Michael's Movie Grade: B
Review: I am sure there are quite a few animation buffs like me who when they first heard about this movie immediately thought of the 1938 short Disney cartoon called Ferdinand The Bull. However no fears as this movie is more than different enough to not be confused with the earlier short and it stands on its own as a very enjoyable movie.
This movie does quite a good job making a short children's book into an hour and 48 minute feature film. With the exception of one chase seeming a bit too long, the movie never seemed to drag and moved at a brisk fun pace. One way this movie expands on the book is to add more backstory for Ferdinand himself. What is surprising is that this back story is quite touching and may be the best part of this movie. This back story has its dark elements, and it never tries to sugarcoat them and have the movie talk down to its audience. This creates a very involving emotional connection to our title character that is strongly felt at many points in this movie. The animation is also quite top notch. I always feel Blue Sky never gets the credit they deserve for how well animated their films are, and this movie is very well animated. Every character moves with such energy and emotion that you believe in them. They can convey emotions so clearly that it pulls you much more into the movie.
The jokes are very hit and miss as some of them are good and some are bad. The good jokes are actually quite funny though and I found myself laughing at many of them in a way I didn't quite except. But still the bad jokes can make someone groan, but I sat through a preview of Sherlock Gnomes before the movie and that made them not seem so bad. The main fault in this movie is sometimes it does feel like you have seen it before, there is nothing new offered here and the movie doesn't take many risks that haven't been done successfully before. I would have also liked the quiet scenes to have lasted a little bit longer, so that we could have spent more time reflecting on the emotional parts before heading to the next scene.
Even admitting those faults though I had a lot of fun watching this movie and felt an emotional connection to the main character, so with that said this movie does what it sets out to do very well and I easily recommend it if you just want to have a good time at the movies.
-Michael J. Ruhland
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