Jiminy Cricket is a small cricket who first appeared in Pinocchio as the deuteragonist. Jiminy Cricket acts as a conscience and a good friend to the film's title character. He is clever, kind, caring and brave. He will do anything for a friend, even if it's life-threatening. He has appeared along with Mickey Mouse and Tinker Bell as a Disney mascot.
Info[]
Development[]
Jiminy Cricket is based off the Talking Cricket from the original Pinocchio book that Walt Disney's film is based on. In the book, the cricket is killed by Pinocchio, but in the film, the cricket is named Jiminy Cricket and instead of being a cameo character, he was made into a major character and joins Pinocchio on his journey to becoming a real boy. According to Walt Disney and the filmmakers, Jiminy Cricket's role in the film was meant to develop the heart of the story in the friendship between him and Pinocchio. Jiminy Cricket was animated by one of Walt Disney's Nine Old Men, Ward Kimball. In Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Ward animated a soup eating scene. The scene was eventually dropped and Ward was devastated. Walt realized this and decided to give Ward the job of designing and animating Jiminy Cricket. Like every animated Disney character, Jiminy Cricket went through an evolution of designs. Some of the earliest ones resembled more of a realistic cricket. According to Ward, this was a disgusting sight, so he made the character more and more of a cartoonish and sweet-looking creature to the point that the audience only knows he's a cricket because the film tells them.
Jiminy Cricket's name also has an interesting backstory. "Jiminy Cricket(s)!" was originally a polite expletive euphemism for Jesus Christ. The name of the character is a play on the exclamation (which itself was uttered in Pinocchio's immediate predecessor, 1937's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs). Another example occurs in the 1939 film The Wizard Of Oz when the group first enters the Wizard's chamber; they are startled by the Wizard's sudden thunder-and-lightning display, and cries, "Oh! Oh! Jiminy Crickets!" (Garland also says the expression in her 1938 film Listen, Darling). It had also been used as an exclamation by the Swedish father several times in the 1930 movie Anna Christie. Another time it is used is in the short 1938 cartoon starring Mickey Mouse The Brave Little Tailor. That expression is also Howard Cunningham's catchphrase on Happy Days.
Personality[]
Being an official conscience, Jiminy Cricket is rather wise and optimistic. He can be a bit aggressive when upset, but means well. Not only is he Pinocchio's conscience, but also his best friend, a relationship he treasures apparently. The two spend much of their time together to the point that Jiminy Cricket feels insulted and rejected when Pinocchio briefly called Lampwick his best friend. When first introduced, Jiminy Cricket was shown to be rather wise-cracking and humorous, often making jokes to amuse himself. Prior to meeting Pinocchio, Jiminy Cricket was sort of a realist, not believing in fairy tales and wishes. Of course, after the adventure with him and the little wooden boy, Jiminy Cricket's view of the world changed greatly. The cricket holds an obvious crush on The Blue Fairy. He often gets dumbfounded upon the mere sight of her. In spite of his naturally diminutive states, Jiminy Cricket shows no fear in facing enemies thrice his size as seen when he tried to get Pinocchio away from Honest John and Gideon and when he wanted to scuffle with Lampwick.
In Kingdom Hearts[]
Kingdom Hearts series[]
Jiminy Cricket appears in many installments of the Kingdom Hearts games.
Kingdom Hearts[]
Jiminy Cricket first makes his appearance in Disney Castle and becomes Sora, Donald, and Goofy's royal chronicler under the order of Queen Minnie. He explains to Goofy that he escaped right before his world was destroyed, and he was scattered from his friends. After they befriend Sora, they travel to many different worlds in search for the King, Riku, and Kairi. Sometime after, he meets up with Pinocchio in Traverse Town, and tells him to stay put while he sets out to find Geppetto, his father.
When they head for Atlantica/Halloween Town, depending on which world the player chooses, they get swallowed by the giant whale Monstro and meet up with Pinocchio again, this time reunited with his father Geppetto. But then Pinocchio was lured away from his friends by Riku and they searched for him until a Parasite Cage Heartless captured Pinocchio and attempted to take his heart. He failed, but then Riku captured him and stole his heart in hopes to be able to replace Kairi's heart. Jiminy Cricket, Sora, Donald, and Goofy manage to restore Pinocchio's heart with the united power of their hearts. Then, they battle Parasite Cage again and defeat it once and for all, but then Monstro feels ill and spit them out and separate Jiminy Cricket away from Pinocchio. He finds out that Pinocchio and Geppetto are okay after they visit Traverse Town again and find them living there.
Kingdom Hearts: Chain Of Memories[]
Jiminy Cricket appears alongside Sora, Donald, and Goofy, and his role in this game is much more important; he appears more often, and during the game he is the one that tries to keep the team together. He is alone with Sora when Sora runs away from Donald and Goofy.
Like the others, his memories are also disappearing the more they head for each level of Castle Oblivion. Even the entries in his journal have disappeared altogether upon entering Castle Oblivion.
When Sora gets angry at Donald and Goofy for not wanting to help save Naminé, he sets out to find her by himself. Jiminy Cricket tries to reason with him, but he refuses to listen. When they finally meet Naminé, they find out from her that they have not actually met, but were rather fooled by her abilities to control memories of Sora and those attached to his heart. But Sora forgives her for her doing and they all set out to fight against those who made Naminé do what she did.
After the protagonists finally defeat Larxene, Vexen, and Marluxia, the members of Organization XIII, Naminé takes them to a room of Memory Pods, where she tells them she will be able to restore their memories while they sleep in them. But it will take some time, because rechaining memories is harder than severing them. However, as a price they will lose their memories of all things that happened while they were in Castle Oblivion. Afraid that they might not be able to thank her for what she does for them, Jiminy Cricket writes down a small entry in his journal that says "Thank Naminé".
Kingdom Hearts II[]
In Kingdom Hearts II, Jiminy Cricket only appears once. A year after the events of Kingdom Hearts: Chain Of Memories, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy Cricket awake from their long, deep slumber in Twilight Town, and have no memories of what happened right after they closed Kingdom Hearts. Goofy asks Jiminy Cricket what his journal says, and Jiminy Cricket only finds a sentence: "Thank Naminé". Unable to know who she is anymore, Donald scoffs at him for his bad journal entry and Jiminy Cricket dismisses it by telling to go and find out where they are. He doesn't reappear at all in the game after this event.
Kingdom Hearts coded[]
Jiminy Cricket reappears in Kingdom Hearts coded. His journal compiled in previous games is a major plot element, as well as a main character.
Jiminy Cricket is reorganizing his journal when he suddenly finds a sentence saying "We must return to free them from their torment". Jiminy Cricket cannot recall any memory of that entry, so he shows the text to King Mickey. To investigate, King Mickey creates a Sora out of data to try and find out more about the mysterious entries that continually appear. As Sora continues to unravel the Bug Block Corruption that is affecting the Data Worlds, Jiminy Cricket somehow gets sucked into the data world, along with King Mickey, Donald, and Goofy. At the game's climax, however, he is presumably sent back to the real world along with his friends after the debugging of the journal is complete.
Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance[]
During Sora and Riku's respective adventures in Prankster's Paradise, they encounter a "dream" of Jiminy Cricket who was ordered by the Blue Fairy to educate Pinocchio to be a good boy. As this is the Jiminy Cricket created by the world prior to being consumed in darkness, he has no memory of Sora Or Riku.