PINNOCHIO - THE MAKING OF A BOY FROM SCRATCH

Last night, in the spirit of making a boy of our own, my pregnant wife and I watched the movie, “Pinocchio” as we relaxed after dinner. Curled up on the couch, we were amazed at how well the film held up 70 years after it was first made. The story was very imaginative and didn’t seem trite after all these years. The animation is as good as anything we see today. And the music is tons better than the crap they sing today. (Okay, that comment made me sound like my parents.) But really, there’s a rap song created by Immortal Soul and even that angry gangsta uses Pinocchio’s song, “There are no strings on me” for his rude angry lyrics about George Bush and Bill O-Reilly on Fox News.

I think my favorite character in “Pinocchio” is not Pinocchio himself, or even Geppeto, the woodworker who made him, but Jiminy Cricket. Jiminy Cricket is hilarious because he’s supposed to be Pinocchio’s conscience but he’s so wrapped him is his self ego that he keeps giving up on Pinocchio which causes Pinocchio to get in deeper trouble. It’s such a great commentary on how the ego is what gets us in trouble every time. Innocence is to blame for many people doing the wrong thing, but ego is responsible for not allowing us to see the error of our ways and therefore, us getting into really deep trouble.

In true story form, the climax came when Jiminy Cricket and Pinocchio survived all their trials and tribulations and won the right to come back home to Pinocchio’s father, Gepeto. But instead of finding his father and they all living happily ever after, Pinocchio found that his father had left home to find him. So instead of the movie being over, Pinocchio had one last obstacle to overcome; he had to find his father. This was the greatest scene of all for his father had gotten eaten by a whale and was living his his belly. And Jiminy Cricket and Pinocchio had to find the whale and rescue his father. This was a very imaginative scene where Jiminy and Pinocchio had to think of a ways to keep themselves from floating back to the top of the ocean as they walked the bottom of the sea in search of the whale.

In the end, Pinocchio discovered a way to get the whale to open his mouth so they could escape. Pinocchio was so focused on saving his father that he was willing to give his own life. And as a result, the fairy that gave him life the first time, came down to Earth and resurrected him so he could live again, this time as a real boy. Yes, you’ve heard this theme before in a story about another great son who wishes that he were just a real boy, but that’s where the similarities ended for me.

We went to bed very content and can’t wait for our little boy to be born any day now. As of today, he’s 10 days overdue.

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