Bull market hits the big screen

Aside from their reactions to Bugs Bunny’s antics in Looney Tunes, the grandfathers of animated film story developer Warren Leonhardt seemed different to him in every way.

Yet when it came to the cartoon rabbit, Leonhardt noticed they were similarly amused.

“Even though one of them had emphysema, he couldn’t stop laughing at Bugs Bunny,” Leonhardt said. “It was the same with my other one. I saw how cartoons help people forget their problems for at least a few minutes. Even with a World War II veteran like my grandfather, cartoons could open up a dialogue to discuss complicated issues with humor.”

Observing the influence of cartoons on his family ultimately attracted Leonhardt to create them at places such as Greenwich-based Blue Sky Studios, which has produced animated hits including the “Ice Age” and “Rio” titles.

While working on the script for “Ferdinand,” the forthcoming film from Blue Sky slated to premiere Friday, Leonhardt led his team of story writers in showing how a gentle bull’s size and strength do not define him. “For Ferdinand, strength doesn’t mean inflicting pain on others but providing an umbrella for them,” Leonhardt said.

Adapted from the 1936 children’s book by Munro Leaf, “Ferdinand” provides a humorous narrative of the friendly bull’s mistaken adventure outside his rural Spanish community to Madrid, where the majority of the movie is set. “He’s a natural goofball,” Leonhardt said of Ferdinand, who’s voiced by WWE champion John Cena.

According to animator Lisa Allen, the movie pivots on how “Ferdinand changes other people. He shows how you can change others just by being yourself,” she said. “It’s a feelgood movie about standing up for yourself, friendship and teamwork.”

Blue Sky creators have been careful to transfer that message from Leaf’s children’s book. But at 30 or so pages, the book is a quick read while the film is 90 minutes. To lengthen Ferdinand’s tale, a lot has been added while trying to “make sure we’re not breaking the characters or tone,” Leonhardt said. “In the book, Ferdinand at his core is a peaceful bull with simple needs. We wanted to make sure our Ferdinand has that same manner.”

Blue Sky, a division of Twentieth Century Fox, bought film rights to the classic children’s book in 2011.

Around then, lead sculptor Vicki Saulls, one of the first at Blue Sky to begin her role in each film, started molding clay versions of Ferdinand’s prominent characters.