Pinocchio at the El Capitan!

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to see a digitally restored version of Walt Disney's Pinocchio at the El Capitan Theater, celebrating the 70th Anniversary of the beloved film. I love all the old Disney movies, and especially this one - it's so weird and subversive in its own way. I mean, a sneering, evil man invites all the young boys to his island of pleasure and then turns them into donkeys? So un-PC! And when was the last time you saw a bunch of kids smoking in a Disney movie?

This evening was made even better by what took place beforehand: Don Hahn, the producer of Beauty and the Beast, hosted a special presentation of people involved in Disney animation, including Dick Jones, who was the voice of Pinocchio in the film. Jones, who was eleven when he did the film, had some great stories about meeting and working with Walt Disney. Then Hahn took us through the storyboard for the "Give a Little Whistle" sequence in the movie, complete with sound effects. After that he introduced sculptor Ruben Procopia, who was actually carving a little bust of Jiminy Cricket right there on stage, and then an animator who showed us the painstaking process of creating animation using cells. I loved Jones' comment afterwards: "I hate computers!" That led Hahn to divulge that Disney is currently working on a feature film using the old-style of animation - I can't wait to see it.

The pre-show presentation ended with the Disneyland Dapper Dans, who perform on Disneyland's Main Street, singing "When You Wish Upon a Star."

The movie itself is beautiful - the restoration is evident and the seeing it on a big screen at the El Capitan made it that much more spectacular. Then again, seeing a film at the El Capitan is always such a great movie-going experience - I don't think I've ever not liked anything I've seen there. In fact, I could probably see a Pauly Shore movie there and I'd think it was Oscar worthy. Well, maybe not.

Check out Pinocchio at the El Capitan for yourself - it's playing through February 12, and you don't want to miss your chance of seeing Pinocchio turn in to a real boy...

Click here to buy tickets!

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