Pinocchio Part 27

We're back outside Monstro and once again, Woolie Reitherman handles all the main characters in this sequence, a real rarity in this film. The sense of scale is again reinforced by the size of the tuna relative to Monstro. Shot 8 has some lovely perspective animation of Monstro coming towards the camera. Once Monstro breaks the surface of the water, there are gulls to emphasize Monstro's great size. Finally, we see Jiminy floating past Monstro's giant eye and then his substantial teeth.

Monstro's eye does not get treated consistently. In sequence 10-2 in shots 2 and 5, Monstro's eye goes from cartoony to more realistic. In this sequence in shot 14, the eye is a painted background with airbrush highlights, the most realistic rendition of it yet.

Reitherman's Pinocchio still has a longer than average nose. Pinocchio climbing over the tuna to gain ground on Monstro is a repeat of the gag with Jiminy climbing on Pinocchio in sequence 10.4.

Shot 9, with Monstro breaking the surface of the water and slamming his jaws shut is a powerful. The frame after the one in the mosaic has Monstro's mouth totally closed, very wide spacing between the drawings for a character who takes up so much of the screen. Monstro has all sorts of rendering on him to give him more surface detail to enhance his reality. The animation of the water appears to be a moving painting, possibly painted on top of the cels instead of the underside.

These early Monstro scenes are all about size and power. It's necessary to see Monstro in action before Pinocchio and company make their escape. The audience needs to know the magnitude of Monstro's threat so that the suspense of the escape will carry the maximum emotional impact.