From the makers of Rio and Ice Age, comes yet another this year. Blue Sky Studios and 20th Century Fox released the first trailer of their upcoming animated comedy feature Ferdinand.
Directed by Carlos Saldanha, Ferdinand tells the story of a giant bull with a big heart. After being 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. Set in Spain, Ferdinand proves you can’t judge a bull by its cover.
The animated adventure is based on the classic children’s tale The Story of Ferdinand (1936) by American author Munro Leaf and illustrator Robert Lawson.
According to the book, Ferdinand is a bull who would smell flowers rather than participate in bullfights. He turns out to be the strongest of all the claves when he grows up. While other bulls dream to be chosen for the bull fight, Ferdinand is content with languidly moving about smelling flowers. One day, he is mistaken to be fierce and raging bull and taken away by a few men to Madrid. He is taken into the ring for the fight but proves to be disappointment due to his passivity. At last, he is sent back to his pasture where he returns to smelling flowers.
The trailer begins with Ferdinand talking: “It seems like from the moment you’re born, people think they got you all figured out; based on how you look, how you talk, where you’re from… But, it’s not that simple, especially when it comes to me.” He is a little bit more, complex. A bull that loves to sniff flowers? Yes, that’s definitely complex.
Due to his massive build, Ferdinand is (like other bulls), stereotyped as being scary and dangerous. Wherever he goes, people are afraid of him. It surprises him, as he is “not a fighting bull” and one fine day, made to look like one. He fails miserably at it.
You can’t help but fall in love with this adorable bull, as every expression of his – quizzical, puzzled, melancholic, awe, shocked, fear, happy – is extremely cute. The setting in Spain and the beautiful background score add to the story in a way that is so heart-warming that it feels like you are accompanying the bull in his journey.
Carlos Saldanha has also previously directed Ice Age: The Meltdown, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Rio and Rio 2 and the Academy Award-nominated animated short film Gone Nutty. John Cena will be the voice of the peaceful bull.
The other all-star cast includes David Tennant, Anthony Anderson, Gabriel Iglesias, Daveed Diggs, Miguel Angel Silvestre, Sally Phillips, Flula Borg, Karla Martinez, Boris Kodjoe, Kate McKinnon, Raul Esparza, Jerrod Carmichael, Gina Rodriguez and Bobby Cannavale.
The film is scheduled to release on 15 December, 2017, opening against Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi.