Ferdinand - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Ferdinand

Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score: ​

​

Movie
The 1936 book, The Story of Ferdinand, was a sweet tale that was really ahead of its time. Back then bullfighting was still a viable sport for the general populace, and there was a lot of controversy over a book that starred a bull who would rather sniff flowers than fight in the ring. However, it was a book that stood the test of time and is still read to children even to this day. Even Disney adapted the book into a tiny short called The Story of Ferdinand (and is still one of the most coveted Disney shorts of all time to collectors) back back in 1938, but was largely forgotten about to all but the most ardent of Disney fans. However, this is the time of remakes, reboots and re-using intellectual property, so I guess it was inevitable that someone was going to bring the story of Ferdinand to the silver screen once more. This time 20th Century Fox and Blue Sky Pictures was tasked with adapting the film, and even brought in the Ice Age director, Carlos Saldanha to helm the film. As you could guess, the short book, and even shorter “short’ has to be primped and padded a bit to make an hour and forty eight minute film, but it is a largely entertaining jaunt that has enough fun and charm to bring a smile to most viewers faces.

The tale of Ferdinand the bull (played by John Cena) is pretty simple. Ferdinand is young bull who doesn’t share the same desire to get into the ring with the bullfighter’s as his brethren. Instead, he prefers to sniff flowers and live a pacifistic life, which doesn’t always sit well with those around him. After watching his father not come back from the ring, Ferdinand runs off as a young calf, and right into the open arms of a little girl named Nina (Lily Day). Here, Ferdinand is allowed to grow up as a veritable pet, playing with Nina all day long, and sniffing flowers as he pleases. Unfortunately, this all comes to an end when a grown up Ferdinand visits the local flower festival and terrifies the living daylights out of the townsfolk.

As the bull runs a muck in town, he is captured and sent back to his old home, which happened to be run by the premier supplier of bullfighting bulls in all of Spain. As fate would have it, El Primero (Miguel Angel Silvestre) has come to the ranch to choose a bull for his final fight, and the imposing figure of the hulking Ferdinand is sure to catch his eye.

Ferdinand definitely pads the original story with superfluous side kicks, and does so with gusto. We’ve got Lupe (Kate McKinnon) as the humorous “trainer” goat (who actually has most of the funny parts in the film), a trio of hedge hogs (one voiced by “Fluffy” Gabriel Garcia himself), as well as dancing German horses, a set of bulls to round it out, and a puffed up song and dance routine that feels oddly out of place in the movie. However, the good thing is that 95% of the original story’s message and plot points are incorporated into the bloat as well. This brings forth some rather serious messages about death, the future of bullfighting, and the honor of sticking to ones convictions about violence as well.

That’s not to say the movie is great, as it really is just a middle of the road (but cute) kid friendly film. Saldanha does his best, but there’s a lot of bloat being put into the film, and this makes it your average Blue Skies production film, with goofy side characters galore, forced humor and not enough heart to allow it to ascent to true greatness. I really did enjoy Kate McKinnon as Lupe the goat, but pretty much everyone else was flat and tepid in their roles. John Cena impressed me the most BECAUSE he’s normally such a bad actor, but here he’s actually able to play a mediocre one! All in all Ferdinand manages to please more often than it fails, but that ratio is just barely tipped in that favor.




Rating:

Rated PG for rude humor, action and some thematic elements




4K Video: Video:

I’m usually a bit hesitant when I watch a 4K UHD version of an animated film. Usually the Blu-ray looks stunning, but the nature of animation makes it harder to see a difference between the 1080p version and the 2160 4K version. This has been the case for many many animated movies of late, but Ferdinand luckily is one of those that REALLY shows improvement in 4K. The colors and use of HDR are amazing, showing off rich primaries and soft pastels throughout the movie. The little farm that Nina and Ferdinand live on is full of luscious green hills, and brightly colored flowers, while the halls of the bull fighting farm is much more dusty brown, but also interspersed with the colorful machinations of the residents (such as the hedge hogs or the horses). I also noticed quite a bit of a visual uptick in the detail department as well. The animated figures how much more definition with their fur, or their skin, allowing more nuanced details to be seen. Blacks are deep and inky, with only minute amounts of crush and a little color banding to mar the image EVER so slightly (but not enough to worry about). Overall, one of the best 2K to 4K conversions in the animated world.






Audio:

While the Blu-ray has an excellent 7.1 DTS-HD MA mix, the UHD is given the obligatory upgrade to full on Atmos! Both are excellent tracks but I really do prefer the Atmos mix as it kicks it “up” a notch (yes, pun intended). The film is rich and nuanced, with plenty of ambient activity to keep the surrounds active at all times, but also is not so overly aggressive and LFE heavy that it is a full on sonic assault. LFE is tight and punchy, adding weight to the bull fighting scenes, as well as the thundering hooves of the heavy bulls as they prance around. The overheads have some neat sounds as the crown is elevated above the arena, and during the escape scene, making this a track well worth listening to.








Extras:

• Featurettes:
- "Ferdinand's Guide to Healthy Living" with John Cena
- "A Goat's Guide to Life"
- "Ferdinand's Team Supreme"
- "Spain Through Ferdinand's Eyes"
- "Confessions of a Bull-loving Horse"
- "Creating the Land of Ferdinand"
- "Anatomy of a Scene: The Bull Run"
- "Learn to Dance with Ferdinand"
- "Ferdinand's Do-It-Yourself Flower Garden"
- "Creating a Remarka-Bull Song"
• "Home" Music Video
• Gallery

Final Score: ​

Ferdinand is an easily digestible kids film that really doesn’t stand out from the rest of Fox’s animated lineup, but it DOES manage to entertain nonetheless. It’s got the heart and soul of the original book, but the over bloating of the run time hampers it a bit, but I still had a good time with my nephews watching said film. 20th Century Fox’s 4K UHD is a phenomenal disc, with stunning audio and absolutely picture perfect video. All of the film’s extras are housed on the Blu-ray, which is a bit annoying, but overall it’s a very solid package. Makes for a good rental or solid watch.




Technical Specifications:

Starring: Kate McKinnon, John Cena, Bobby Cannavale
Directed by: Carlos Saldanha
Written by: Robert Lawson (book), Munro Leaf (book), Ron Burch, David Kidd, Don Rhymer (screen story)
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 HEVC
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Core), Spanish (Latin and Castilian), French, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, German, Italian, Norwegian, Swedish, Flemish DTS 5.1, Thai, Czech, Polish DD 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, Polish, Swedish
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Rated: PG
Runtime: 108 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: March 13th, 2018

Image

• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017

Recommendation: Cute Watch

 

[Asere]

I watch it with the family and really enjoyed it. Loved how the bull fights shook my blinds lol. The wife noticed first then I was rewinding it a few times

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I am sure my kids will enjoy it.