Bob the Builder Will Go Through an Existential Crisis in New Mattel Movie
According to his interpreter, Anthony Ramos, Bob has “lost the sense of what it means to him to build.”
After the cardboard generated by barbie by Greta Gerwig – becoming a pop culture object for the public and reaching a billion dollars in box office revenue, making it the highest-grossing film directed by a solo woman – Mattel understood the potential that lay behind the film adaptation of his precious toys. While waiting to learn more about future Hot Wheels and Polly Pocket projects, this is the animated film on Bob the Builder which is gradually taking shape.
The announcement was made at the start of the year with two outgoing names already: Jennifer Lopez as a producer and Anthony Ramos (Hamilton, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, and soon Twisters) as a little hero builder. The story will be that of Robert (Bob for short) and will take place in Puerto Rico. According to Robbie Brenne, president of Mattel films, the feature film “will address issues affecting the island and delve deeper into what it means to build. Bob's journey will celebrate the vibrant and colorful textures of the Latin Caribbean nations and their people.”
https://www.premiere.fr/Cinema/News-Cinema/Apres-la-PatPatrouille-cest-Bob-le-bricoleur-qui-debarque-au-cinema
In the original cartoon – winner of the BAFTA for best animated series all the same and translated into more than two hundred languages – Bob runs a small company specializing in construction, helped by his partner Zoé and a team of speaking vehicles like Ben the red bulldozer truck, Tourneboule the orange concrete mixer, or even Roulot the green steamroller. In this adaptation everything will not be all rosy…
In an interview for Total Film and reported by the media Slash movieAnthony Ramos gave some hints about the plot, revealing that his character will go through an existential crisis: “He has lost the sense of what it means to him to build.”
Bob comes from a family of construction site managers, whom he leaves to settle elsewhere. Could this crisis come from this uprooting? Ramos adds:
“He continues to build these magnificent buildings. He's the one who built the most beautiful skyscrapers. But… He doesn't really know why he builds.”
So just like Barbie before him, the handyman would be in search of meaning. In this scheme, Mattel seems to play with the public's nostalgia by taking a character from their childhood and attaching fears linked to adulthood, worries, questions, etc. to him. A form of ambivalence which resonated with the spectators. Besides, Barbie didn't invent anything at this level: In 2014, The Great Lego Adventure was already building an entire universe on these same concerns.
Building for no reason, the little plasticine character will realize that these buildings can hurt the community: “Bob is starting to dig into his roots, into those old machines that he grew up with and that his grandfather left behind.”
Will we see the colorful and talkative equipment from the cartoon again? Anthony Ramos reassures about the presence of winks:
“There are things of course that we will pay homage to – the original characters, their names, and Pilchard (editor’s note: Sardine in French) cat. But obviously, I'm different from the Bob that spectators saw at the time.”
Different, but not too much. As reported The Guardianfor the president of Mattel films, the film “will imbue this beloved character with the audience, in such a way that viewers who grew up with Bob will recognize him, and all new ones will appreciate him.”
“Can we do it? Yes, we can!”as Bob would say.
