD. The soundtrack has been reworked from the original mono to a 7.1 HD soundtrack, it is more than respectable for its age (much better than "Snow White") but, again, do not expect surround trickery as in "Monsters Inc" or the sonic force of "Horton Hears a Who".

A very good bonus here is that Disney have included a DVD version, perfect for those of us with portable DVD players to entertain the kids away from home.

Some reviewers have rightly praised the presentation of the film in its original aspect ratio of 4:3. But owners of widescreen TVs who are haters of black bars need to realise that this means that the film will be 'pillar-boxed' i.e. presented with vertical black bars left and right. This is much more distracting than the horizontal bars and takes some getting used to. There is of course no alternative to this, other than allowing your TV or Blu-Ray player to falsify the format by stretching and distorting the picture (an option on the disc itself too), but I think potential buyers need to know this in advance to avoid disappointment.

That technical footnote aside, a truly wonderful film looking and sounding its best makes for a clear recommendation!