Fairy Tale

Pinocchio is a children's film, so it naturally favors straightforward plotting over Memento-style narrative insanity. This thing is a classic fairy tale: it follows a young protagonist as he faces a variety of moral challenges and ultimately emerges victorious.

It's a template as old as time—or as old as Odysseus, at least.

The only narrative flourish worth pointing out is that it begins with Jiminy Cricket talking directly to the audience and opening a book entitled Pinocchio, thus beginning our story. We'd call this a framing device, but the frame doesn't actually close at the end of the film. D'oh!

Regardless, this scene establishes Jiminy as being as close to the audience as he is with the other characters, making him our guide through this strange and magical world.