Review:
"Ferdinand"
Release Date: Dec. 15, 2017
Rating: PG Running Time: 108 minutes Animation powerhouse Blue Sky Studios may peddle in franchises but every now and then it does take a time out from churning out Ice Age and Rio installments in favor of adapting a classic children’s book. With Ferdinand, an adaptation of “The Story of Ferdinand” by Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson, Blue Sky Studio delivers an amiable tale about finding the inner strength to maintaining one’s true self in the face of adversity and suffocating peer pressure. It’s an age-old message that Ferdinand offers, one that is especially applicable at a time when many victims of discrimination and/or harassment are finding the courage to share their stories and come forward to confront their attackers. In the hands of Ice Age, Rio and Robots director Carlos Saldanha, Ferdinand remains a parable of pacifism that doesn’t boast the psychological complexities of your typical Pixar character study but carries enough of an emotional punch to draw you into the plight of a bull that refuses to fight no matter the circumstances. Ferdinand follows its source material quite faithfully, with the titular bull suffering much derision from his peers because he prefers to smell flowers than train to impress the bullfighters in search of worthy adversaries. Until, of course, the day comes when Ferdinand is forced into the ring against a legendarily bullfighter and his peaceful ways are put to the test. As the voice of Ferdinand, wrestler-turned-actor John Cena repositions himself as a gentle giant with an energetic and enthusiastic vocal performance that perfectly encapsulates the bull’s affable demeanor. Kate McKinnon brings her trademark manic eccentricity to that of the loopy Lupe, a goat who serves as Ferdinand’s coach. Of Ferdinand’s fellow fighting bulls, a blustery David Tennant draws the most attention as Angus, a Scottish bull with a unique vision problem, while Bobby Cannavale slyly channels Willem Dafoe as Valiente, Ferdinand’s rival and ranch bully. Saldanha and his credited screenwriter expands Ferdinand’s story by adding a subplot involving his friendship with the kind family that takes him as a calve following his escapes from Casa del Toro, a ranch dedicated to raising fighting bulls. Saldanha doesn’t allow Ferdinand’s strong relationship with the young girl Nina (voiced by Lily Day) to drive the narrative; instead, he focuses on Ferdinand’s efforts to persuade his fellow fighting bulls that their sport is one that leads not to glory but to an untimely demise. The spectre of death haunts Ferdinand from start to finish, with the film’s defining moment coming early in the film and effectively setting in motion our hero’s bid to free himself from his predetermined fate. Also, given he’s making a family friendly film, Saldanha goes as far as he can to show the cruelty of a sport that treats the killing of animals as a public spectacle. Saldanha, though, maintains a light touch and moves Ferdinand toward its inevitable confrontation between bull and bullfighter with the same nimbleness of the snobby show ponies that gleefully taut the other residents of the ranch. “Can I be a champ without fighting?” a young Ferdinand asks moments before his father is hauled off to compete in a bullfight. As Ferdinand ably demonstrates to its young audience, there’s more ways to fight back against an aggressor without being physically violent. Robert Sims Aired: Dec. 14, 2017 Web site: https://www.foxmovies.com/movies/ferdinand |
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