Character Analysis
Honest John and Gideon feel like they're pulled straight out of Looney Tunes. That actually makes more sense than you might think: legendary voice actor Mel Blanc provided Gideon's laughter for the film. In case you don't know, Blanc voiced pretty much every Looney Tunes character from Bugs Bunny to Daffy Duck.
This anthropomorphic pair exists to scam marks like Pinocchio. For them, this one-day-old puppet-boy is a gold-mine: he's so naive they manage to con him twice. That's just impressive.
In both instances, John and Gideon are simply the middlemen between Pinocchio and some bad dude who wants to take advantage of him.
During their interaction with the Coachman, however, Honest John and Gideon show us that even they have limits.
Take a look:
COACHMAN: ...And I takes 'em to Pleasure Island.
HONEST JOHN: Ah, Pleasure Island…Pleasure Island? But the law!
There's no doubt that John and Gideon are a pair of furry jerks, but that doesn't mean they're Evil with a capital "E." They're just run-of-the-mill scammers. In this way, Pinocchio shows us that it's not just the bad guys you have to worry about, but also those poor schmos who would sell you out for a few bucks.