• Podcast
  • Reviews
  • NJ IPA Podcast
  • About
  • Search
  • Podcast
  • Reviews
  • NJ IPA Podcast
  • About
  • Search
SCENE IT ALL BEFORE

That Other Movie That Comes Out This Weekend

12/16/2017

0 Comments

 

Ferdinand Review

Earlier this year I posted about the five movies I was looking forward to for the second half of the year. I put Ferdinand on the list even though I knew Pixar's Coco would probably be better and Ferdinand was coming out the same day as Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Pitting it against a movie that big seemed like a death sentence, but I was still looking forward to this movie because I was such a fan of the book. In fact, the 1936 Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson book has been a known gift for friends’ babies. But would a full-length movie do justice to the short children's story?

Ferdinand tells the story of a bull that is being raised to fight, but all he wants to do is smell flowers. After an incident involving a bumble bee, Ferdinand (John Cena) gets mistaken for a dangerous animal and is torn from a family who loves him and is forced to fight the matador in Spain.

The important thing to remember here is that this is a kids’ movie. And because of that, there is a lot of juvenile humor. Don't mistake that as a bad thing. I like a good fart joke or dance battle as much as the next guy, but I can see that in any generic kids’ movie. Ferdinand is at its best when it does things that ring true to the character, like how Ferdinand reacts when someone might get hurt, or his concern when he finds himself around fine china. There are moments when you can see the writers trying to stretch the story and when the movie strains itself or adds too much (much of the middle section) the story suffers.
Picture
One thing the movie gets right is the voice acting. It would have been nice to get a Spanish voice actor in the title role, but I liked John Cena here. Here is a guy who made a wrestling career out of always being the good guy, never giving up, and always being who you are despite the boos from half the audience. He speaks perfectly to who the character is. Many of the other secondary voice actors are Latino/a, including Gina Rodriguez and Gabriel Iglesias. Peyton Manning as the bull who always gets an upset stomach before a big moment was a bit of a weird casting choice, but since he had a long face like a steer I think it probably made sense.  

Likewise, there probably could have been a little more Spanish music in the soundtrack than one Juanes song and the Macarena. But since I was tapping my toe to the Nick Jonas song that played over the growing up montage should probably shut up. 

When it comes to kids movies there is a lot of garbage out there. The Penguins of Madagascar always jumps out in my mind when I think of bad kids’ movies. Ferdinand is better than that, a lot better. The thing is, Pixar is also out there and they have set the bar higher. Ferdinand is not that good, mostly due to the injection of too much story to increase the run-time. But with good animation, fun voice actors, and a heartfelt message about being true to yourself, there is enough in Ferdinand for everyone to enjoy. B-/C+
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    All
    1920s
    2015
    Action
    A Nightmare On Elm Street
    Aquaman
    Baby Driver
    Batman
    Ben Affleck
    Black Panther
    Blade Runner
    Blade Runner 2049
    Bradley Cooper
    Charlie Hunnam
    Chris Messina
    Chris Pratt
    Christopher Nolan
    Coco
    Cyborg
    Dave Bautista
    DC
    Director
    Disney
    Drama
    Dunkirk
    Ferdinand
    Game Of Thrones
    Gangster
    GLOW
    Guardians Of The Galaxy
    Guardians Of The Galaxy Volume 2
    Guy Ritchie
    Happy Death Day
    House Of Cards
    I
    Jennifer Lawrence
    Jude Law
    Justice League
    King Arthur
    Kumail Nanjiani
    Live By Night
    Marvel
    Mob
    Movie
    Orange Is The New Black
    Oscar Picks
    Passengers
    Patton Oswalt
    Pixar
    Podcast
    Prohibition
    Rain Man
    Review
    Sci-Fi
    Space
    Spider Man
    Spider-Man
    Star Wars
    Suburbicon
    Superheroes
    Superman
    The Big Sick
    The Dark Tower
    The Faculty
    The Flash
    The Last Five Years
    The Last Jedi
    The Little Giants
    Tommy Boy
    Tonya
    Top Ten
    TV
    Twin Peaks
    Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
    Universe
    Vin Diesel
    Wonder
    Wonder Woman
    Zoe Saldana

    Archives

    May 2021
    February 2020
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.