Barnyard (film)

Barnyard

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Steve Oedekerk
Produced by
  • Steve Oedekerk
  • Paul Marshal
Written by Steve Oedekerk
Starring
Music by John Debney
Edited by
Production
company
Distributed by
Release dates
  • August 4, 2006 (2006-08-04) (US)[1]
  • October 5, 2006 (2006-10-05) (Germany)[2]
Running time
 90 minutes[3]
Country
Language English
Budget $51 million[2]
Box office $116.5 million[2]

Barnyard (also known as Barnyard: The Original Party Animals) is a 2006 American-German[1] computer-animated comedy film, distributed by Paramount Pictures, co-produced by Nickelodeon Movies, O Entertainment and Omation Animation Studio, directed by Steve Oedekerk (who was also one of the producers and the main writer) with music by John Debney and co-produced by Paul Marshal. It was released on August 4, 2006. The film stars the voices of Kevin James, Courteney Cox, Sam Elliott, Danny Glover, Wanda Sykes, Andie MacDowell and David Koechner. Most of the production was carried out in San Clemente, California. The film is the second Nickelodeon movie to spin-off into a TV series, the first being Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius. The film grossed $116.5 million worldwide against a $51 million production budget.

Plot

Otis is a carefree cow who prefers playing with his friends rather than accept responsibility. His adoptive father Ben is the leader of the barnyard. After Otis interrupts a barnyard meeting with his wild antics, Ben has a talk with his son, warning him that he will never be happy if he spends his life partying without acting more maturely. Otis ignores his advice and leaves to have fun with his friends Pip the Mouse, Pig the pig, Freddy the Ferret, and Peck the Rooster. That same day, Otis meets a pregnant cow named Daisy, who is accompanied by another cow, Bessy.

That night, the animals throw a party in the barn. All the animals are there except Ben, who guards the fence line. Otis is assigned a shift along with Ben, but Otis talks himself out of working. Before Otis leaves, Ben tells him that the night he found him as a baby calf stumbling alone in the meadow, he swore he saw the stars dance, thus giving him reason to know his place was at the farm. Later, Ben takes on a pack of coyotes led by Dag, who is a serial killer turned coyote plundering the chicken coop. He manages to fight off the pack until he is bitten on the leg by the red coyote, making him 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 away him and the coyotes. Ben falls on the ground, exhausted. A hen named Etta runs into the barn and tells Otis and he runs outside to his father. Ben dies and is buried on a hill by the farmer, and the other animals mourn Ben after the farmer leaves.

After Ben's death, all the animals elect Otis as the new leader of the barnyard. Otis shirks his duties by leaving Freddy and Peck in charge of the coop, then helps the trouble-making Jersey Cows Eddy, Igg, and Bud teach a lesson to a mean fat youngster called Snotty Boy, eluding the police along the way. Later that night, when Otis is holding Daisy's hoof under the starlight, he overhears the coyotes chasing a rabbit and leaves Daisy to pursue the coyotes and avenge his father. Otis tries to attack Dag and his pack, but he is outsmarted by them. Since Otis is weaker, Dag orders a deal that he and his pack will take various barnyard animals at random times and that, if Otis tries to stand up for all of them, they will slaughter everyone at the barnyard. Otis decides to leave the barnyard, realizing that his chances of victory are small.

The next morning, before leaving, Otis is informed that the coyotes took some hens and Maddy, a little chick who is one of Otis' best friends and looks up to him. Otis realizes that he has been fooled by Dag, as he was not expecting him and the coyotes until tonight, and sets off to rescue the chickens. Otis confronts the pack but is easily defeated after Dag bites him in the leg; however, Pip, Pig, Freddy, Peck, and Miles arrive to help Otis, along with the Jersey Cows, Wild Mike, and even some gophers. Dag tries to attack Otis from behind, but Otis is alerted when Peck successfully manages to crow a warning. Otis catches Dag and threatens to punch him the same way his father did, but he cannot bring himself to do it. Instead, he warns Dag to never return to the barnyard. Otis then swings Dag out of the junkyard with a golf club, finally rescuing the chickens and avenging his father's death.

That night, the animals hijack some motorcycles and return to the barnyard, where the others reveal to Otis that Daisy went into labor after he left to face the coyotes. She gives birth to a calf, whom she names Ben after Otis's father. 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 to find the stars dancing, forever grateful for what his father taught him.

Cast

Release

Barnyard was released on August 4, 2006, and opened to 3,311 theaters. This film opened at #2 at the box office on its opening weekend behind Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, earning $16 million at the domestic box office. It closed on November 2, 2006 and has grossed $73 million in its domestic theatrical release. It has made $116 million in its worldwide theatrical release.[2] Barnyard was released on widescreen[4] DVD on December 12, 2006, and includes the alternate opening.[5]

Reception

The film has an approval rating of 22% at Rotten Tomatoes based on 96 reviews and an average rating of 4.4/10. The site's consensus says, "Unimaginative and unfunny, this tale of barnyard mischief borders on 'udder' creepiness and adds little to this summer's repertoire of animated films."[3] On Metacritic, it has a score of 42 out of 100, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[6] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[7]

On the positive side, J. R. Jones of Chicago Reader enjoyed the film, saying that "it's way funnier than many of the R-rated comedies I've seen lately, though Oedekerk seems to have ignored the writer's edict to know your subject—most of his cows are male. The CGI is excellent, with characters whose depth and solidity suggest Nick Park's clay animations. The laughs subside near the end as the requisite moral kicks in, but this is still that rare kids' movie I'd recommend to parents and non-parents alike."[8]

Claudia Puig of USA Today gave the film a score of 2.5/4, calling it "a sweet and mildly funny movie that will entertain young audiences, but one aspect is utterly mystifying: The two main characters, father and son bovine creatures, have large, distracting udders."[9]

On the negative side, Roger Moore of Orlando Sentinel gave the film 2 stars out of 5, saying that, "with Barnyard, another quick-and-dirty "all-star cast" mess churned out by the digital start-ups hired to steal some of Pixar's cash, the year that computer-generated animation "jumps the shark" becomes official. Politically correct, anatomically incorrect and ugly to look at, the only thing that saves Barnyard is writer (and director) Steve Oedekerk's gift for gags and almost-edgy humor."[10]

Kyle Smith of New York Post, has criticized the film, giving it a score of 1.5/4, saying that "if you want to punish your kids, send them to bed without dinner. If you want to disturb, frighten and depress them while making sure they fail biology, take them to the animated feature Barnyard."[11]

Gregory Kirschling of Entertainment Weekly criticized the film's plot, giving it a C+ score and said that "it feels like Barnyard swipes too much of its plot from The Lion King."[12]

Soundtrack

Barnyard (Music from the Motion Picture)
Soundtrack album
Released August 22, 2006
Recorded 2005-2006 ("Boombastic" was recorded in 1995)
Genre Alternative Rock, Pop
Length 36:58
Label Bulletproof Records

The soundtrack was released on August 22, 2006 by Bulletproof Records. It includes an original song by indie pop band the Starlight Mints and "You Gotta Move" by Aerosmith.[13]

Track listing

No. TitlePerformer Length
1. "Mud"  North Mississippi Allstars 2:30
2. "Hittin' the Hay"  North Mississippi Allstars featuring Les Claypool 2:23
3. "Down On the Farm (They All Ask For You)"  Kevin James and North Mississippi Allstars 1:12
4. "I Won't Back Down"  Sam Elliott 2:12
5. "2StepN"  North Mississippi Allstars 2:46
6. "Hillbilly Holla"  North Mississippi Allstars 3:25
7. "Kick It"  The Bo-Keys 2:33
8. "Father, Son"  Peter Gabriel 4:56
9. "Freedom Is a Voice"  Bobby McFerrin and Russell Ferrante 4:17
10. "Popsickle"  Starlight Mints 3:01
11. "Wild and Free"  Rednex 3:37
12. "Boombastic"  Shaggy 4:06
Total length:
 36:58

Other songs featured in the film:

Video game

Main article: Barnyard (video game)

A video game based on the film was produced by THQ and Blue Tongue Entertainment. It is an adventure game in which the player names their own male or female cow and walk around the barnyard and play mini-games, pull pranks on humans, and ride bikes, plus party hard. The game was released for PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, Wii, PC and Game Boy Advance.

Spin-off television series

Main article: Back at the Barnyard

On September 29, 2007, a CG animated television series based on the film and titled Back at the Barnyard premiered on Nickelodeon. Chris Hardwick replaced Kevin James in the role of Otis, and Leigh-Allyn Baker voiced new character Abby, who replaced Daisy.[14] The series ran for two seasons, and ended on November 12, 2011.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=63712
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Barnyard: The Original Party Animals". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved November 17, 2012.
  3. 1 2 "Barnyard (2006)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved March 31, 2012.
  4. ↑ Woodward, Tom (December 12, 2006). "Barnyard (US - DVD R1)". DVDActive. Retrieved March 31, 2012.
  5. ↑ McCutcheon, David (November 14, 2006). "Barnyard Bashes DVD". IGN. Retrieved March 31, 2012.
  6. ↑ "Barnyard". Metacritic. Retrieved March 31, 2012.
  7. ↑ "CinemaScore". cinemascore.com.
  8. ↑ "Barnyard | Chicago Reader". Chicago Reader. 18 May 2010. Retrieved 17 November 2012.
  9. ↑ Puig, Claudia (3 August 2006). "Watch your step in 'Barnyard' - USATODAY.com". USA Today. Retrieved 17 November 2012.
  10. ↑ Moore, Roger (August 4, 2006). "Udder nonsense falls short in 'Barnyard'". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved November 18, 2012.
  11. ↑ Smith, Kyle. "Critic Review - New York Post". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved November 18, 2012.
  12. ↑ "Barnyard Review | Movie Reviews and News". Entertainment Weekly. 2 August 2006. Retrieved 17 November 2012.
  13. ↑ "Barnyard". Bulletproof Records. Retrieved March 31, 2012.
  14. ↑ Nickelodeon (September 10, 2007). "The Original Party Animals Join Nickelodeon's Slate of Hit Nicktoons with the Premiere of 'Back At The Barnyard' on September 29 at 9:00 p.m. (ET/PT)". PR Newswire. Retrieved March 31, 2012.

External links

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