Pinocchio, the 1940 Disney classic, has been described as one of the real pinnacles of animation. The film that taught us all to wish upon a star may have been more revolutionary than we initially thought. The Disney legacy now lives on with modern-day classics like Frozen and Moana, but without the early films like Pinocchio, those films wouldn't be the same or even exist for that matter.

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It takes a lot for a film from over 80 years ago to still be so inspirational, but from the ground-breaking animation at the time to character changes midway through production, there's a lot of pretty cool and unknown facts about the making of Pinocchio, all of which unleash your inner child.

10 The Amount Of Work That When Into The Animation Was Unparalleled

A sketch of Pinocchio

Since it was one of the early movies to experiment with animation, the film was bound to take a lot of time to complete, but the fact that the artwork for the film was being created for almost five years before its release with over 700 artists all working on the monstrous project at once is pretty staggering.

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But thanks to this intense amount of work and the incredible attention to detail, Pinocchio became a revelation in the animation world. In fact, one particular scene, where we overlook the town was so difficult and expensive to animate that they had to come up with a whole new system instead of using the multiplane crane (which was revolutionary at the time). But after months of hard work, the shot of birds flying and people wandering in the town was brought to life.

9 Pleasure Island Might Have Had A Different Name

The fun fair in Pinocchio

Pleasure Island has become a pretty well-known place since its initial introduction in the Pinocchio film. A cursed island with a theme park where it would turn young mischievous boys into donkeys is pretty unique, to say the least, and extremely dark, but it wasn't always going to be called Pleasure Island.

In fact, according to manager Fox Carney, the island was previously known as "Bogeyland", with the crew initially trying to find a name for a place where "kids could do things they weren't allowed to do elsewhere". However, we are pretty glad they choose to go with Pleasure Island as we can't really imagine any other name being associated with it.

8 Jiminy Cricket Had To Different Role Originally

Jimminy Cricket in Pinocchio

Credited as Disney's first-ever animal sidekick, Jiminy Cricket wasn't even supposed to be alive for the majority of the film let alone narrate the film. In the original story, Pinocchio came across a talking cricket and squashed him with a hammer early on in the film. Jiminy pops up throughout the film, but this time in the form of a ghost.

Luckily, as they wanted to create a warmer friendship between Pinocchio and Jiminy, he wasn't squashed and became a friendly companion for the rest of the story. In addition, the filmmakers decided to shift the story around, cut some things out, and make Jiminy Cricket the narrator of the movie. It's a pretty big leap from being crushed within the opening scene.

7 There Were At Least Two Songs Cut From The Film

Magic fairy in Pinocchio

Pinocchio is pretty well known for its great songs and music throughout the film, but it was recently reported that there were some songs that didn't quite make the final cut of the film. One of these songs was called "Three Cheers for Anything", which was about all the bad things the children were going to do, like telling lies or swiping a pie.

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Another song, this time called "Straight Ahead" was going to be sung by Pinocchio and the rest of the boys as they were heading 'straight ahead' to Pleasure Island after being picked on at school, and after taking the Blue Fairy's words of wisdom a little too literally.

6 To Prove A Point, The Crew Made A Bunch Of Real Cuckoo Clocks

Clocks in Pinocchio

The scene in Gepetto's workshop was a pretty iconic one for the film and that was mainly due to the awesome set design of the place. Filled with a crazy array of cuckoo clocks, the set design was pretty incredible, but it almost didn't happen. In fact, some of the animators knew Walt Disney would say it would never work, so they brought it upon themselves to build some working models of the clocks to prove how awesome it would look.

And it worked! The prop versions made by the crew convinced Walt to let it go ahead and they studied the movement of the clocks to make sure their drawings were accurate. They also make a model of Stromboli's train for the same reasons.

5 The Original Pinocchio Could Have Been A Lot Darker Without Some Changes

Pinocchio growing donkey ears in the original Pinocchio

Before the film went on to win two Academy Awards for Best Score and Best Song ("When You Wish Upon A Star"), originally the film could have looked and felt a lot different. Rather than the inspiring, upbeat tone of the movie, a lot of things were quite a lot darker. One example is that classic whale scene where Gepetto and the cat Figaro climbed out of the water, freezing and hungry.

They got so hungry in the original version that they considered eating their innocent pet fish Cleo. For a Disney movie, eating a talking animal friend is definitely a big no-no and we are extremely glad that they scrapped this dark scene.

4 Walt Disney Was Heavily Involved And Even Had A Favorite Character

Walt Disney

From the pitch sketches and the original storyboards to the final sound and color design, Walt Disney was reportedly pretty hands-on with every aspect of this movie. He's been described, and rightfully so, as a visionary and brilliant forward thinker for the animated world of cinema, so we are glad he had such an impact on the final film (and all his other Disney Classics).

In fact, he was so hands-on that he had a favorite character, Figaro. Walt loved the adorable kitten so much that he pushed for him to be in as many scenes as possible, and even decided to make him a companion to Minnie Mouse, replacing her cocker spaniel.

3 This Was One Of The First Animated Movies To Have Characters Voiced By Famous Artists

Pinocchio dancing to music.

Nowadays, almost all animated movies, especially Pixar films, are voiced by some incredible actors. But, Pinocchio was ahead of its time when the cast was revealed to feature names like Dickie Jones, Cliff Edwards, and of course Christian Rub. The latter not only voiced the character of Geppetto but was also said to be the inspiration behind his appearance.

Christain Rub was well-known for his roles in a huge amount of films from the late 1910s and was a household name by the time his role in Pinocchio was released. So taking visual inspiration from Rub was a great idea, and we are certainly happy they did.

2 The Rotoscoping Animation Technique Was Revolutionary When Pinocchio Used It

Pinocchio on the water.

In order to perfect human-like movements for the animation, the filmmakers used stage actors to move about and act as the iconic characters. Afterward, using the rotoscoping technique to trace over frames of the movement, the animation of characters like Jiminy was made to look human-like, and quite frankly pretty phenomenal.

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Another scene that took a while to develop was the ocean scene, where the crew had to somehow animate the waves of the water. To do this the negative was exposed to represent light patterns seen on the floor of the ocean as well as a multiplane effect. These effects were later used in The Little Mermaid.

1 Pinocchio Underwent A Big Personality Change For The Final Product

the donkey children from Pinocchio

Despite being a Disney film, the main protagonist Pinocchio indulges in a variety of bad behavior. This is all well and good, but the character still needs to be likable and relatable. In the original story, this reportedly wasn't the case, in fact, Pinocchio didn't really listen to anyone and was a bit of a brat according to Carney.

Creators of the film realized something wasn't quite working so decided to make a small personality change to the main character. By making him a little more innocent, Pinocchio became the much more relatable character we all know today and helped us as the audience root for the little guy throughout the movie.

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