Pinocchio
RKO Radio Pictures | Release Date: February 23, 1940 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
99
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 17 Critic Reviews
Positive:
17
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
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. Read full review
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The movie is genuinely exciting and romantic, great to look at, and timeless. Read full review
100
Los Angeles TimesCharles Solomon
Every element in Pinocchio shimmers with the energy of young artists reveling in their newly discovered powers of creation. Read full review
100
New York Daily NewsKate Cameron
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. Read full review
100
The New York TimesFrank S. Nugent
It still is the best thing Mr. Disney has done and therefore the best cartoon ever made. Read full review
100
TimeStaff (Not Credited)
The charm, humor and loving care with which it treats its inanimate characters puts it in a class by itself. Read full review
100
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)
This was Disney's second full-length animated feature and it may well the greatest of the studio's cartoon classics. Read full review
100
VarietyStaff (Not Credited)
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. Read full review
100
Entertainment WeeklySteve Daly
Among all of Disney’s endangered-tot stories, including Cinderella and 101 Dalmatians, only Pinocchio plucks the heartstrings with such incomparable resonance. Why? One reason is that this movie consistently sprinkles adorable comedy relief (has there ever been a more endearing sidekick than guardian Jiminy Cricket?) over scenes of malice, dismay, and outright horror. Read full review
100
The A.V. ClubNoel Murray
For all its Jiminy Cricket optimism, Pinocchio is a potent illustration of how people can only improve because they’re so lousy to begin with. Read full review
100
Chicago TribuneDave Kehr
Perhaps the most perfect of the great Disney animated features-the most expressively animated, the least pretentious, the best balanced between horror and joy, adventure and comedy. Read full review
100
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Warren Clements
One of the best fantasies ever made. [13 Mar 2009, p.R20]
100
LarsenOnFilmJosh Larsen
The original Scared Straight! Read full review
88
Slant MagazineEric Henderson
Pinocchio redeemed Disney from the parlor trickery of Snow White and suggested animated features could indeed dance without strings. Read full review
80
EmpireAlan Morrison
Not up there with the very top echelon of Disney classics, but Pinocchio will still work its magic on younger viewers. Read full review
80
IGNCindy White
Strip away the rich scenery, catchy tunes and now familiar, beloved characters and Pinocchio amounts to little more than a series of awkwardly strung-together morality tales. It's likely that young viewers just discovering this film for the first time won't notice or care, but as adults considering where the film stands among the great animated classics, it's fair to say this still a masterpiece, albeit an imperfect one. Read full review
70
Time OutStaff (Not Credited)
Pinocchio, in fact, probably shows Disney's virtues and vices more clearly than any other cartoon. Read full review
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