Review: Ferdinand (U)

For younger kids this Christmas, Ferdinand is a so-so adaptation of Munro Leaf and illustrator Robert Lawson's classic picture book about a bull who's scorned by his peers for preferring flowers to fighting.
ANIMAL KINGDOM: A scene from the animated feature Ferdinand.   Picture credit: PA Photo/Blue Sky Studios/Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation.ANIMAL KINGDOM: A scene from the animated feature Ferdinand.   Picture credit: PA Photo/Blue Sky Studios/Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation.
ANIMAL KINGDOM: A scene from the animated feature Ferdinand. Picture credit: PA Photo/Blue Sky Studios/Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation.

Previously the inspiration for an Oscar-winning animated Disney short back in 1939, the new version has many more characters, myriad chase sequences and the inclusion of a comedy dance sequence to pad out the book’s slim plot. But the film’s be-true-to-yourself message remains as relevant as ever as sensitive Ferdinand (voiced by John Cena) tries to avoid facing off against the world’s greatest matador while his fellow bulls compete desperately for the glory they wrongly believe will be conferred upon them by fighting.

As a calf, Ferdinand initially escapes his destiny by running away after his own father fails to return from the bullring one day. He ends up being adopted by a young girl and her loving father, who rather fortuitously runs a flower farm, enabling Ferdinand indulge his horticultural habits to his heart’s content. But when a growth spurt transforms him into 2,000 pounds of prime beef, he inadvertently starts wreaking havoc on the local village and soon winds up back at the old Casa Del Toro Ranch, where he’s once again eyed up for future competition.

On general release

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