Pinocchio’s Christmas is a Rankin/Bass stop motion animation Christmas special released in 1980. It is one of the lesser known Rankin/Bass productions, and one of the newest ones. Though it isn’t “classic” it is a story that I like quite a bit.
The story itself borrows heavily from the actual story of Pinocchio, but is set during the Christmas season. Pinocchio is manipulated by the Fox and Cat, and ends up in the kinds of predicaments that you would expect from the Pinocchio character. The design of the puppets obviously takes inspiration from 1940 Disney film, with heavy influences from that film throughout. However, there are a few elements in this feature that are based off the original novel.
There are a few good songs in the show, some of them memorable, the majority forgettable. There are also some good moments that make this worth watching. In some ways it’s unfortunate that this was never very popular. On the other hand it isn’t that memorable, and if you never see it, it won’t matter that you’re missing it.
One thing that does bother me, though, is that I have this on VHS, and it is available on DVD, but not as an individual DVD. It comes in a pack called Classic Christmas Favorites, which is a bunch of shows that most fans probably already have on DVD, except for the few rare ones. Look at the reviews on Amazon and you’ll see several people complaining about that fact. This is the case for me, it just doesn’t seem worth it to buy the whole package for one show. Someday, I’ll suck it up, and buy the package, probably next Christmas season, as there is no reason to get it this year as I watched Pinocchio’s Christmas today.
Remember to check out my blog tomorrow. I promised yesterday that I was going to be blogging about a very rare movie, and I still plan on that.