Barnyard is a computer-animated film, produced by Nickelodeon Movies and Paramount Pictures, that was released on August 4, 2006.
The film was directed by Steve Oedekerk, who was also the principal scriptwriter, and stars the voices of Kevin James, Courteney Cox Arquette, Sam Elliott, Danny Glover, Andie MacDowell and Wanda Sykes. Most of the production was carried out in San Clemente, California. It was distributed in Switzerland, Spain, and Netherlands by Universal Pictures.
The film is the second film to be spun-off into a TV series, the first being Jimmy Neutron. Coincidentally, both are computer-animated.
Plot
Otis (Kevin James) is a carefree bull who prefers to goof off than accept responsibility. His father Ben (Sam Elliott) is the leader of the barnyard when the farmer is away, giving the animals the safest moment to spring up on two legs. After Otis interrupts a barnyard meeting with his wild antics, Ben has a talk with his son, in which he tells him that he will never be happy if he just goofs off, and that he should grow up. Otis ignores his advices and leaves to have fun with his friends: Pip the mouse, Pig the pig, Freddy the ferret, and Peck the chicken. That same day, Otis meets a new cow, Daisy (Courtney Cox)(who is pregnant), accompanied by Bessy (Wanda Sykes), another female cow.
That night the animals throw a massive party in the barn; all the animals are there except Ben, who watches over the fence, which marks their space. Otis is assigned his shift along with him, but he talks himself out of it, saying he is needed for a certain role in the party barn. Ben talks with Otis and says the day he found him alone in the meadow, the stars danced. Otis is given the privilege to party out, and the thankful son runs to the barn. Later on, Ben has to take on a pack of coyotes led by Dag, which is raiding the chicken coop. Ben manages to fight off the pack until he is bitten in the leg, causing him to fall. The coyotes pile on Ben, but he manages to grab Dag and escapes the pile. He threatens to punch Dag, but lets him go, scaring them off. The hens cheer, but Ben falls on the ground, exhausted. Etta the hen runs into the barn and tells Otis, and the alerted son runs outside to his father. Ben opens his mouth as if to say something, but dies.
After Ben's death, all the animals elect Otis as the new leader of the Barnyard, presumably because he is a born party animal. He shirks his duties by leaving Freddy and Peck in charge of the coop, and helping three trouble-making cows in teaching a lesson to Snotty Boy who enjoys cow tipping. Later that night when Otis is sitting with Daisy, he overhears the coyotes chasing a hare. Otis attempts to attack Dag but is outsmarted. Since Otis is weaker, Dag orders a deal that he and his pack will take animals here and there, and if he tries to stand up for all of them, they will kill everyone. Otis decides to leave the barnyard, realizing that he has no chance.
The next morning, before leaving, Otis is informed that the coyotes took some hens and a chick. Otis figures that he has been backstabbed by Dag, as he was not expecting them until tonight, and sets off to rescue the poultry. Otis confronts the pack but is easily defeated; however Pip, Pig, Freddy, and Peck along with Miles the Mule arrive to help them, along with the gophers and Jersey Cows. Dag attempts to attack Otis from behind, but Otis is alerted when Peck successfully manages to crow a warning. Otis catches Dag and tells the coyote to never return. Dag is swung out of the junkyard by Otis's golf skills.
Otis and the rest make it back to the barnyard, finding that Daisy went into labor. She gives birth to a calf whom she names Ben. Duke, the farmer's sheepdog, asks Otis if he wants to stay and be their leader. Otis agrees, and everyone cheers as he walks outside finding the stars dancing. The movie ends with Wild Mike dancing on top of Mrs. Beady's head when she gets ready for bed.
Main cast
Characters
- Otis (Kevin James) is a carefree bull who would rather pull pranks and party than be certain the farm is safe. He is the adopted son of Ben and, upon Ben's death, reluctantly assumes the role of leader. Although he is a male, he lacks horns and has udders. Otis is the protagonist of the film.
- Dag (David Koechner) is a red coyote and the main antagonist of the film. He and his fellow coyotes killed Ben and captured the Poultry to lead Otis into a trap near the end of the film. He is eventually defeated by Otis at the end of the movie.
- Ben (Sam Elliott) is a bull who was responsible for the barnyard when the farmer is away. All the time in his later life he tries to teach his son Otis to grow up, as he is sick and tired of Otis fooling around, knowing that when he passes away, Otis must take his place. Ben is killed by coyotes early in the film. He had a handmade guitar and on it he played and sang a part of "I Won't Back Down."
- Daisy (Courteney Cox) is a pregnant cow who moves into the barnyard. She is Otis's love interest and she gives birth at the end of the film, the father being an unnamed bull at her old farm. She names her baby after Otis's father, Ben. She is replaced by another character named Abby in the CG cartoon.
- Miles (Danny Glover) is a mule that lives in the barnyard. He along with Pig, Pip, Freddy, and Peck help Otis defeat the Coyote pack. He is absent in the CG cartoon.
- Bessie (Wanda Sykes) is a cow who acts a bodyguard to Daisy. She intensely dislikes Otis because of his behavior at first and tries to keep him away from Daisy, but then learns to like him in the end.
- The Jersey Cows (S. Scott Bullock, John DiMaggio and Maurice LaMarche) are group of three bulls that behave similarly to Otis at the beginning of the movie. The group's members, Eddy, Bud, and Igg, enjoy driving the farmer's truck, shooting milk from their udders, and partying hard.
- Pip (Jeff Garcia) is a mouse that lives in the barnyard. He is Otis' best friend in both the movie and the TV series Back at the Barnyard. He has a love interest in Bessie.
- Pig (Tino Insana) is a pig who loves to eat constantly. He is another close friend of Otis's.
- Duke (Dom Irrera) is a sheep dog who watches over and guards the sheep. He is briefly placed in charge of the farm when Otis decides to leave.
- Freddy (Cam Clarke) is a ferret who suffers from a need to eat chicken, true to his species. He resists his instincts, however, to be a part of the farm. It is revealed in the television series that Freddy has hidden his resolve to vegetarianism from his parents for years and has not spoken to them since years before the events of the movie and series.
- Peck (Rob Paulsen) is a rooster who is best friends with Freddy. He gets worried about Freddy at times. Peck only learns to crow at the end of the movie.
- Etta (Andie MacDowell) is a hen that mothers all the chicks on the farm. She and her babies are captured by the coyotes in the film and it is up to Otis to rescue her and the children.
- Maddy (Madeline Lovejoy) is one of Etta's chicks. She loves Otis like a big brother as he is just as nice to her. She is absent in the TV series.
- The Farmer (Fred Tatasciore) is a vegan farmer who runs the barnyard where the animals live. When he leaves, the animals are free to do as they please. It is revealed in the TV series that his last name is Buyer. It is also revealed that he has a grandson named Zack (who ends up befriending the animals in the series).
- Eugene Beady (Steve Oedekerk) is an obese child nicknamed "Snotty Boy" who enjoys cow tipping. Otis and the Jersey Cows take revenge on him with a game called "boy tipping."
- Mr. and Mrs. Beady (Steve Oedekerk and Maria Bamford) are a married couple who live near the barnyard. Mrs. Beady is a paranoid, nosy woman that knows the farm animals are anthromorphic and is "medicated for a chemical imbalance". Her husband normally ignores what she says.
- The Pizza Twins (Steve Oedekerk and Rob Paulsen) are a pair of teenage pizza delivery boys. It appears that they are not very bright and easily amused, even when they actually witness the anthropomorphic farm animals.
- Wild Mike (Rob Paulsen) is an animal of unknown species who is kept in a crate and only let out for parties. He dances wildly, which to Otis's personality, makes him want to join. He is let out his crate by Miles to help defeat the coyotes. His eyes appear at rare points, and he makes shrill screeches.
- Everett (Lloyd Sherr) is an elderly dog. He turns 13 years old in the movie, which, in dog years, is 91 years old. He can play the banjo.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack was released on August 9, 2006 from Paramount. It includes an original song by indie pop band the Starlight Mints and a song by alternative rock band The Almost.
Video game
A Video Game by THQ and Blue Tongue Entertainment was created based on the film. It is an adventure game which you name your own male/female cow and walk around the Barnyard and Play Minigames, Pull Pranks on Humans, and Ride Bikes, plus Party Hard. The Game is for PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, Wii, PC, and Game Boy Advance.
Spin-off television series
In summer 2007, a television series based on the film was released called Back at the Barnyard. Otis's voice was replaced with Chris Hardwick's and Daisy does not make her appearance in the series.
Daisy appears to have been replaced by another female cow named Abby with no explanation. Also, Daisy's son, Ben appears in the series, so does Miles the Mule but he is silent. Zack, Farmer Buyer's Los Angeles teenage grandson, is also introduced in the series. He is the only human that the animals trust and like.
Reception
It grossed $16 million its opening weekend, and made $73 million in its domestic theatrical release. It has made $108 million in its worldwide theatrical release.
Barnyard has received mainly mixed to negative reviews from film critics since the film's plot of having the main character's parent killed by the main villain near the beginning of the movie is similar to The Land Before Time and The Lion King. The film has a "Rotten" rating of 24% at Rotten Tomatoes and a 42 out of 100 on Metacritic, indicating "mixed or average reviews", but has a number of advocates, including Michael Medved, who gave Barnyard four stars out of four calling it "hilarious, thrilling" and "flat out one of the year's best films."[1]
"Male cow"
In the real world a male bovine is called a bull or a steer and does not have an udder. However, in this film several characters are "male cows" with an udder, while there is a character who is a bull. The director of the movie told Nick Magazine he did this for fun.[2] This is, however, not the first time cattle have been portrayed in this way. In the United Kingdom, Boddingtons Bitter featured an animated "male cow" in some of its 1990s advertising, and recent computer animated adverts for Anchor butter portray two "male cows" as having udders. Also, the Dairylea adverts in the UK have male cows with udders. A more recent advert portrays that they really are male because they all have male voices.
References
External links
