Ferdinand--The bull that just wants to smell flowers. Movie review
Ferdinand, the movie, is based on a picture book The Story of Ferdinand.
The Story for Ferdinand came out in 1936 and is approximately 800 words long. Since 800 words doesn’t cut it when trying to make a 100 minute movie, the director Carlos Saldanha has to add characters and situations. So if you are a fan of the original book, this movie will probably not match your expectations.
But for those that are not familiar with the story, Ferdinand is a descent time at the movies.
Ferdinand is a calf at the start of the story. He lives on a ranch with other bulls who are raised to fight in the bullrings of Spain. As a calf, Ferdinand prefers protecting and watering flowers over butting horns with the other calves at the ranch. The other calves bully him for preferring flowers over fighting.
Through a silly convoluted escape, Ferdinand escapes the ranch and ends up living with a farmer and his daughter who grow flowers for a living. Ferdinand is in heaven.
But Ferdinand the calf soon becomes Ferdinand the full grown bull. When the farmer and his daughter prepare to go to the annual flower festival the farmer tells his daughter that Ferdinand must stay home, because he is too big and people would be afraid of him.
Ferdinand, is understandably sad at this development. So he figures out a way to get to the flower festival. And his arrival inevitably becomes a problem, he scares people and destroys the flower festival. He is captured and brought back to the ranch he escaped from. The other calves are still there and grown.
Ferdinand with the other bulls is put up to show a famous retiring bull fighter.
But Ferdinand doesn’t want to fight.
And there is the story.
The story follows Ferdinand and the other bulls as Ferdinand tries to live the way he wants to live. He doesn’t want to fight. He just wants to sit and smell flowers.
The movie is filled with silly scenes. There is a silly musical number where the bulls compete with arrogant horses that share the ranch.
There is inferences of death, as some characters are sent off to a chophouse to be turned into steak. Don’t worry the characters are eventually rescued, but if your little one would get upset at this idea, then this movie may not be for them. Ferdinand also comes to realization that his own father was killed in the bullring. Which breaks the hope of all the other bulls. Beating the matador in the ring, was the hope to get out of the ranch. But now they know that is a possibility that does not exist.
Recommendation
I recommend this movie for slightly older children. Catch this at a matinee or as a disc rental on Netflix. It’s a fun little movie, but it won’t be a classic that the original picture book is.
Nice review, thanks for sharing
i like animated film, and good review on that.
Thank you for the brief presentation of the film, but in recent times, a lot of new films and you never know what to look at the child.
Oh yeah, I've heard a lot about this film and it's very good that I was told about it, I must show it to the children. Thank you @mctiller