Headscratchers / Ferdinand

• If Nina's father is a farmer, why does he keep Ferdinand as a pet instead of for his meat? He may be a gardener instead, but then why would a gardener agree to have a bull as his pet (and that itself is pretty shaky, since Nina's house is described as a farm several times). Furthermore, Nina's father doesn't exactly strike me as the vegetarian kind.
  • The same reason anyone else decides to keep a pet. His daughter adores this calf they found, he likes this calf they found, and they've got ample room for him, so why not? That Ferdinand is as gentle as a lamb, capable of pitching in around the farm, and a cheap source of fertilizer probably helps matters.
• Why is Valiente still at Casa Del Toro? Considering how bullfights work, shouldn't he be dead by now?
  • He had to grow into it, and their parents were all picked off one by one until he did.
  • The math on this actually checks out. Bulls hit fighting age at three-four years; just long enough for all the grown bulls we see to be picked off.
• Valiente, Guapo, Maquina and ... Bones? Why not Huesos?.
  • Rule of Funny...?
• I’m totally for this movie message against the barbarity of bullfighting, and the ridiculous machismo culture that surrounds it. But, as a Spaniard myself I have would like to see more people in the movie opposed to bullfighting, to reflect the fact that here in Spain huge swats of the population (specially in the younger generations) abhor the blood sport and are ashamed that the so called “fiesta nacional” is seen by foreigners as a part so important of Spanish cultural identity. We could have seen some antitaurino protesters outside the plaza or helping the bulls in some way in their run for freedom, but in the movie every human, with the exception of Nina and her father, seem to be enthusiastically in favor of the corridas.