Pinocchio's Christmas (TV 1980)

It's Pinocchio's first Christmas, and he sells the book Geppetto gives him for present money, but Cat and Fox trick him out of it. So, Pinocchio becomes part of a (Christmas) Marionette ... See full summary »

Directors:

Jules Bass, Arthur Rankin Jr.

Writers:

Carlo Collodi (novel), Romeo Muller

Stars:

Alan King, George S. Irving, Bob McFadden

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Alan King	...	Maestro Fire-Eater (voice)
George S. Irving	...	Geppetto (voice)
Bob McFadden	...	Cricket (voice) (as Robert McFadden)
Patricia Bright	...	(voice) (as Pat Bright)
Allen Swift	...	Fox (voice)
Diane Leslie	...	(voice)
Gerry Matthews	...	(voice)
Ray Owens	...	(voice)
Tiffany Blake	...	Child (voice)
Carl Tramon	...	Child (voice)
Alice Gayle	...	Child (voice)
Todd Porter	...	Pinocchio (voice)

Storyline

It's Pinocchio's first Christmas, and he sells the book Geppetto gives him for present money, but Cat and Fox trick him out of it. So, Pinocchio becomes part of a (Christmas) Marionette show to make present money. He steals a girl puppet when he leaves, and the gendarmes chase him into the Forest of Enchantment. There, he meets Azora, a fairy with a cricket who try to fix Pinocchio's lying and set him on the right track. But then he's sold to a Duke, whom Pinocchio convinces to spend time with his children. And only Santa's reindeer can get Pinocchio home in time for Christmas.

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Plot Keywords:

pinocchio | christmas | father son relationship | stop motion animation | based on novel | 

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Genres:

Animation | Family

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 December 1980 (USA)

Also Known As:

La Navidad de Pinocho

Company Credits

Production Co:

Rankin/Bass Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Allen Swift based Fox's voice off of Sydney Greenstreet. He had used the same voice years earlier for The Invisible Man in _Mad Monster Party? (1967)_qv, also produced by Rankin/Bass.

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Connections

Version of The Adventures of Pinocchio (1996)

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Soundtracks

"Let'em Laugh"
Performed by Alan King

User Reviews

Fun From Start to Finish

Pinocchio's Christmas (1980)

*** (out of 4)

Another winning Rankin/Bass animated film has Pinocchio selling a book that Geppetto bought for him so that he can take the money and buy his father a Christmas gift. Along the way he's cheated out of the money by Fox and Cat and soon Pinocchio finds himself in an all new adventure. I really wasn't aware of this film before running into it on television and I must say that this was one of the better Christmas animations that I've seen. I'm a little surprised that the film isn't better known and just looking around it appears that most people haven't heard of the film, which is a shame. As usual, the animation is a major plus as all of the characters look terrific and I really love how much detail they actually put into Pinocchio. The amount of detail they give the character almost looks so good that you forget that it's not some sort of computer generated effect. Another major plus is the actual story that manages to contain some laughs, drama and of course a message for the kids. I enjoyed several of the flashbacks including a wonderful sequence where we see Geppetto getting the wood and carving what would become Pinocchio. With the commercials this here runs an hour but the added running time certainly pays off and the material is so rich that you really could have turned this into a feature-length film and it still would have been entertaining.