Ferdinand

I think most of us know Ferdinand from the 1938 Oscar-winning short film by Disney. 20th Century Fox obtained the rights to the original book in 2011, which is ironic now that Disney has bought Fox, and Blue Sky's Carlos Saldanha set about adapting it. The final product has heart, humor and a well-crafted narrative but there were balance problems. There were also issues with many of the supporting characters. "Ferdinand" wasn't a bad movie because families won't really care about the flaws. The opening of the film alone is sure to satisfy kids and their parents.

I enjoyed the opening of the movie as we are introduced to the characters. The filmmakers did a good job introducing the title character by contrasting him with the other calves. Raf is a good father figure for Ferdinand. Even though he knows the reality of a bull's life, he still loves his son for wanting to make his own reality. The source of heart in this movie is Nina. Part of what makes her a powerful character is that her love for adult Ferdinand is just as sincere as when he was a calf. During the middle of the film, we don't get to see her deal with Ferdinand's absence and there is a lack of heart in the middle of the film as a result. Some may disagree by pointing out that "Up" was able to be emotional even with the absence of Ellie in the bulk of the story but in the case of that film, even the mere mention of her is enough to induce an emotional response. Her musical cue, the pictures of her and Carl's one-way conversations were enough to keep Ellie present in our minds throughout "Up". In "Ferdinand", Nina had no screen time in the middle of the film and wasn't mentioned enough to compensate for this absence. It's not like Blue Sky hasn't told a story like this before. In "Rio" for instance, the filmmakers gave Linda her own subplot and Nina's purpose in the movie was more than enough to qualify her for an equal amount of screen time.

I can divide the film into three parts: the heartfelt beginning that we have just discussed, the silly middle and the climatic resolution. I feel that the best movies aren't divided as easily as this. Of course each movie should have a beginning, middle and end but with "Ferdinand", each part had an excess of a certain characteristic. This affects the balance of the narrative because the silliness for example is not played off the heartfelt moments as easily. To be clearer, putting all the silliness in the middle of the film overwhelmed me. It was hard to take the movie seriously, especially after such a sweet opening. It all started with the introduction of Lupe. I can't say that I'm a huge fan of Kate McKinnon and her character felt forced into this movie. Lupe's energy level and personality made her the most annoying character in the film. Another annoying supporting characters introduced in the middle of the film include the three German horses and three hedgehogs. My favourite animal character in the film besides Ferdinand was Maquina. He provided some pretty good comedy once Ferdinand helps him loosen up a bit. My favourite gag was when Ferdinand gives CPR to the little bunny rabbit. The contrast in size and speed of the action did its job. Getting back to the flaws with the supporting characters, "Ferdinand" also had trouble identifying its main antagonist. Both Valiente and El Primero were candidates for this role and Moreno also felt like a third antagonist. There is nothing wrong with having more than one supporting character at odds with the protagonist but in the case of this movie, all the antagonists seemed to vie for screen time. I will say that the climax somewhat redeemed the movie of its flaws. Starting with the first escape attempt where Ferdinand learns what happened to his father, the film does away with its childishness and the story takes center stage. The subsequent escapes from the slaughterhouse and the ranch continued the rising action and I liked the reference to the "Running of the Bulls". The bullfight was pretty well executed and brought a great sense of resolution to the whole story.

Director Carlos Saldanha has a long history at Blue Sky as the director of the first three "Ice Age" films and both "Rio" films. The cast of "Ferdinand" had some names I recognized such as John Cena, NFL Quarterback Payton Manning and David Tennant. Considering Cena's usual work and background, he gave the best performance as the title character and rightfully so. It's a good thing the film's story is set in Spain because with Pixar's "Coco" set in Mexico, I felt this was enough of a differential despite the Spanish origins. "Ferdinand" was released on the same weekend as "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" but with each film having a different target audience, the former could piggyback on the success of the latter. I don't think Blue Sky however was expecting the popularity of "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle". "Coco" also continued to make money in December so "Ferdinand" probably should have been released in the spring of 2018. The movie was good enough to be given its own Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature. The film's original source material is quite short and even though there were flaws with the supporting characters and narrative structure, the filmmakers were able to extend the story to feature length pretty well. However, I did not like the narrative transition from sweet to silly. That was the biggest mistake of "Ferdinand" but families will mostly likely enjoy the show as a whole thanks to the climax.

3.5 Stars out of 5