Ewan McGregor Has The #1 Movie On Netflix
It’s been just a few days since Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio arrived on Netflix and the film is already taking the streamer by storm. Telling the story in a way that’s never been done before, fans are loving the director’s creative rendition, with viewers streaming it straight to Netflix’s #1 spot. Starring Ewan McGregor as the story’s narrator and chatty cricket, Sebastian, audiences are drawn in not only by Pinocchio’s revamped plot but also by the stars lending their voices to the stop-motion movie.
A star-studded event, along with Ewan McGregor, Pinocchio also features top names including Finn Wolfhard (Stranger Things), Gregory Mann, Tilda Swinton (Three Thousand Years of Longing), Ron Perlman (Hellboy), David Bradley (Game of Thrones), Cate Blanchett (Nightmare Alley), and Christopher Waltz (Inglourious Basterds). The feature marks Guillermo del Toro’s first dive into stop-motion filmmaking, an art form much different than the director’s typical live-action fare in projects like Nightmare Alley and The Shape of Water.
Known for creating some of the best and most fantastical monsters to grace our screens, Guillermo del Toro comes from a crafty background of meticulously building out his stories, an art that shines through in his latest production.
Mostly making a name for himself in dramas including Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting and the Star Wars franchise, Ewan McGregor’s vocal role in Pinocchio is one of just a handful of animated appearances that he’s made over his decades-spanning career. In the past, the Doctor Sleep star was heard in 2005’s Robots and 2010’s Jackboots on Whitehall, but beyond that, he’s mostly stayed away from the vibrant world of animation. But, when Guillermo del Toro is involved, who could say no to taking on a leading role in the Academy Award-winning director’s twist on the classic Carlo Collodi book?
If you haven’t seen it yet, the Ewan McGregor-led Pinocchio puts several new twists on the famous story. For one, the tale takes place during some of Italy’s darkest days, when the country was under fascist rule. The other major difference is that where other tales about the wooden boy who comes to life begin on the night that Pinocchio breathes his first breath, Guillermo del Toro instead decided to take audiences on an emotional journey — revealing Gepetto’s life with his son, Carlo, before Carlo’s untimely and tragic passing.
Guillermo del Toro has a real knack for telling stories revolving around fascism, as we’ve previously seen in his Oscar-winning 2006 film, Pan’s Labyrinth. That film transported audiences to 1944 Spain when the country found itself under Francisco Franco’s dictatorship following the Spanish Civil War. With a gift for evoking massive amounts of emotion through his performances, Ewan McGregor was an excellent choice to help bring one of Pinnochio’s major players to life.
From musicals to dramas, to horror and fantasy, there’s absolutely nothing that Ewan McGregor can’t shine in and Pinocchio is no different. The feature was initially released to theaters on November 9, no doubt putting it in the running for awards season, already receiving three nominations at the Golden Globe Awards. If you haven’t checked it out yet, head over to Netflix to see Pinocchio as you never have before through the creatively unique telling by co-directors Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson.
