Ferdinand

Cena is excellent as a kind and gentle big boy who doesn't know his own strength.

Not that this Ferdinand was for me. It's too obnoxious, too self-involved, the hyperactive antics of pretty much every member of the supporting cast driving me bonkers.

Gently subversive ...

With a lovely voice performance from Cena, the spirit of Ferdinand does shine through. But the rest of the story filler is mostly forgettable.

John Cena brings kindness and calmness to Ferdinand, the animated adaptation of the classic children's novel about a bull that would rather smell flowers than charge matadors.

Ferdinand is not going to be the next Frozen or Lion King or even the fourth or fifth Ice Age movie, but there's a reason the story is still being told some 81 years after it was first published.

This year seems perfectly primed for the classic story of a bull who refuses to fight. Well, the message may be needed, but in Ferdinand, the mediocre execution suppresses any power those ideas may have had.

Frequently buries the lovely tale under the hyperactive excesses required to stretch this to feature length.

A joy-filled film filled with heart and humor and an embrace for all that makes us different and all that makes us wonderful.

It seems that 'Ferdinand' wanted to compensate for the lack of strength of the central story with characters with a tendency to excess. [Full Review in Spanish]