The Blu-ray release of Pinocchio: 70th Anniversary edition is long-awaited and long overdue, if you ask me. This classic animated film is one of Walt Disney's earlier feature length films and it must have been a monumental and amazing task to restore it. Having been fully restored and optimized for today's home theaters, Pinocchio looks and sounds incredible. When you do a side-by-side comparison of the original film (which you'll see in the menu screen as it transforms from the crackled, dingy original to the crisp and clear remastered version), you'll be floored. Now, on to the show...

Pinocchio tells the tale of an old toymaker named Geppetto who longs for a real son, so he creates a wooden puppet and names him Pinocchio. He wishes on a star that Pinocchio would be real and that very night, The Good Fairy grants his wish, sort of. She brings Pinocchio to life, but says that he is not quite ready to be a real boy. He must first demonstrate selflessness. Jiminy Cricket witnesses all of this as he seems to be sort of a bum that happened into the toyshop for warmth. The Good Fairy anoints him as Pinocchio's conscience then and there.

When Geppetto awakes to find his dream has kind of come true, he is ecstatic. He gets Pinocchio ready to go to school and sends he and Jiminy on their way. What could happen on the way to school, right? Plenty! Poor, gullible Pinocchio is soon spotted by shady creep "Honest" John and his minion, who see a golden opportunity in the living puppet. They sell Pinoc to Stromboli, the wicked gypsy puppeteer and he is a screaming success. Pinocchio thinks he is going to be treated as a superstar, but is shocked when he gets thrown into a cage, never to see his father again. Jiminy finds him and tries in vain to help him escape, but thankfully, The Good Fairy intervenes and gives the pair a second chance.

Once again, Pinocchio gets sucked in to Honest John's schemes and he finds himself on Pleasure Island, where fighting and rabble-rousing is the order of the day and drinking and smoking abound, seemingly without recourse. I don't know why Jiminy Cricket takes his eyes off Pinocchio for even a moment, to be honest. That boy gets into so much trouble! Anyway, Pinocchio soon realizes that the boys are magically turned into jackasses at midnight (are we sensing a moral of the story here?) and are sold as work mules. Fortunately, Jiminy and Pinocchio are able to narrowly escape, but by the time they get home, they find that Geppetto has embarked on a journey to find Pinocchio, with pet cat Figaro and goldfish Cleo in tow. It turns out, they got swallowed, boat and all, by Monstro the whale! Leave it up to Jiminy and Pinocchio to rescue their family in a final act of bravery and selflessness, thus finally earning him the ability to be a real boy.

What I found truly interesting in watching this movie again through the eyes of an adult now is just how weird and sort of cruel Geppetto was, by today's standards anyway. He plays cruel jokes on Figaro and Cleo, he toys with the idea of eating them while stranded in the belly of the whale, and the animated clocks that he makes are of children being beaten, drunk men and turkeys about to be decapitated. I'm just saying, if you step back and look at it with the politically correct eyes of today, it probably wouldn't have passed the muster. Thank God it comes from an earlier time!

Pinocchio: 70th Anniversary Edition is jam-packed with extras for fans of all ages. Included for the grown-up fans are some never-before-seen deleted scenes and an alternate ending, which are cool to see. I especially loved the story of the Grandfather Tree. There's a lengthy making-of featurette, as well as featurettes on The Sweat Box, which was Walt Disney's famed scrutinizing room for his films, one on toymakers from around the world, one on the live action reference footage, plus audio commentary. For the kids, there's a trivia game, a handful of carnival games, Disney song selections to sing-along with your favorites, art galleries and a really fun puzzle challenge, plus so much more.

This is a no-brainer if you have a high-def set-up. Pinocchio brought us some of the timeless songs we all grew up hearing and is just another one of Walt Disney's works of genius. The jump to high-def is magnificent and there's even an option to watch the film sidebars flanked with the artwork of Toby Bluth, which just creates a lovely framework. To top it all off, it includes a DVD of the film as well, so you can take it on the road with the kids. Go buy this today!

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