- “I'm collecting stupid little boys."
"Stupid little boys?"
"You know, the disobedient ones who want play hooky from school.” - ―The Coachman and Honest John[src]
The Stupid Little Boys are characters in Pinocchio.
Background[]
The Stupid Little Boys are children from different towns and villages, who (like Lampwick) have prolonged misbehavior.
Personality[]
The Stupid Little Boys are disrespectful children that like to disobey rules and hate school. When presented with the offer to go to a place of no authority and endless foods and sweets, among other unsavory pleasures such as tobacco, gambling and fighting, they are all too happy to accept without considering the risks involved. On the island, the boys become extremely gluttonous and engage in roughhousing and vandalism, among other things. Their extremely foolish nature becomes their undoing as they all end up turning into donkeys on the island, only regretting their behavior after it was far too late.
Appearances[]
Pinocchio[]
The Stupid Little Boys are carried on the Coachman's stagecoach to visit Pleasure Island, a place where they can do whatever they want without anyone telling them to do anything. The boys are all seemingly aged between 5-9 years (Lampwick, however, seems to be between 10-12 years of age, so he may be one of the oldest of them all). On the Island, the boys can eat as much food as they desire; engage in violent brawls, drink unhealthy amounts of alcohol, gamble, go on rides, and generally abuse their privileges. The only adult on the island is the Coachman, and for reasons that are soon known, he is a criminal who lets them do what they want so they’ll stay on the island as a part of his evil plan.
However, what they do not know is that while they are having fun, they are converted slowly into donkeys after having acted as such. First, the boys' laughs became the brays of a donkey. Then, the boys would grow donkey ears, followed by a tail. Then, the boys' faces would turn into that of a donkey, complete with a muzzle. Then, the boys' hands and feet would become hooves, with their entire bodies being covered in fur at the same time. Finally, the boys would fall to all fours and their voices would be replaced by full braying. Then the boys would go mad and they would be braying and kicking wildly, some throwing their clothes off. Only a very small handful of boys were fortunate enough to still retain their voices for unexplained reasons. They were then all rounded up by the Coachman's minions to be taken to the dockyards for inspection.
The boys are then asked for their name by the Coachman going one after another as they are called. If that answer is a bray, he removes their remaining clothes, (usually by tearing them off their bodies), and throws them into crates that his minions load into a boat for them to be taken back to mainlands for selling. The Coachman usually deal with anywhere donkeys are put to work, and the boxes are marked accordingly by labels saying "Sold to...." If they answer with their name, he holds them to work for him and to ensure they can't ever rat out the Coachman's evil schemes to the authorities back home. The boys could only watch sadly as they were forced to work like the donkeys they had become.
During Pinocchio's trip to the island, most of the boys had been transformed and rounded up while he and Lampwick were left as the only two not yet turned and remained unseen in the island's pool hall. Before long, however, Lampwick fell victim to the island's curse and turned into a donkey and he ran away from the hall in a panic. Whether he evaded the Coachman's minions is unknown, but he was likely caught and sold along with the rest of them. Pinocchio narrowly avoided the same fate due to Jiminy's intervention, with the knowledge of the island's evil curse.
Most of the transformed boys were sold to the salt mine, circuses, farms, and among other clients, all doomed to a life of intense and endless labor. It is unknown if any of them ever found a way to become human again, or whatever happened to the talking donkeys that were forced to stay on the island.
Geppetto[]
The Stupid Little Boys also appear in the live-action TV special, Geppetto, where they are having fun at Pleasure Island where they get turn into donkeys when there on a rollercoaster, along with Pinocchio.
Pinocchio (2022)[]
The Stupid Little Boys appear in the live-action remake and not only have boys, but girls as well.
Pinocchio encounters a group of naughty boys and girls on the carriage which the Coachman is using to bring the children to Pleasure Island, unaware that the children are being lured into the trap. As Pinocchio feels unsure if he should join, the Coachman sings the musical number "The Coachman to Pleasure Island" just as the children sing along; Pinocchio accepts his plan to go to Pleasure Island, causing the children to cheer for what Pinocchio says just as the Coachman takes them to Pleasure Island. Arriving at Pleasure Island, Pinocchio and Lampwick board on a boat looking at what all the children do here. As the two continue riding the boat on Pleasure Island, a naughty boy takes a mug of root beer just as Lampwick shows Pinocchio of what being a bad boy is like. Pinocchio and Lampwick arrive at Sugar Mountain - a place full of candy, where the two encounter more children enjoying the attraction, followed by Pinocchio encountering further attractions featuring children doing various sorts of bad habits that good children wouldn't do, which Pinocchio feels nervous that these activities can tempt him to get into trouble. When Pinocchio sees all the negative influences the children are doing, he tells Lampwick that his father Geppetto might be unhappy if he were there just as the two encounter the Coachman serving him more root beer.
Suddenly, one of the children gets turned into a donkey as Jiminy realizes that the place is used as a trap where two large shadowy creatures capture the donkey. As Jiminy ends up at the area where the caged donkeys are at, he then encounters more shadowy creatures selling the children who were cursed and turned into donkeys to the salt mines under orders of the Coachman as Jiminy realizes that Pleasure Island is a trap. Pinocchio plans to escape with Jiminy to get out of Pleasure Island before he gets turned into a donkey just like the other children which the two manage to escape from the Coachman and his followers into the sea in time.
Disney Parks[]
At least two of the Stupid Little Boys as donkeys are still wearing some human clothing have been seen in the Celebrate A Dreams Come True Parade at the Magic Kingdom park for Walt Disney World, marching along with Honest John and Gideon, also one has been seen with Lampwick in human form, except for donkey ears and tail, on the Disneyland Main Street Electrical Parade; other than that, they have not been exactly meetable characters.
Trivia[]
- The Stupid Little Boys originally had a song written for them to sing about Pleasure Island, but it was cut.
- Lampwick and Alexander were the only characters to have names confirmed in the film while the rest of the names are unknown.
- However, it is revealed that 6 boys besides Alexander are in the pen and can talk.
- Despite the rest of them being bad children, it does heavily imply that they still love their mothers and fathers, as shown by Lampwick when he calls his mother before being fully transformed into a donkey,
- Their donkey vocals were provided by Clarence Nash and Mel Blanc.
Gallery[]