No, no. There is no risk! They never come back…. As boys!

I should have known there was something I had forgotten when the Pinocchio anti-smoking public service announcement showed up before the film.

My memories of the film were definitely on the more innocent side: Noses growing, wishing upon stars and having no strings.

What I didn't remember was the truly warped world Walt Disney and his co-conspirators created 70 years ago.

Seen now, the movie seems almost revolutionary in it's darkness. Boys being kidnapped to a place where they don't come back from as boys, smoking as evil salvation, people making an ass of themselves (literally) and a killer whale nipping at the hero's limbs.

It seems odd that perhaps the song most-identified with the Disney mystique comes from such a twisted, twisted tale.

When You Wish Upon a Star, indeed.

Somehow, Walt Disney's Pinocchio is still a movie for all times. It's a story made to be told just as it was.

Even in this era of digital animated toy stories, this hand-drawn traditional tale of morality resonates as strongly as ever.

Kudos to Disney for such a lovingly restored re-release. If you have a Blu-ray player, you need to get this in high definition.