'Ferdinand' Revew

Nominated For: Best Animated Feature.

Ferdinand frolics inside a Spanish bullfighting camp alongside a young bull named Ferdinand. Ferdinand isn't like the other bulls in the training camp because he's not interested in the sport of bullfighting. All Ferdinand wants to do is sit around and smell flowers. One day, Ferdinand gets his wish when he escapes the camp and is adopted by a young farm girl, Nina. Ferdinand grows up under Nina's care and the two become friends who relish in nature's beauty together. After a massive misunderstanding, Ferdinand is captured and taken from his new home to train at a bullfighting camp. Fueled by an innate desire to reunite with the family and avoid ending up in the ring against legendary bullfighter El Primero, Ferdinand forms a motley crew of critters and sets out on an exciting adventure.

Ferdinand is steered by director Carlos Saldanha, featuring a screen story from Ron Burch, David Kidd, and Don Rhymer as well as a screenplay by Robert L. Baird, Tim Federle, and Brad Copeland that adapts the classic children's book written by Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson. If you're at all familiar with The Story of Ferdinand, you'll know that it's quite short and straightforward. It's generally agreed to contain valuable messages as it encourages kids to be themselves and takes a commendable stance in supporting pacifism.

However, as much as Ferdinand wants to champion those worthwhile themes, it also can't help but MOOO-ve around the creative pasture a little too much. Like most mediocre animated works, Ferdinand is all over the place and shoehorns as many needless jokes as you can possibly imagine. For every clever incorporation of tasteful humor like an literal interpretation of the age-old idiom "Bull in a china shop," Ferdinand has a dance-off featuring twerking bulls. Why? Because that's exactly what every kid is dying to see, right? Probably, but I just wish they hadn't stooped so low. 

Elsewhere, the animation in Ferdinand is adequate and well-constructed while the music incorporated in the feature helps to maintain Ferdinand's fast pace. I just wish the filmmakers had been more focused in their efforts to translate what could have been an endearing story because what they brought to the table was a half-baked attempt. 

In the wide stable of voice actors, Ferdinand features the likes of John Cena, Kate McKinnon, Bobby Cannavale, Anthony Anderson, Peyton Manning, David Tennant, Gina Rodriguez, Daveed Diggs, Gabriel Iglesias, Flula Borg, Sally Phillips, and Boris Kodjoe as Ferdinand and his merry band of animals. The supporting caricatures include an assorted band of bulls, a kooky calming goat, three troublesome hedgehogs, and some haughty German horses. They all factor into the narrative somehow though, whether it be for the purposes of a quick one-off joke or a running gag.

I'm someone who has always been bothered when others refer to animated films as "kid movies" when there are so many exemplary animated films out there with depth and substance, but then you have family films like Ferdinand that remind you where that idea originated from. Ferdinand had potential to be a sweet adaptation of a beloved children's book, but is okay at best. It's fine for young children, and will keep their attention for about an hour and a half, but parents may have their patience tested rather quickly. All I can really say is "Well, at least it wasn't a load of bull crap!"

Film Assessment: C+