And like Alexander, the world probably could have gone spinning about its axis without a Ferdinand movie. Like Alexander and the Terrible No Good Very Bad Day, one of my favorite books from when I was a kid has been made into a feature-length movie. With El Primo searching for one last bull for his final fight, Ferdinand will have to work with his new 'trainer' the goat Lupe (Kate McKinnon) in order to hatch a plan that allows everyone to escape the ranch. After getting stung on the bottom by a bee and rampaging through town during the annual flower festival, Ferdinand finds himself sent back to the ranch of his birth where he encounters all of the other bulls he was forced to train against. In his grief, he ran away and found himself living on a flower farm with a little girl named Nina (Julia Saldanha), her father Juan (Juanes) and their scruffy dog Paco (Jerrod Carmichael). When he was just but a little bull, his father was killed in the ring by the greatest Matador El Primo in Spain. With all that weight, Ferdinand may not be a complete success, but its heart is in the right place making it at the very least a worthwhile watch.įerdinand (John Cena) had a rough start. Then you add a couple song and dance scenes all the while trying to expand on the original themes. You create dozens of new characters, a cute kid, a dog, maybe some horses - some more loud and obnoxious than others to keep the kids entertained. How do you make a 108-minute movie out of that? You expand the hell out of it.

The Story of Ferdinand by Muno Leaf and Robert Lawson is a simple story about a bull who wants nothing more than to sit on a hill under a tree and sniff the flowerers.

I do not envy the task of adapting a classic children's book.

Ferdinand the bull story book