Ferdinand is a 2017 American animated adventure comedy film produced by Blue Sky Studios and distributed by 20th Century Fox. The film, a loose remake of Ferdinand the Bull, and loosely based on Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson's 1936 children's book The Story of Ferdinand, was written by Robert L. Baird, Tim Federle, and Brad Copeland, and directed by Carlos Saldanha. The film features an ensemble voice cast that includes John Cena, Kate McKinnon, Bobby Cannavale, Peyton Manning, Anthony Anderson, David Tennant, Tim Nordquist, Lily Day, Juanes, Jerrod Carmichael, Miguel Ángel Silvestre, Raúl Esparza, Gina Rodriguez, Daveed Diggs, Gabriel Iglesias, Flula Borg, Boris Kodjoe, and Sally Phillips. The music for the film was composed by John Powell, making it his eighth and final collaboration with Blue Sky before it shut down on April 10, 2021. The story, written by Ron Burch, David Kidd, and Don Rhymer, follows a gentle pacifist bull named Ferdinand who refuses to participate in bullfighting but is forced back into the arena where his beliefs are challenged when he faces off against the world's greatest bullfighter.
Ferdinand premiered on December 10, 2017 in Los Angeles, and was theatrically released in the United States on December 15, 2017 and received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics and audiences. It was a box office bomb at the North American box office, but fared better internationally, grossing $296 million worldwide against a production budget of $111 million. Ferdinand received a nomination for Best Animated Feature at the 90th Academy Awards (losing against Coco), as well as nominations at the 75th Golden Globe Awards for Best Animated Feature Film and Best Original Song ("Home"). It was also the last film by Blue Sky Studios to be nominated for both an Oscar and a Golden Globe before the studio's closure in April 2021.
Plot
In Spain, a young bull named Ferdinand lives with other bulls at Señor Moreno's "Casa del Toro", where they are trained for bullfighting. Ferdinand is a pacifist and loves flowers; this makes him an outcast among the other calves, Valiente, Guapo, and Bones. A matador arrives, and the calves' fathers fight to impress him. Ferdinand's father is picked, so Valiente crushes Ferdinand's favorite flower in retaliation. Ferdinand's father does not come back from the ring, and Ferdinand runs away from Casa del Toro to a flower farm owned by Juan and his daughter Nina, who adopt him.
Many years later, Ferdinand has grown into an enormous but still gentle bull. Juan determines that Ferdinand looks too scary to take along to the annual Flower Festival, as in previous years. Ferdinand follows them anyway, but is stung by a bee and panics, accidentally destroying the town square. Animal Control officers deem him dangerous, and take him away before Juan and Nina can explain.
The officers decide to give Ferdinand to Casa del Toro, where he meets his old bullies Valiente, Bones, and Guapo, plus new additions such as Lupe the goat and two new bulls, Angus and Maquina. Ferdinand tries to escape but is stopped by three German Lipizzan horses.
The next day, snooty matador El Primero arrives, needing a bull for his final bullfight before retirement. Moreno puts all the bulls in a ring to fight it out, but Ferdinand refuses to take part, causing a chain of mishaps when he tries to help Guapo recover from a stage fright-induced faint. El Primero gives Moreno two days to get the bulls into shape. Guapo is sent to the slaughterhouse, and Valiente informs a horrified Ferdinand that non-fighters now become meat.
That night, Ferdinand comforts Bones as he grieves for Guapo, making a friend of him. The next day, he fixes Angus' hair so he can see better, earning another friend. Ferdinand, Bones and Angus then challenge the horses to a dance off and Maquina joins in the fun, helping them win. Valiente mocks them for bonding and wasting valuable practice time, causing the other bulls to reluctantly abandon Ferdinand and return to training.
With the help of the three hedgehog siblings Una, Dos and Cuatro, Ferdinand and Lupe try to escape through the house. Ferdinand finds a wall of horns in a trophy room, including his father's. Realizing that bulls die whether they are selected or not, Ferdinand goes back and warns the others to run for their lives. Valiente refuses to accept the truth and starts fighting Ferdinand, accidentally breaking off his own horn. He is taken to the slaughterhouse, and Ferdinand is chosen by El Primero, who believes he deliberately injured Valiente.