The Terrible Dogfish

"Monstro" redirects here. For the Marvel Comics character that sometimes went by that name, see Giganto. For the band, see MonstrO.

The Terrible Dogfish
The Adventures of Pinocchio character
Il Terrìbile Pesce-càne swallows Pinocchio, as drawn by Enrico Mazzanti.
First appearance	The Adventures of Pinocchio
Created by	Carlo Collodi
In-universe information
Species	Giant Dogfish

The Terrible Dogfish (Italian: il Terribile Pesce-cane) is a dogfish-like sea-monster, which appears in Carlo Collodi's 1883 book The Adventures of Pinocchio (Le avventure di Pinocchio) as the final antagonist. It is described as being larger than a five-story building, a kilometer long (not including its tail) and sporting three rows of teeth in a mouth that can easily accommodate a train. So fearsome is its reputation, that in Chapter XXXIV, it is revealed that the Dogfish is nicknamed "The Attila of fish and fishermen" (L'Attila dei pesci e dei pescatori).

In the novel

Pinocchio carries Geppetto on his back and swims out of its mouth. A 1902 drawing by Carlo Chiostri.

The Dogfish is first mentioned in Chapter XXIV, when Pinocchio, searching for his creator, Geppetto, is informed by a dolphin that he has likely been swallowed by the Dogfish which "...for some days has come to wreak extermination and desolation in our waters".

The Dogfish is later mentioned in Chapter XXVI by Pinocchio's school friends on the Island of the Busy Bees (Isola delle Api Industriose), who tell him that it has been sighted on the coast, to coax him away from school.

The Dogfish makes its first appearance in Chapter XXXIV when Pinocchio, recently transformed from a donkey to his puppet form, has entered the sea to escape from his former owner. The Fairy with Turquoise Hair, in the form of a turquoise mountain goat, warns him of the Dogfish too late, and it swallows him whole, along with a tuna whom he befriends. He discovers Geppetto, who reveals that he has been trapped inside the Dogfish for two years, surviving on ship supplies swallowed by it. When the Dogfish is revealed to suffer from asthma, a condition that forces it to sleep with its head raised from the water and its mouth open, Pinocchio carries Geppetto on his back and swims out of its mouth. When Pinocchio's strength begins to fail, the tuna helps them to reach the shore.

Disney version

Monstro
Monstro as portrayed in Disney's Pinocchio.
First appearance	Pinocchio (1940)
Designed by	Joe Grant
Voiced by	Thurl Ravenscroft
In-universe information
Species	Sperm whale

In the 1940 Walt Disney film Pinocchio, the Dogfish is named Monstro (which is Portuguese, Esperanto, and archaic Italian for "monster") and is portrayed as an aggressive and man-eating sperm whale, in contrast with the "gentle giants of the sea" in real life, with massive jaws, both of which have sharp teeth, and a grooved underside like a rorqual, similar to the whale in the novel Moby Dick. He is first mentioned by Jiminy Cricket in a message from the Blue Fairy about Geppetto, who, sailing to find Pinocchio on Pleasure Island, has been swallowed by him. They search for him, but are frustrated upon mentioning his name to the sea creatures, which causes them to flee in terror. After finally discovering him asleep, he suddenly awakens upon noticing a school of tuna swimming nearby and gives chase, eventually swallowing them and Pinocchio (but not Jiminy) before closing his mouth and falling asleep again. Inside his belly, Pinocchio discovers and reunites with Geppetto before suggesting that they start a fire in order to make Monstro sneeze them out, though Geppetto fears that this plan would make Monstro mad. The smoke wakes him up, prompting him to sneeze them out of his mouth. Unfortunately, just as Geppetto feared, this serves only to infuriate him after drinking lots of water to put the fire out, and he pursues them, using surprise attacks in attempts to kill them, but fails. Eventually, when Pinocchio pulls Geppetto into a hole in a cliff, Monstro leaps into the air, aiming to re-consume them, but ends up smashing against the cliff on impact. It is unknown what exactly happened to him.

Monstro was animated by Wolfgang Reitherman, the go-to man for action sequences among Disney's Nine Old Men.

In Bonkers

Monstro makes a guest star appearance in a Bonkers comic story titled "Whale of a Tale", published in the December 1994 issue of Disney Adventures. In this story, he is a polite actor who played a role in Pinocchio but has not found work in the movies since then; he is duped by a gang of crooks, posing as a movie company, into breaking into banks for them to rob, and, upon finding out the truth, helps Bonkers catch the criminals.

In Fantasmic!

Monstro also plays a notable role in the Disneyland version of Fantasmic!, and also has a smaller role in the Dancing Bubbles scene in the Disney's Hollywood Studios version.

In Kingdom Hearts

Monstro also appears in the video game Kingdom Hearts as both a supporting character and a world, where Pinocchio and Geppetto temporarily live inside him until being rescued. Within him dwell many Heartless, including one called the Parasite Cage, which traps Pinocchio in its cage-like stomach, and delivers him to Riku, who wishes to use his heart to rescue Kairi. After Kingdom Hearts is sealed, Monstro presumably returns to his world.

Monstro later reappears in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, as a figment of Sora and Riku's memories. He is not physically seen, but card rooms resembling his bowels are explored. In the Final Mix version of Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, he appears as a boss fight in the Mirage Arena. He reappears as a sub-world in his homeworld, Prankster's Paradise, in Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance.

Once Upon a Time

In ABC's Once Upon a Time, Monstro makes a brief appearance in the episode "The Stranger", in which his Disney role is reiterated. His design has many similarities to the Devil Whale found in various other tales.

In Pinocchio (2022)

In the 2022 live-action remake adaptation of Walt Disney Pictures Pinocchio (1940), Monstro plays a similar role. Unlike his animated counterpart who is a whale, he is reimagined as a giant chimeric sea-monster with the characteristics of whales, sharks, and cephalopods.

In the film, when Pinocchio reunites with Geppetto at the Mediterranean Sea after he and Jiminy Cricket escape from Pleasure Island, they are suddenly ambushed and swallowed whole (except Jiminy) by Monstro, who then falls asleep. Inside him, Pinocchio suggests that he and Geppetto make him sneeze. The plan works when Pinocchio uses his feet to start a fire. The smoke wakes him up and he sneezes them out of his mouth. Unfortunately, this served only to infuriate him and he pursues them with the intention of killing them, but Pinocchio uses his spinning feet as propellers to get Geppetto, Figaro, Cleo, and Jiminy away from him. Before he could reconsume them when he eventually catches up to them, Pinocchio propels the boat one last time and they zoom into a nearby tunnel for safety, but Monstro runs into the cliffs and ends up smashing against them on impact. It is unknown what exactly happened to him, but due to smashing against the cliffs, he was apparently killed by the impact just like in the original film.

Portrayals in other media

In The Adventures of Pinocchio.

• In Pinocchio (1911), directed by Giulio Antamoro, the Dogfish is depicted as a sperm whale.
• In Giuliano Cenci's 1972 animated film The Adventures of Pinocchio, the Dogfish is portrayed similarly to that of the book, but not mentioned before its initial appearance.
• In the 1984 episode of Faerie Tale Theatre, the Dogfish is represented as a gigantic orca.
• In Steve Barron's 1996 New Line Cinema live action film The Adventures of Pinocchio, the Dogfish (identified as the "sea monster") is combined with The Coachman and Mangiafuoco into the villainous Lorenzini (played by Udo Kier), who is transformed into a humogous sea monster after being submerged in the cursed water which turned boys into donkeys.
• In the 2002 Italian film Pinocchio, the Dogfish is depicted as a colossal great white shark.
• In the anime manga series MÄR, Pinocchio's Guardian ARM Fastico Galleon is an enormous whale-like creature based on Monstro of the Disney film.
• The Dogfish appears in the 2012 Pinocchio film adaptation.
• In the 2019 live-action film adaptation of Pinocchio, the Dogfish is portrayed in a more faithful appearance to that of the book with more features to fit that of a sea-monster.
• In the 2022 stop motion Netflix film Pinocchio that was produced, written and directed by Guillermo del Toro, the Dogfish is depicted like a Cryptid with grotesque features such as fins belonging to anglerfish and a tail akin to kaiju.
• In Dropout's actual-play Dungeons and Dragons show Dimension 20: Neverafter, the Terrible Dogfish appears in episode 13 (Terror on Toy Island) as an enormous, whale-like monster, covered in barnacles and the broken masts of ships.

Bibliography

• Collodi, Le Avventure di Pinocchio 1883, Biblioteca Universale Rizzoli