- “I like it better here where I sit just quiet and smell the flower.”
- ―Ferdinand
Ferdinand is the gentle bull who, instead of being fierce in the bullring, only wants to smell the flowers in the 1938 animated short Ferdinand the Bull. He was voiced by animator Milt Kahl.
Appearances[]
Ferdinand the Bull[]
As the titular protagonist of the short, Ferdinand would sit quietly in the shade all day and smell the flowers rather than play with the other calves, much to his mother telling him to play with them. As his mother was understanding, she allowed him to relax in the shade and as the years passed, Ferdinand became older and stronger. As all the other bulls are preparing to fight in Madrid, Ferdinand refuses because all he does all day is smell the flowers in a peaceful moment while sitting near his favorite tree.
Unaware, he accidentally sits on a flower with a bumblebee on it, causing Ferdinand to rampage in an out-of-control behavior; the five men looking for a perfect bull to fight with the matador chose Ferdinand as he would be perfect for the match. Later at the bullring, the matador tries to fight against Ferdinand, but he refuses to fight against his opponent because all Ferdinand did was smell the flowers quietly, much to the matador enraged at him until he tears his shirt open and shows a tattoo in the form of a red flower on his chest which Ferdinand licks and the humiliated matador starts to cry because he cannot show what he can do with his cape and sword. As a result, Ferdinand is taken out of the bullring back to his home; Ferdinand happily lives at his favorite corner tree sitting quietly once again.
Other appearances[]
Ferdinand appears in the Bonkers episode "Do Toons Dream of Animated Sheep?". He is part of the titular character's dream where he attempts to impress Fawn Deer by battling him. The dream is interrupted by Baabra the Dream Sheep who immediately begins flirting with Ferdinand, and refers to him by name. At the end of the episode, when Bonkers allows Baabra to live her dream life, she is reunited with Ferdinand on a tropical island.
Ferdinand also appears in the Disney+ animated short, The Simpsons in Plusaversary where he attends the Disney+ second year anniversary with many other characters from various Disney properties, where he is seen with his design from the 1938 incarnation.
Ferdinand also appears in the 2023 animated/live-action hybrid short film, Once Upon a Studio where he was one of the Disney characters who joined in the group photo for Disney's 100th anniversary standing next to Humphrey the Bear.
Trivia[]
- Ferdinand was also the lead in a self-titled film adaptation from Blue Sky Studios where he was voiced by John Cena. While the film is currently owned by The Walt Disney Company, following its acquisition 21st Century Fox, it was released before the purchase was made official and thus, is a Disney film by extension rather than direct association.
- Ferdinand was also mentioned by Shirley Temple when presenting Walt Disney with his special honorary Academy Award for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (one big Oscar and seven little ones) when calling him "the daddy of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Mickey Mouse, Ferdinand and all the others".
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