"No, you are dead Pinocchio. Lie down."

Watching Walt Disney films as an adult is a completely different experience than watching them as a kid. Tonight I popped in the VHS of Pinocchio and enjoyed the movie with my sisters, and I realized why as a kid I had nightmares of Monstro the Whale- he's scary as heck! In fact, the whole movie is scary! I didn't realize as a child that this film is a dark fantasy story. It's not just about a puppet boy who can do cute little tricks. There's a not-so-subtle moral to it about being a good little boy and doing what your parents and crickets tell you to do. For some reason I didn't catch onto that moral as a kid. I think I was spacing out to much on the art of the movie.
And the donkey thing?!

"I wanna go home to my mama!" was what one of the poor little donkey-boys cried to his captors. For some reason I don't remember that scene scaring me as a child, but seeing it today kinda pulled at my heartstrings! And they don't even resolve it! The audience is left to assume that the donkey-kids are doomed to eating hay and working at a salt mine for the rest of their lives.
Disney, your movie is freaky, and when I was a kid it made me feel uneasy and gave me nightmares of being chased by an angry whale. Now, I appreciate the dark approach to the story, and more so the quality of the animation and the detailed paintings incorporated within the film.
Also, thank you for Jiminy Cricket. Without him, the movie would be horribly depressing. BTY, is that the voice of Mickey Mouse?
Carlo Collodi wrote the original story of Pinnochio which began as a strip in the newspaper then later published into a book. This website contains every page of the original story, "Adventures of Pinnochio", as written by Carlo Collodi and illustrated decades later in 1926 by Attilio Mussino, translated into English. It is BEAUTIFUL!

I looooooove clowns. Almost every page has an illustration.

The moral of the story is less than just doing what's right, but more about respecting your parents and appreciating the sacrifices they've made for you.
There must be a place somewhere out there or online where I can get these kinds of books for my own collection.

EDIT: I bought the book. It is LOVELY!