Do not adjust your eyes. You read that headline correct.
Multiple trades are reporting that the classic cartoon Bob the Builder is headed to the big screen.
As if that news wasn’t already random enough, Anthony Ramos is lending his voice the character in the upcoming film AND Jennifer Lopez is producing. The film will be latest venture from Mattel Films, which is still riding the high off of Barbie‘s success.
If the two stars attached aren’t a big enough indication, the film will reportedly adapt the character with a bit of a twist. It will see Bob as a builder of Hispanic descent, who travel to Puerto Rico for a major construction job.
The official logline says the film will see Roberto (Bob) “[take] on issues affecting the island and digs deeper into what it means to build. Bob’s journey will celebrate the vibrant and colorful textures of the Caribbean Latin nations and their people.”
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Now, obviously there is no problem with race-swapping characters for modern stories. In fact, Disney’s being doing it for many of its live-action remakes. But what makes this particular story and casting so problematic is the simple fact that there was an equally well-known handyman cartoon character who was already of Hispanic descent: Handy Manny.
The series, created by Disney, was released in 2006. While Bob the Builder was released first (in 1999) and ran for 11 years, Handy Manny ran for 3 seasons over the course of 7 years and had just as big of a childhood fanbase.
Numbers aside, we’re sure that there were several factors in Mattel deciding to bring this particular character to life – and under this new, diverse lens. Whether you’re a bigger fan of Bob the Builder over Handy Manny, you can’t deny that it feels blatantly disrespectful to try and cater to a Hispanic audience now when it didn’t really matter 25 years ago.
Since the announcement, the internet has been rallying to call out Mattel, Anthony Ramos, and Jennifer Lopez. Below, you can find some of the best posts to criticize the casting on Twitter so far:
