Thoughts From Pinocchio

Tonight my siblings and I watched Pinocchio on Disney Plus. It was the first time in a long while that Emily and I had seen the movie, but the first time either Max or Spencer had ever seen it. They were not even familiar with the story at all. It was definitely just as good, if not better, than I remember it. I was nerding out over how impressive and beautiful the hand-drawn animation was, even all these years later. The songs were also incredibly entertaining and I was surprised by how much I remembered them just by hearing the opening notes.

What caught my attention, however was the short song that Geppetto sings to the little puppet he had made, before he is brought to life. Emily looked up the lyrics for me and also noticed what I did. These are the lyrics to the first lines of Geppetto’s little song “Little Wooden Head”:

Little wooden head go play your part
Bring a little joy to every heart
Little do you know and yet it’s true
That I’m mighty proud of you

Emily thought that the lyrics were incredibly sweet. I brought up that they, in a way, sounded like an exuberant song sung over every created human being by their Father. It was really very sweet, and I almost got emotional thinking about it. Geppetto has no expectations from Pinocchio other than for him to “play his part”, to bring a joy to every heart.

Pinocchio wasn’t even conscious or aware of his father’s boundless love for him, but Geppetto makes it crystal clear. Pinocchio doesn’t understand now, and it takes him a while.

Yet, it is absolutely true: He is mighty proud of you.

The lessons about the worthiness of a life lived with bravery, truthfulness and selflessness and the true dangers of lying are all powerful and worth learning, but this little song of celebration over the creation of one little boy by his Father was something that stood out brightly, tonight.