By Earlier this year came the news that an animated film based on the kids TV character Bob the Builder was in the works, and demand was so high that a bidding war broke out between Netflix, Amazon MGM Studios, and DreamWorks Animation for the property.
The original “Bob the Builder” television series ran for twelve seasons and centered on a building contractor named Bob and his friends. Created for preschool/early elementary school-age children, it spread messages of positivity and team work.
Turns out the film version though will see Bob himself suffering a bit of existential crisis. Anthony Ramos (“In the Heights”) will star as the title character in the film and the actor tells Total Film (via Slashfilm) that Bob has “kind of lost his sense of what it is, to build”.
He explains Bob’s recent sense of construction malaise:
“It’s a story that’s set between two places, and Bob — his name is Roberto, but everyone calls him Bob – he comes from a family of construction workers, and Bob is one himself.
But it’s about a guy who has to go… He leaves, basically, from where he’s from, and moves to another place. He’s still building these beautiful buildings. He’s responsible for some of the most amazing skyscrapers. But…he doesn’t really understand why he’s building.”
The film sees Bob traveling to Puerto Rico for a major construction job and takes on issues affecting the island. Whilst there he digs deeper into what it means to build as he grows aware his building could be hurting the community. He “starts to tap into his roots, and he starts to tap into those old machines he grew up with, that his grandfather left behind”. Ramos says there’ll be multiple nods to the original series:
“There are things in the story, for sure, that we pay homage to – the original characters, and character names, and Pilchard the cat. But obviously I’m different to the Bob that people were watching back in the day.”
Jennifer Lopez will produce, with writer-director Felipe Vargas penning the screenplay. The film will “celebrate the vibrant and colorful textures of the Caribbean Latin nations and their people” according to a prior press release.
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