The actor your kids are obsessed with has just released a brilliant family movie.

The term “feel good family movie” can often be thrown around with wild abandon, especially when families are suiting up and preparing to tackle the Christmas school holidays.

Back in the day (lets call it the 90s) a feel good family movie often involved a hero and a villain who would battle it out until the hero eventually triumphed and the evil villain was left to fall to their off-camera death. All because a true hero couldn’t actually go so far as to murder someone. Even old school Disney had to draw the line somewhere.

And the true marker of a timeless family film? The fact that there were always two layers of humour to the very best ones, one for the kids and one for the adults, that would work together in tandem so that no one would be left without without a laugh.

Ferdinand, a new animated flick that is in Australian cinemas right now, is an offering that truly deserves to wear the mantle of “feel good family film”… but with one catch.

There’s no old school villain with an evil grin to battle and destroy in a dark and climatic final scene. Instead, the story-line skews much, much smaller. But still manages to pack a pretty big emotional punch.

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The movie is based on the classic children’s picture book The Story of Ferdinand written by Munro Leaf, and centres around the kindly and dreamy Ferdinand, a young Spanish Fighting Bull who is brought up in a gruelling and competitive world where he and the other young bulls he attempts to befriend are pitted against each other and raised to believe that fighting in the ring is their only destiny.

Following a truly tragic event, Ferdinand escapes the enclosure and is taken in by a farmer and his young daughter Nina, who quickly becomes Ferdinand’s closest friend.

Once he reaches adulthood, Ferdinand, now twice the size of the other bulls, finds himself back in the hands of his previous captors, who renew their attempts to train Ferdinand and pit him against his old foes before making him square off against the legendary matador.

There are a lot of moments in this movie that will warm the cockles of even the coldest, deadest of hearts, and one of those moments takes place between a young Ferdinand and his dad, a mighty fighting bull who has no idea why his gentle son does not want to live up to the family dream.

But Ferdinand, who would much rather admire flowers than learn to battle humans, and who is more inclined to cheer his fellow bulls on than to brutally participate in their downfall, can’t see why his father won’t allow him to follow his own path.

It’s then he asks the question “But Dad, what if my dream is different to your dream?’ and it’s a line that resonates with both kids and parents alike. Because if you’re a child, how do you find the courage to go against your parents’ wishes, when you know that following the set path will bring you nothing but misery? And if you’re a parent, how do you convince your child that they you know what’s best for them and that choosing to go against their plan will only lead to pain and loss?

You see, I told you it would pull at your heartstrings.

A lot of the emotion in the film comes from the actor who voices Ferdinand as an adult and lends a lot of heft to the vocal performance. The actor's name is John Cena and even if you're not familiar with his work, I guarantee you your kids probably will be.

Aside from being an actor (if you've seen him starring in Amy Schumer's Trainwreck that may come off a little different then) and reality TV show host, John Cena is a 16-time World Wrestling Champion, professional wrestler, musician and is involved in numerous philanthropic causes. Cena works very closely with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, with the foundation reporting that meeting him is the most requested wish kids make and he has granted the most wishes in Make-A-Wish history (currently over 500).

While in Sydney to promote Ferdinand, Cena told Mamamia that even though the character that he voiced is an animated bull, he still feels very connected to Ferdinand's story. Particularly, as someone who chose a career in wrestling and rap music, when it comes to telling your family that you've chosen to follow a different path.

"Even in the most standoffish way, much like Ferdinand’s Dad does in the movie, I was given nothing but support from my family," he told Mamamia. "Even when tough love was needed it was supportive tough love and I’m very grateful for that.

"The story of Ferdinand sends a very timeless message. Everything about the script when I first read it was fun, the story just jumped off the page and I could see the world they were about to create.

"I brought some of my own experiences with bullying into the movie and Ferdinand's approach is the same as mine. It's never a good thing to be the subject of negative abuse and at the same time you should never let it affect you as a person, you should be proud of who you are. Movie goers young and old will take something different away from this movie.

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"It is very difficult out there, especially as more and more young people get attached to social media because it truly is an easy place for folks to be unaccountable for their actions and for their negative comments. But the constant message from this movie is that it's OK to be who you are and proud of it."

And when it comes to talking about his work with the Make A Wish foundation, Cena said he never finds it difficult to spend time with families who are going through a tragic time, it's all about the kids and how much joy they get from spending time with him.

"It's a wonderful charity and I have the fortunate experience of seeing the results of the charity," he said. "A lot of these children and their families want to hang out with me and that is amazing, to even quantify that. We get to spend time together and it's an exciting time together and what I get to do it in the WWE scope and they get to see me perform. They get to be my special guests at those performances and it's a wonderful energy to be surrounded by that whole experience.

"It's never difficult. I meet families that are really up against it but the happiness and hope that comes from that experience is why I'll never stop working with Make A Wish as long as they'll have me."

Much like Cena's words, Ferdinand will leave you feeling slightly better about the world. Take your kids or your friends to see it, because the world could definitely use more Ferdinands in it.

Ferdinand is in cinemas Australia wide now and along with John Cena it stars Kate McKinnon, Anthony Anderson, Bobby Cannavale, Gina Rodriguez, David Tennant and more.