[yasr_overall_rating]
After Ferdinand, a bull with a big heart is mistaken for a dangerous beast, he is captured and torn from his home. Determined to return to his family, he rallies a misfit team on the ultimate adventure.
I’m not a big fan of WWE but some of the wrestlers that have come from there have been very interesting, to say the least. I like John Cena, you can tell he is no actor but like “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and Dwayne Johnson before him, he is slowly getting comfortable being in front of the camera. My favorite film of his so far has to be “The Marine,” in which he co-starred alongside Robert Patrick. The movie was all brawn and no brain and sometimes that is exactly what you need, testosterone-laden, explosion-filled films that set out to do nothing but entertain. Here, however, Mr. Cena steps behind the camera and uses his voice in Twentieth Century Fox Animation’s latest feature, “Ferdinand.”
The story takes place in a corral in rural Spain where young bulls are bred to fight matadors in large arenas to sold-out crowds. When Ferdinand’s (John Cena) father never returns home after facing off with a matador, Ferdinand manages to escape and is taken in by a young girl, Nina (Lily Day) and her kindly father Juan (Juanes) and their dog Paco (Jerrod Carmichael). Over time, Ferdinand grows, exponentially, so much so that when the local flower festival arrives, Ferdinand’s favorite time of year, he is informed by Juan that he is too large to accompany them and cannot go as he would scare the townsfolk. You see, Ferdinand is not your average bull. While all the other bulls are ready to fight at a moment’s notice, Ferdinand would rather be smelling the flowers in the field than dealing with violence. He is a gentle soul in a violent world.
After Juan and Nina leave, Ferdinand is determined to join up with them but because of his size, once he arrives in town, he is mistaken by the locals as a wild beast and animal control captures him and takes him away. As luck would have it, he is returned to the very corral he escaped from in the beginning and meets up with all his old friends, including a buck-toothed goat named Lupe (Kate McKinnon). The other bulls quickly realize that Ferdinand is still the same old Ferdinand, unwilling to fight and they try to tell him that fighting is what bulls are bred for, it is their ultimate life goal to challenge a matador in the arena but he tells them about his new home, where there is no violence, only acres of land and flowers that stretch out as far as the eye can see, and that it is the ideal place and that they can all join him, if they help him escape.
The leader of the pack, Valiente (Bobby Cannavale), has always hated Ferdinand for what he is not and challenges him to a fight in the main corral and as much as Ferdinand wants nothing to do with it, when Valiente charges him, he has no choice but to fight back and it is here that the scuffle is witnessed by El Primero (Miguel Ángel Silvestre), an aging matador who is searching for the biggest bull for his farewell bout in the arena. After seeing Ferdinand’s size and stamina against Valiente, he picks him and he is thrown into a trailer and taken from the compound to the city. When Lupe and the remaining bulls discover that any bull that faces a matador in an arena always dies after a sword is plunged into their hearts, they must band together to try and save Ferdinand and escape their own captivity too.
“Ferdinand” will most certainly lock horns this weekend when it opens against “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” but with multiplexes sure to be packed with long lines of Jedis and Sith Lords, “Ferdinand” will make a great alternative, especially for the kiddies. John Cena as gentle giant Ferdinand is inspired casting, and it makes you wonder if this is a work of fiction or if there are some similarities lurking in there somewhere between Cena and his onscreen counterpart. With the movie constantly reiterating the “be yourself” message, I found it refreshing and not in the least bit pandering to its younger audience, that you can be whatever you want to be. As 2017 comes to a close, “Ferdinand” is a great way to celebrate the holidays.
In theaters Friday, December 15th
