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Rating: Country: USA Release Date: March 10, 2009 Distributor: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment Director: · Hamilton Luske · Ben Sharpsteen Cast: · Mel Blanc · Don Brodie · Walter Catlett · Frankie Darro · Cliff Edwards Related Sites: · IMDb: Pinocchio Grade: A+

What are you supposed to say about Walt Disney's "Pinocchio" that hasn't been said before... a million times before? It ranks at the top of Disney's classic animated features, and brought us such mainstay songs as "When You Wish Upon a Star," "Give A Little Whistle," and "Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee." The story of Geppetto, the puppet maker who wishes his puppet, Pinocchio, was real, and gets his wish granted by the Blue Fairy, is without question, a classic. There are numerous elements in the movie that wouldn't pass muster in a children's film today and may make "Pinocchio" a little too intense for today's little ones, but older children and those young-at-heart will enjoy repeated viewing of this film.

Now that that's out of the way, it's time to examine the disc itself (or, rather, discs). On this Blu-ray set, we get the first high-definition transfer ever of "Pinocchio." As you would expect, the film - and sound - is clean and crisp. Probably better looking than you've ever seen before. There is some talk of the producers of this collection taking some liberties with the color palette, and as a purist, I'm concerned, but I can't say I've noticed this myself.

The first disc has sing-alongs for all your favorite songs from "Pinocchio," with or without on-screen lyrics, as well as a music video of "When You Wish Upon a Star" by Meaghan Jette Martin. Also on this disc is the audio commentary by film critic and uber-Disneyphile Leonard Maltin, along with Disney animator Eric Goldberg and film historian J.B. Kaufman, pop-up factoid track for the movie, and a trivia game which allows you to play online against other people.

It's the second disc which overwhelms the viewer with a staggering amount of bonus features. The hallmark featurette is the "making of..." documentary, nearly an hour long, which will have Disney fans swooning. Also of great interest are the deleted scenes and alternate ending, taken from long lost storyboards, some with meeting notes, and the deleted song, "Honest John." We get trailers for the film (from 1940, 1984 and 1992), a brief look at Walt Disney's artistic process called "The Sweatbox," live action reference footage and countless stills in an art gallery. There's an odd and superfluous featurette entitled "Geppettos Then and Now" about modern toy makers and puppeteers and the obligatory Blu-ray games which won't really capture anyone's interest.

The last disc is a DVD version of the film. This is something I like a lot and I'd like to see more often. If you're going for a drive with the kids, it's likely your in-car entertainment unit won't play Blu-ray. Or maybe the kids have their own TV and DVD player, but can't play Blu-ray. There are countless uses for this bonus DVD.

The collection is comprehensive. The movie, commentary, and "making of..." featurette, alone, would have made for a fully satisfying set. Everything else is just gravy (although some of it detracts from the set). It goes without saying that this is a must-have set for every collection.