Hits the animation movie bullseye | Daily News
Ferdinand

Hits the animation movie bullseye

At first glance the picture if the mammoth sized bull may seem intimidating but we soon learnt that despite his size Ferdinand has an equally big heart. Set in the beautifully animated backdrops of Spain ‘Ferdinand’ relates that you cannot judge a bull by how he looks similar to the fact that you cannot judge a book by its cover.

From Blue Sky Studios and Carlos Saldanha, the director of ‘Rio’ and inspired by the beloved book ‘The Story of Ferdinand’ by Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson, ‘Ferdinand’ brings WWE Champion John Cena to the animation movie scene in a read role. The superstar wrestler has rendered his voice for the gentle giant of a bull. He does commendable work since Ferdinand captures your heart instantly. While other bulls are eager to show some muscle and fight Ferdinand is seem smelling flowers and giving CPR to little bunny rabbits. Such comparisons may raise a few laughs but there is no stopping the audience from developing a liking for the gentle bull.

The rest of the voice cast is excellent as well and their varying accents from Scottish to American give an interesting feeling to the tale. The characters vary in personality too. You get the three hedgehogs Una, Dos and Cuatro, Lupe, the calming goat, Angus, the bull from Scotland and a trio of prancing ponies Hans, Klaus and Greta. Enter the famous matador, El Primero, wants to fight the mightiest bull for his last final bow in the arena.

Adventure, songs, thrills and spills are scattered around the movie so there is no dull moment. Though the theme of the movie based on following your dreams is not new to the Hollywood animation world, ‘Ferdinand’ still manages become a winner because of its soul stirring nature. For example though he has the opportunity to escape from Casa del Toro without raising the alarm Ferdinand still turns back because he wants to save the rest of the bulls in the ranch from the terrible fate of being slathered and having their horns put on display after facing a matador. Similarly when the rest of the bulls manage to escape on the train Ferdinand lags behind because he knows that the workers at the ranch are after him and once he is captured they would give up the chase. There is also a more serious tone in the film which delivers the timely message of being cruelty free.


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