Ferdinand Review
PG: rude humor, action, and some thematic elements
20th Century Fox, Blue Sky Studios
1 Hr and 46 Minutes
Dir: Carlos Saldanha | Writers: Robert L. Baird, Tim Federle, Brad Copeland
Voice Cast: John Cena, Kate McKinnon, Anthony Anderson, Bobby Cannavale, Peyton Manning, Gina Rodriguez, Miguel Ángel Silvestre, David Tennant, Daveed Diggs, Gabriel Iglesias, Flula Borg, Boris Kodjoe, Jerrod Carmichael, Juanes
INTRO: So we meet again Blue Sky Studios. You peaked my anger with “Ice Age: Collision Course” last year, but in 2015 you earned my love with “The Peanuts Movie” which earned a special place near and dear to my heart, so you're very iffy with me. You’re one of the only studios that have me go,
I can love a single story you create only to follow it with shitty sequels a few years later. But now I hear you're back to making original content, and by original, I mean non-“Ice Age” and “Rio” movies. The first flick you have here is “Ferdinand,” an adaptation of a book that's now primarily known due to a 1938 Disney short. That short was short, sweet, and got to the point. But leave it to Blue Sky Studios to either treat it with care (like “Horton Hears a Who”) or just push it to the wayside (like “Epic”). Please take it with care. PLEASE!
Ferdinand (John Cena) is a Spanish Fighting Bull who prefers smelling the flowers and practicing non-violence rather than chasing red cloths held by matadors in arenas. But when disaster comes to him, he is taken to a fighting stadium, and Ferdinand needs to decide if he is a fighting bull or a flower smelling, generous bull, in order to earn his freedom.
THE GOOD
SALDANHA KNOWS HIS SHIZ
Out of everyone who has ever directed a film at Blue Sky, the #1 person who puts passion into his projects is Carlos Saldanha. This is the guy who created “Rio” which was the studio’s second biggest success. With “Rio,” Saldanha displayed his love for the Brazilian city that made him feel like home from the music, the parties, and most of all the landscapes. Everything he put into that movie along with the animators was handled with care as they wore their hearts on their sleeves and expressed it through the film and he carries that love with him with “Ferdinand.” Everything he did to develop the city of Rio is applied to the country of Spain in this. Whereas in the 2011 film it was presented with an overdose of colorful vibrancy, “Ferdinand” is not just colors for it also locations that reflects the country itself.
Not saying that any of the studio’s projects looked cheap, but this has to be the most expensive looking entry to date. With this being their longest film, various settings are used to the story’s advantage. With each different set piece, there is a distinctly innovative sequence of action and that goes with it.
AM I FEELING SOMETHING?
Bear with me when I say that the first act (like 27 minutes) of this movie is terrific. It starts off as a Pixar movie where we are introduced to our central character of Ferdinand the bull as a kid who is full of optimism and is set on being a pessimist who wants to do nothing but smell flowers all day. But all that changes when he learns a harsh lesson about the world and escapes from the place he was born into. With the first act, there is an emotional depth to Ferdinand that you wouldn’t expect Blue Sky to display. It follows the same beats as “Rio” where we saw the story start off with Blu as a baby then was taken from his birthplace only to be taken care of and loved by a little girl. It truly hits beat by beat to the point that even the dialogue said by the little girl is the same to where she says, “I’ll take care of you.”
It did not help that I rewatched “Rio” before watching “Ferdinand” just because I felt like it.
What makes “Ferdinand” stronger is the development of his character through tragedy while it maintains his personality. Of course, you know the animation team read the book and tried to abide by it as much as possible, but it’s as if after reading and went, okay how can we tug on our audiences heartstrings while having each emotion feel earned? Thankfully they follow through with it.
Besides its emotional beginning, there are elements of other Blue Sky films that influence some of the visual gags this has to offer especially “Horton Hears a Who” where it plays with the laws of physics out of the size of this bull. One of the most memorable scenes in “Horton Hears a Who” was the scene where Horton has to cross a fragile bridge which led to a ton of visual gags that worked. Well, a lot of jokes similar to that is present here mainly during one of the earlier moments where Ferdinand has to cross through a china shop without breaking anything.
YOU CAN’T SEE HIM
I wouldn’t expect that John Cena would voice a leading character in an animated film, but he thoroughly surprised me. Ferdinand is a literal meathead but with a heart of gold and doesn’t think horns first, and Cena’s performance represents the character perfectly. Its through his eyes we see the world and sympathize with this larger than life journey he goes through. This is the first time there are really dark moments that makes the urgency for Ferdinand to escape the ranch more impactful than it is.
Other than Cena another voice actor I had a lot of fun with was Kate McKinnon as Lupe the goat. McKinnon has done a ton of voice work over the years and granted her character is a tad bit annoying, but the reason she is amazing is because she plays a goat and authentically incorporates goat sounds in her dialogue. I don’t know how she does it, but ever so often when she says something, she extends a word with an,
It's so weird but in a good way. It makes you question how did she do that? As if the women isn’t a comedic talent enough, McKinnon will always find a way to surprise.
THE BAD
SHOOTING YOUR SHOT A BIT EARLY AREN’T YA BLUE SKY
As I said, the entire first act of this movie is terrific. Without a doubt, it is a definite four-star film. It was the first time Blue Sky deviated from being an animated studio that only relied on their films have fun with visual gags. That is until we get to the second act of the movie. Everything that I had feared from this movie occurs in the second act, and that begins right when Ferdinand is bought back to the ranch he escaped from. Right when we get back to the ranch, we are introduced to a bunch of supporting characters who are stereotypically presented to either scream or annoy you just so a team of animators can make a ton of visual gags to deliver humor.
This takes place in Spain, but yet you have American bulls (which are okay I guess), annoying German horses, stereotypical Spanish hedgehogs that do nothing but the Macarena, and one Scottish bull.
There is a ton of dragging with the story, but it never loses sight of maintaining faithfulness to the source material UNTIL slap dab in the middle with what? A dance sequence. Instead of them making a dance sequence in the end like every animated movie, the film just stops in the middle to have a goddamn dance sequence that has nothing to do with the story but only prolongs the movie’s running time. This is the studio's longest film but the damn thing features shit like this:
DABBING HORSES AND A TWERKING BULL!
This is the fucking Blue Sky studios that we hate where it would abandon all of its good will to do something appalling. I don’t want to see a twerking bull. NOBODY WANTS TO SEE A TWERKING BULL! Who the hell signed off on this because that sequence goes on for three minutes and provides no development for the story. The only reason its there because the studio needed to say to the kids, Hey we’re hip. We’re fresh. Look at these dancing animals who twerk and dab. What makes it worse is that five minutes beforehand, a really dark moment occurs and for a minute it had a massive stake at hand and gave the story some complexity but five minutes later, HERE'S A TWERKING BULL!
BE CONSISTENT WITH YOUR MOVEMENT
As beautiful as the animation is, one of the issues with it is the movement with its characters. The studio is known to have frantic movement when it comes to its humor but when it needs some a moment to catch a breathe, it moves at a normal pace which makes it very inconsistent. Blue Sky did a shit ton of work crafting this project where they took the time with the production design and character design varying from the animals to the humans which gives it a distinctive flair. It makes you recognize that this is a Blue Sky film, but that doesn’t mean to have your characters move so fast when they are different sizes. I would use something like WB’s “Storks” for example where the film has nothing but visual gags and frantic movement but it worked cause it was consistent with it and never lost sight of its primary story.
THE GOOD [REDEUX]
For whatever inconsistencies the film has from the character movement and the unforgivable dance sequence, Blue Sky does something with “Ferdinand” that they've never done since the first Ice Age: capture emotion through quiet subtly and ambiance. Honestly, I applaud them for that. The final 30 minutes, the film gets its shit together and delivers a moving conclusion that delivers its message right on the mark. No, it isn’t the best-animated movie of the year by a long shot but for what its worth, it hits the emotion straight home by delivering a moving ending.
LAST STATEMENT
If you can move past its unnecessary dance sequence, “Ferdinand” is a beautifully crafted adaptation of a classic story that maintains faithfulness to its source material while providing unexpected heart and charm throughout. This is a great first step in the right direction for Blue Sky Studios and if they churn out more films of quality and value like this, there’ll be better off. They will finally be more than those guys who created “Ice Age,” and “Rio” You did good Blue Sky, maintain that.
RATING: 3.5/5 | 74%
Super Scene: The final bullfight.
