The movie FERDINAND is serviceable, it definitely hits home for those of you who identify yourselves as a lover, not a fighter. Although the sidekick goat is absolutely annoying and there are parts in the middle of the film that drag and are just pointless especially the use of dance number as a way to forge friendship, FERDINAND means well and it will easily become PETA and animal rights groups' favorite movie of the year.
Voiced by John Cena, Kate McKinnon, Gina Rodriguez, Davee Diggs, Gabriel Iglesias, Bobby Cannavale, David Tennant, Anthony Anderson and Flula Borg, the story is about this giant bull with a big heart. As a little calf, he escapes the fighting bull ranch and ends up growing up in nice farm owned by a lovable girl with her kind-hearted father. After being mistaken for a dangerous beast, Ferdinand gets captured, torn from his home and finds himself once again back in the old fighting bull ranch where he must form a team in order to escape, otherwise the choice is either die in the matador's arena or in the meat factory.
I think my only problem with FERDINAND is that it plays it too safe, the characters, their personalities and how they bond for example, are very textbook. The story and its themes are nothing new really. When you've seen it addressed in a much grander way like the movie "Okja," seeing it done like this, in FERDINAND just seems unimpressive. If this had been a short film focusing on the battle between the bull and the matador in the arena, I think audiences would be more entertained and they'd still get the whole "Don't kill animals" message. By the way, that scene is indeed the highlight of this movie because it does a switcheroo and turns Ferdinand the bull into the matador, it's a clever twist in my opinion. But still there are so many jokes in FERDINAND that just don't land, I'm a big fan of Kate McKinnon but her character, that goat is just annoying, there's nothing likable about her.
But at the end of the day, I probably shouldn't bee too hard on FERDINAND. It's a movie that does what it's supposed to do. It's not a complete mess of a storytelling like those Nut Job movies. And WWE action star turned actor John Cena does a decent voice job. If you recalled, Dwayne Johnson also had his stint in the family comedy world back then with "The Game Plan" and "Tooth Fairy," and so with "Daddy's Home" movies and FERDINAND, it's like a rite of passage for John Cena. Children will love this fighting bull who'd rather smell the roses than to throw a punch, in this day and age when aggression unfortunately seems to be the answer to every conflict, it is nice to have a character who believes that good can defeat evil just by way of simply being good.
-- Rama's Screen --
Voiced by John Cena, Kate McKinnon, Gina Rodriguez, Davee Diggs, Gabriel Iglesias, Bobby Cannavale, David Tennant, Anthony Anderson and Flula Borg, the story is about this giant bull with a big heart. As a little calf, he escapes the fighting bull ranch and ends up growing up in nice farm owned by a lovable girl with her kind-hearted father. After being mistaken for a dangerous beast, Ferdinand gets captured, torn from his home and finds himself once again back in the old fighting bull ranch where he must form a team in order to escape, otherwise the choice is either die in the matador's arena or in the meat factory.
I think my only problem with FERDINAND is that it plays it too safe, the characters, their personalities and how they bond for example, are very textbook. The story and its themes are nothing new really. When you've seen it addressed in a much grander way like the movie "Okja," seeing it done like this, in FERDINAND just seems unimpressive. If this had been a short film focusing on the battle between the bull and the matador in the arena, I think audiences would be more entertained and they'd still get the whole "Don't kill animals" message. By the way, that scene is indeed the highlight of this movie because it does a switcheroo and turns Ferdinand the bull into the matador, it's a clever twist in my opinion. But still there are so many jokes in FERDINAND that just don't land, I'm a big fan of Kate McKinnon but her character, that goat is just annoying, there's nothing likable about her.
But at the end of the day, I probably shouldn't bee too hard on FERDINAND. It's a movie that does what it's supposed to do. It's not a complete mess of a storytelling like those Nut Job movies. And WWE action star turned actor John Cena does a decent voice job. If you recalled, Dwayne Johnson also had his stint in the family comedy world back then with "The Game Plan" and "Tooth Fairy," and so with "Daddy's Home" movies and FERDINAND, it's like a rite of passage for John Cena. Children will love this fighting bull who'd rather smell the roses than to throw a punch, in this day and age when aggression unfortunately seems to be the answer to every conflict, it is nice to have a character who believes that good can defeat evil just by way of simply being good.
-- Rama's Screen --