Barnyard (film)
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| Barnyard | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Directed by | Steve Oedekerk |
| Produced by | Steve Oedekerk |
| Written by | Steve Oedekerk |
| Starring | Kevin James Jeff Garcia Tino Insana Courteney Cox Arquette Cam Clarke Rob Paulsen Sam Elliott Danny Glover Andie MacDowell Wanda Sykes Dom Irrera Maria Bamford Steve Oedekerk |
| Music by | John Debney |
| Distributed by |  Paramount Pictures Nickelodeon Movies |
| Running time | Approx. 83 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $51 million |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Barnyard is a computer-animated film, produced by Nickelodeon Movies and Paramount Pictures, that was released on August 4, 2006 (October 20, 2006 in the United Kingdom). 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. The film was rated PG by the MPAA for some mild peril and rude humor. Most of the production was carried out in San Clemente, California. It is distributed in Switzerland, Spain, and Netherlands by Universal Pictures.
A spin-off TV series, Back at the Barnyard, premiered September 29, 2007 on Nickelodeon.[1] This makes it the second Nicktoon to be spun-off from a movie, the first being Jimmy Neutron.
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[edit] Plot
The film opens with Otis (Kevin James), a "male cow" (see below), "hill surfing" with four of his friends: Peck (Rob Paulsen), the rooster who can't crow; Pip (Jeff Garcia) the mouse, Otis's best friend; Pig (Tino Insana), the perpetually hungry pig; and Freddy (Cam Clarke), a ferret constantly battling the desire to eat Peck or the other chickens. Otis and friends fly down the mountains of Much-Snowia and eventually crash into a chicken farm. They land in the barn for a big meeting held by Ben the cow (Sam Elliott). Though quite a bit rattled by Otis' arrival, Ben continues the meeting.
Before the big storm scene, Ben lectures Otis & the victory parade comes during the big storm scene and Otis's laid-back nature. The elder cow tells his son to grow up.
But Bessy and Daisy, two new female cows, one of whom Otis develops a crush on Daisy, Otis talks Ben out of his guard shift in order to attend a party in the barn. Later that day, The coyote Dag (David Koechner) and his pack gets into the chicken coop. Ben fights them off. Etta the chicken (Andie MacDowell) rushes to the barn house party and tells Otis about Ben. Otis rushes out of the barn and finds Ben, wounded, and dying, He looks at Otis, as if to say something, but then passes away.
After Ben's death, Otis is elected to be the new farm leader. However, he still lacks maturity in his new position resulting in being caught in a daytime party by the farmer, who is immediately knocked out and positioned to think he was simply reading a book called CHARLOTTE'S WEB under the apple tree and had been knocked out by a fallen branch.
Otis confronts the pack, but is easily defeated. Dag and his gang tell Otis that he is defeated again, but Otis's friends arrive at the last minute and help Otis to send the pack fleeing. After the battle, Otis and company return to the farm where Daisy the cow gives birth and names her child Ben.
[edit] Cast
| Actor | Animal | Name |
|---|---|---|
| Kevin James | Male Holstein cow | Otis |
| S. Scott Bullock | Male Jersey Cow | Eddy |
| Courteney Cox Arquette | Female cow | Daisy |
| Sam Elliott | Male cow | Ben |
| Danny Glover | Male donkey | Miles |
| Andie MacDowell | Hen chicken | Etta |
| Wanda Sykes | Female cow | Bessy |
| Jeff Garcia | Male mouse | Pip |
| Rob Paulsen | Rooster, male gopher, and pizza delivery boy | Peck/Gopher/Pizza Guy |
| Cam Clarke | Male ferret | Freddy |
| Tino Insana | Male pig | Pig |
| Dom Irrera | Male sheepdog | Duke |
| David Koechner | Male coyote | Dag |
| Madeline Lovejoy | Female chick | Maddy |
| Maurice LaMarche | Male Jersey Cow | Igg |
| John DiMaggio | Male Jersey Cow | Budd |
| Maria Bamford | Human | Mrs. Beady |
| Fred Tatasciore | Human | Farmer |
| Steve Oedekerk | Human boy/Human male adult/Various animals | Eugene Beady (aka Snotty Boy) /Mr. Beady/Additional animals |
| Megan Cavanaugh | Hen | Hannah |
| Nathaniel Martin Stroman | Rooster | Root |
- Barn Boys: North Mississippi Allstars
- Snotty Boy's Friends: Katie Leigh, Laraine Newman
- Chicks: Eliana Bendetson, Paul Butcher, Khamani Griffin, Arlo Levin, Liliana Mumy, Cindy Neal, Georgia Van Newkirk, Cate Ozawa, Anna Pistor, Thomas Pistor, Isaiah Tefilo
[edit] 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.
The film has a 24% rating at rottentomatoes.com, 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."[2].
[edit] "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[3]. 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.
[edit] References
- ^ Cable TV Talk - Nickelodeon Upfront 2006
- ^ Michael Medved: Medved on Movies
- ^ Nick Magazine, October 2006
