DVDizzy Forum

For Pinocchio, I always liked the Masterpiece VHS and Limited Issue DVD covers most, but my new favorite would be the Best Buy Signature Exclusive cover.

For Pinocchio, the Platinum Edition Best Buy steelbook for sure. The Limited Issue next. The Platinum to me is bad for having that bad composition. What is up with where the title is?

EDIT: I said the wrong cover for my first choice at first.

My favorite is either the Masterpiece VHS or the Special Edition DVD for Europe DisneyBluLife posted. The Signature Collection Target Exclusive is not bad either. These are the only Pinocchio covers I like.

I think I had never seen the first VHS cover. It's horrible! Pinocchio and Jiminy are so off-model there, and they aren't doing anything interesting in it. I appreciate they tried to do something different with the Platinum Edition Best Buy Steelbook, but the characters are incredibly off-model there as well. Few of these covers are on model, actually. Though it's not badly drawn, I've never liked the Limited Issue DVD because the scene it features doesn't happen like that in the movie. And like Disney Duster, I don't like the composition of the Platinum Edition. I especially dislike that Figaro seems to be riding Monstro.

Lol Figaro riding Monstro!

For the Platinum edition of Pinocchio, I think Japan got a very nice and cute cover art for it.

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Pinocchio-Blu-ray/4751/

I've always loved that cover too. It's a pity the John Alvin poster was never made into a cover.

JeanGreyForever wrote:I've always loved that cover too. It's a pity the John Alvin poster was never made into a cover.

Yes.

It is a shame too that Disney has never used his artwork of Cinderella on a cover.

https://johnalvinart.com/artwork/

^thanks for that link! There are posters and concept art there that are much cooler than what they ended up choosing. Really wish the images on the site were bigger though.
Is Kuzco mooning the others in one of the TENG posters!?!

I like that Japanese Pinocchio art. I do not like that Cinderella John Alvin art. He stole Cinderella in ball form with the Prince from a storybook. And I just don't care for the concept. Omg Kuzco mooning the other characters!!!

DisneyBluLife wrote:

JeanGreyForever wrote:I've always loved that cover too. It's a pity the John Alvin poster was never made into a cover.

Yes.

It is a shame too that Disney has never used his artwork of Cinderella on a cover.

https://johnalvinart.com/artwork/

That's a gorgeous piece. I also think it's a shame that Disney never commissioned John Alvin to do more artwork for their other classic Walt-era films beyond the handful he did work on.

Its a bit of a conundrum for the Pinocchio covers:

Some of them have a better layout/concept, but some have better execution (ie: characters properly drawn and on-model, linework, color).

My opinion:

Layout/concept, I think the Masterpiece is the best. It is simple, we get the main characters and it is based on a moment from the movie... we even get the star. We get a clear understanding of their location, with just enough detail. The execution is pretty good, but not the best.

For execution, I would probably say the Platinum is the best. All characters on model, the ocean looks amazing... sadly, the layout is cluttered and unbalanced, and the fairy's pose is awkward (and stolen from a poster from the 90s).

I suspect that the drawing of the Best Buy exclusive is actually traced from an actual frame from the movie. Sadly, the eyes are uneven (either by who traced it, or who originally drew it).

The platinum steelbook... ugh. Pinocchio's face looks grotesque and the low camera angle is weird... a clear attempt to cram as many characters in as possible...

I think the Pinocchio Limited Issue DVD is the best, followed by the Best Buy steelbook. The Platinum is almost my favorite, but something has always felt off about it - I thought it was strange to have everyone crammed on the side and then the ocean and sky taking up so much empty space. Also, the Best Buy Signature slipcover is lenticular and transforms puppet Pinocchio into a real boy with a wave of the wand. It's a really cool effect actually and that one may be my favorite come to think of it.

I love the idea for this thread because it is very classic Ultimate Disney. I have spent so much time here obsessing over cover art!

One of my favorite motifs from these vintage posters and video releases is the presence of the villain or fairy figure looming above the title. I’m a sucker for it being used in Snow White’s Masterpiece VHS. In general I like the more simplistic and clean covers— the Masterpiece Deluxe laserdisc is well organized, and I actually really love all the covers created for the Signature Edition with the Best Buy exclusive being perhaps my favorite. The Platinum cover is pretty hideously organized, despite being for many years the white whale for my Disney DVD collection. The two Diamond Edition covers are even worse and feel incredibly claustrophobic. Considering its place and importance in the Disney canon— heck, in American filmmaking— the Diamond Edition covers are a real embarrassment.

Pinocchio seems to have been generally better treated on home video. The Masterpiece VHS and Limited Edition DVD are my favorites. The Platinum Blu-ray has some good ideas— I love the inclusion of the Blue Fairy, but otherwise feels too cluttered and poorly balanced with everything on the left side. The Signature Edition covers are a step in the right direction, nice, clean, and simple.

I’m guessing the OP is attempting to showcase each film in chronological order, so I hope I don’t step on his or her toes when I add that my all-time favorite Disney cover may be the Cinderella VHS where she dances with Prince Charming. Beautiful and classic. I’d love to see them recreate that entire composition for a new Blu-ray or 4K release.

Disney Duster wrote:Did you guys know the Signature Edition Best Buy Exclusive lenticular cover has the image in the mirror change from Snow White to the Queen? Cool. huh?

ToyStoryFan wrote:Also, the Best Buy Signature slipcover is lenticular and transforms puppet Pinocchio into a real boy with a wave of the wand. It's a really cool effect actually and that one may be my favorite come to think of it.

I didn't know that about the Best Buy covers. I thought they were a bit too simple, but now I see they're actually quite cool.

Disney's Divinity wrote:I remember liking the concept art (I guess you'd call it that?) for the Signature's standard cover better than the finished product.

Are you referring to this cover, right (the one on the left)? I much prefer it too. I don't know why they changed it. The characters were much more on-model in the first drawing.

ToyStoryFan wrote:Also, the Best Buy Signature slipcover is lenticular and transforms puppet Pinocchio into a real boy with a wave of the wand. It's a really cool effect actually and that one may be my favorite come to think of it.

OMG awesome!!! But I won't buy it just for that, lol.

UmbrellaFish wrote:I love the idea for this thread because it is very classic Ultimate Disney. I have spent so much time here obsessing over cover art!

Youre right!!! Me too!!!

UmbrellaFish wrote:The two Diamond Edition covers are even worse and feel incredibly claustrophobic. Considering its place and importance in the Disney canon— heck, in American filmmaking— the Diamond Edition covers are a real embarrassment.

For this most important of Disney films, they tried to get in everything from the film, in an arrangement around the mirror, with the villain looming above the title like you like!

UmbrellaFish wrote:I’m guessing the OP is attempting to showcase each film in chronological order, so I hope I don’t step on his or her toes when I add that my all-time favorite Disney cover may be the Cinderella VHS where she dances with Prince Charming. Beautiful and classic. I’d love to see them recreate that entire composition for a new Blu-ray or 4K release.

Yes, we will discuss this film when it comes in this thread, but I must be the only one who this is like my least favorite cover. It's just a step up from the Platinum Edition cover. I don't know why I dislike it when it has virtually every important thing the film has! Even the Fairy Godmother above the title is awesome! Maybe it's that Cinderella has her back to us? Or maybe it's just the original Classic VHS was the best, and still is the best, to me, so everything is a little disappointing afterward. Why do I not love the Masterpiece cover more...? Though the Deluxe Masterpiece...damn, that's like the best one.

D82 wrote:

Disney Duster wrote:Did you guys know the Signature Edition Best Buy Exclusive lenticular cover has the image in the mirror change from Snow White to the Queen? Cool. huh?

ToyStoryFan wrote:Also, the Best Buy Signature slipcover is lenticular and transforms puppet Pinocchio into a real boy with a wave of the wand. It's a really cool effect actually and that one may be my favorite come to think of it.

I didn't know that about the Best Buy covers. I thought they were a bit too simple, but now I see they're actually quite cool.

Disney's Divinity wrote:I remember liking the concept art (I guess you'd call it that?) for the Signature's standard cover better than the finished product.

Are you referring to this cover, right (the one on the left)? I much prefer it too. I don't know why they changed it. The characters were much more on-model in the first drawing.

I guess they didn't want to reuse old clip art.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pinocchio-Spec ... B00008IHV5

Disney Duster wrote:

UmbrellaFish wrote:The two Diamond Edition covers are even worse and feel incredibly claustrophobic. Considering its place and importance in the Disney canon— heck, in American filmmaking— the Diamond Edition covers are a real embarrassment.

For this most important of Disney films, they tried to get in everything from the film, in an arrangement around the mirror, with the villain looming above the title like you like!

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a great work of art and no image in that film is ever as busy or poorly composed as the Diamond Edition cover. It may showcase lots of various elements from the film (the Prince and his horse and a castle?!?), but it doesn’t really represent the film very well because it’s much uglier than anything in the movie itself.

UmbrellaFish wrote:

Disney Duster wrote: For this most important of Disney films, they tried to get in everything from the film, in an arrangement around the mirror, with the villain looming above the title like you like!

It may showcase lots of various elements from the film (the Prince and his horse and a castle?!?),

I feel sorry for the huntsman. Even the horse and Snow White's bird friend beat him when it comes to have important characters on the cover.

D82 wrote:

Disney's Divinity wrote:I remember liking the concept art (I guess you'd call it that?) for the Signature's standard cover better than the finished product.

Are you referring to this cover, right (the one on the left)? I much prefer it too. I don't know why they changed it. The characters were much more on-model in the first drawing.

https://i.imgur.com/B0oYAf7.jpg https://i.imgur.com/rgQwPi7.jpg

Yes, that's it. I loved the original. The update was unnecessary and such a downgrade.

DisneyBluLife wrote:I guess they didn't want to reuse old clip art.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pinocchio-Spec ... B00008IHV5

Yes, I guess that's the reason why they modified it, but I don't know why they cared about that on this occasion when it wasn't a problem for them to reuse artwork for the Signature Collection cover of Snow White, for example. And what they were reusing was from an international edition, so people in the US wouldn't have noticed it wasn't new.

Disney's Divinity wrote:Yes, that's it. I loved the original. The update was unnecessary and such a downgrade.

I completely agree.