Along with Dumbo, which immediately followed it, this 1940 classic, the second of the Disney animated features, is probably the best in terms of visual detail and overall imagination as well as narrative sweep.
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The movie is genuinely exciting and romantic, great to look at, and timeless.
Walt Disney has waved his magic wand over Collodi's world-famous fairy story, Pinocchio, and presto! he has changed it into the most enchanting film ever brought to the screen.
Pinocchio is a substantial piece of entertainment for young and old. Both animation and photography are vastly improved over Walt Disney's first cartoon feature, Snow White. Animation is so smooth that cartoon figures carry impression of real persons and settings rather than drawings.
88
Slant MagazineEric Henderson
Slant MagazineEric Henderson
Pinocchio redeemed Disney from the parlor trickery of Snow White and suggested animated features could indeed dance without strings.
70
Time Out
Time Out
Pinocchio, in fact, probably shows Disney's virtues and vices more clearly than any other cartoon.