((Danger Will Robinson … Spoilers Ahead))
This weekend, I watched the newest Disney edition of Pinocchio. It’s a pretty good production. The locale setting for the production is in Italy. The CGI is excellent. The Disney’s ‘easter eggs’ are something that just pops – especially the collection of all the clocks in Geppetto’s home/shop.
I couldn’t quite pick out Keegan-Michael Key as Honest John. But I did like Tom Hanks and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in their roles.
Jiminy Cricket gives an interesting piece of advice as young Pinocchio goes to school. He tells him …
Pay attention
Obey all the rules
Do whatever the teacher tells you to do
Wow! Can you imagine if kids today actually did that? What a difference public education our nation would have. Not just kids that actually worked WITH the teachers, but parents that actually support the teachers. Interestingly, this young student who would probably do what his Jimmy Cricket tells him to do, is actually booted out of school. It seems the educational system in the movie needs work just like our in real life.
Most are familiar with the story. The wish upon a star, the puppet that gains animation, and the innocent little puppet that is taken advantage of by Honest John. Then there is the whale, the extending nose, and the music interlaced throughout the movie. The newest movie has the old classic songs and some new ones thrown in.
Geppetto’s joy is felt as well as his deep concern when Pinocchio goes missing.
Throughout the movie, P just wants to make his father happy. He wants to become famous … so he can become real … so his father will have a real son again. Fame is something even people today seek – but it’s not really satisfying. Fame is elusive and Fame is disappointing. But like real life, people take advantage of others, people lie, people are greedy, and people are down right mean.
It’s interesting. In this version, P tells a lie to get what he needed and the movie seems to show it was okay. (He lies so the nose stretched, so Jimmy can reach the key on the wall.). I don’t remember that twist. Almost like lying for the right reason is approved of. Hmm.
Jiminy gives a valiant effort as a conscious – even though he was drafted into it by the Blue Fairy. And P does seem to be filled with uncertainty and angst even when Jiminy is not around. But without that little push to stay on the straight and narrow – P continuously makes unwise decisions. But humans? The depravity of man is on real display.
All in all, Pinocchio is a pretty dark story. Child trafficking. Evil spirits changing kids to donkeys that turn into slave labor. Rejection of people because they are different. Hedonism. Betrayal. Deception.
But such is real life. In Pinocchio, P is not alone. His conscious strives to really advise and assist.
In real life, we too struggle with tight abs wrong (and by we, I mean those that are Children of the one true God) … we have a conscious that never leaves us and always walks beside us. The Spirit of God is always at work in us … convicting us, encouraging us, edging us in the right direction.
But in the words of Jiminy, and in light of humanity’s brokenness, being a conscious, “Is no easy job!”
So listen to Him. Strive to honor your heavenly Father. Live according to His ways. And in all your ways – drive to bring Him glory.
I would also say – nobody – and I mean NOBODY – would trap the Spirit in a jar like Honest John did to Jiminy. NOBODY!
Muddy Shoes by Todd 
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