Ferdinand

Munro Leaf's book The Story of Ferdinand was already adapted as a 1938 Disney short, the source of one of Walt's many, many Oscars. We'll see if this feature film version, Ferdinand, can follow its Golden Globe nomination this past Monday with an Oscar nomination. We can hope it'll breathe while The Last Jedi is taking over the multiplexes.

Ferdinand loves to smell the flowers. His fellow bulls in Casa del Toro love to butt heads and dream of getting picked by a matador. Ferdinand's dad, Raf (Jeremy Sisto), gets picked by a matador and never returns. Ferdinand makes a run for it and winds up with Nina (Lilly Day) and her florist father, Juan (Juanes). Ferdinand (John Cena) grows up big and strong and still a nice guy. But he's still big. So when he follows Nina to town, he gets stung by a bee and goes on an accidental rampage. He's immediately sent back to Casa del Toro.

Ferdinand is re-introduced to the bullies from his childhood, plus a few new faces. One of them is Lupe the Goat (Kate McKinnon), who wants to coach him to be a prime cut fighting bull. A matador named El Primero (Miguel Angel Silvestre) comes to Casa del Toro to choose an opponent for his swan song match. The bulls have to toughen up or else they'll go to the slaughterhouse. But Ferdinand would rather be "the champion of not fighting." His best option is to get out of Casa del Toro, again.

The screenplay/story was by six people and realized by director Carlos Saldanha. Many of its cutesy gags were teased for months in trailers going back to March. I'm especially referring to Ferdinand's actual bull-in-a-china-shop maneuver. The unfazed shop owner provided a great gag not shown in the ads, however. But its dramatic story was a endearing one. It's a story of a bull, his human, and him wanting to live in peace. It's an easy story to understand. His conversation with his dad was its most cliched; I could smell the retirony when Raf bragged how he'd make it out alive. The slaughterhouse plot point was a legitimately dramatic swerve, though once a second bull went there, I knew there'd be a rescue mission coming.

The cast is a prime selection. Ferdinand is a fun, nice bull who wants to smell the roses. He makes friends out of his enemies and refuses to give in to violence. This endears him to his audience in and out of this movie. Lupe is a fine mentor character with a pleasant, quirky personality. The other bulls were an eclectic bunch, the standouts being Valiente (Bobby Cannavale), Ferdinand's main rival and Angus (David Tennant), the Scottish bull Ferdinand befriends first. There's a trio of horses (Flula Borg, Boris Kodjoe and Sally Phillips) and trio of hedgehogs (Gina Rodriguez, Daveed Diggs and Gabriel Iglesias) who provide some good comic relief. The horses' dance-off with the bulls (long story) ran too long, but they otherwise never overstayed their welcome. Borg's character, Hans, provides the best line "Help, I've fallen and can't giddy-up." El Primero made for a good antagonist; the resolution to his fight with Ferdinand shows him a man of honor.

The art style was exquisite. The view of Juan's farm from Ferdinand's favorite tree was the best scenery in the film. Its recreation of Madrid was also wonderfully stylish. The sound design is where it gets the most points. Switching between the actors' voices and animal sound effects was its most stylish feat. John Powell's score made for another fine soundtrack. The highlight was the source of the film's other Golden Globe nomination, the song Home, co-written and performed by Nick Jonas. It's an emotional and catchy song.

Ferdinand is an amiable family film which keeps going strong for 108 minutes. It doesn't write down to its audience with cheap gags and obnoxious characters. It knows how to be funny and serious when it needs to be. Its moral makes me think of a kid-friendly Hacksaw Ridge and it works just the same with this audience. If you can find the time, and if your local multiplex isn't flooded by Star Wars, take some time to get to know Ferdinand.