Traditional Animation

In the era of CGI and green screens, it's easy to forget just how hard it is to draw a cartoon by hand.

This is especially true in Pinocchio's case. Released in 1940, Pinocchio was only the second animated feature made by Disney, and one of the first dozen animated films ever. As a result, these guys didn't have a textbook or YouTube tutorial to turn to when they ran into problems—they had to make it up as they went along.

What did that mean for the animators of this film? Back-breaking (or at least finger-numbing) labor. It took twelve artists eighteen months to craft a passable look for Pinocchio himself. And it took two million drawings—300,000 of which are used in the movie—to craft the animation (source).

Disney magic, Disney shmagick. That's just a ton of hard work.

You want to know what's even more impressive? That Pinocchio's production standards still hold up today. The animation is crisp, clean, and expressive, utilizing a variety of techniques to transport the film's audience to a different world.

Whether we're zooming through town on Pinocchio's first day of school or watching the humorous machinations of Geppetto's clocks, there's a flabbergasting level of detail present in every frame.