Barnyard (film)

Barnyard
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Steve Oedekerk
Written by	Steve Oedekerk
Produced by	Steve Oedekerk Paul Marshal
Starring	Kevin James Courteney Cox Sam Elliott Danny Glover Wanda Sykes Andie MacDowell David Koechner
Edited by	Paul D. Calder Billy Weber
Music by	John Debney
Production company	O Entertainment[1]
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures[1] Nickelodeon Movies[1]
Release date	August 4, 2006 (2006-08-04) (US)[1] October 5, 2006 (2006-10-05) (Germany)[2]
Running time	90 minutes[3]
Countries	United States[1] Germany[1]
Language	English
Budget	$51 million[2]
Box office	$116.5 million[2]

Barnyard (marketed as Barnyard: The Original Party Animals) is a 2006 computer-animated comedy film^[1] produced by O Entertainment and distributed by Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies. The film is directed, produced, and written by Steve Oedekerk, the co-creator of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius and the spin-off television series The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius. The film stars the voices of Kevin James, Courteney Cox, Sam Elliott, Danny Glover, Wanda Sykes, Andie MacDowell, and David Koechner. It tells the story of Otis, a carefree Holstein cow who learns the value of responsibility when he becomes the leader of a group of farmyard animals after his father's death.

The film began development in 2002 and was released on August 4, 2006, in the United States and October 5, 2006, in Germany. It grossed $116.5 million worldwide against a $51 million production budget. Critics described it as "unimaginative and unfunny" and particularly targeted its inaccurate depiction of bulls with udders for criticism.^[3] It spawned a television series, titled Back at the Barnyard, which ran on Nickelodeon for two seasons from 2007 to 2011.

Plot[]

Otis is a carefree cow who prefers playing with his friends rather than accepting responsibility; much to the chagrin of his strict adoptive father and barnyard leader, Ben. After Otis interrupts a barnyard meeting with his wild antics, Ben warns his son 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, Freddy the Ferret, Peck the Rooster, Pig the Pig, and Duke the Sheepdog. That same day, Otis meets a pregnant cow named Daisy, who is accompanied by her friend, Bessy.

That night after the farmer went to bed, the animals throw a party in the barn. All the animals at the barnyard are there except Ben, who guards the fence line. Otis is assigned a shift along with Ben, but Otis talks himself out of work. Before he 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, which reminded him that his place was at the farm. Soon after, Ben takes on a pack of coyotes led by Dag, who raid the chicken coop during a rainstorm. He manages to fight off the pack until he is bitten on the leg by Dag, making him fall. The Coyotes pile on Ben, but he manages to grab Dag's leg and escape the pile; using Dag to overpower the coyotes. He threatens to punch Dag but lets him go, scaring him and the coyotes away in defeat. Ben falls to the ground, exhausted. Otis is alerted and he runs outside to his father, who dies from his injuries. The next morning, Ben is buried on a hill by the farmer, and the other animals mourn Ben once the farmer leaves except for Otis.

Following 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 Eugene “Snotty Boy” Beady for cow-tipping, eluding the police afterwards. Later that night, Otis shares a romantic moment with Daisy where she reveals that her husband and the rest of her herd had drowned during a flood. Otis comforts her and holds her hoof under the starlight. But he overhears the coyotes chasing a rabbit and leaves her to pursue the coyotes and avenge his father's death. Otis tries to fight the coyotes, but is outnumbered. Since Otis is weaker, Dag proposes a deal: he and his pack will take various barnyard animals at random times and that, if Otis tries to do anything about it, they will slaughter everyone at the barnyard. Otis decides to leave the barnyard, realizing his chances of victory are slim.

The next morning, before leaving, Otis is informed that the coyotes took the hens including Maddy, a little chick who looks up to him. Otis realizes that Dag doubled-crossed him, as he was not expecting him and the coyotes until nightfall, and sets off to rescue the chickens. Otis arrives in the junkyard to fight off the pack and gains the upper hand in the fight, until Dag bites him in the leg. However, Pip, Pig, Freddy, Peck, Miles (a mule and Ben's old friend), an army of gophers, and the Jersey Cows arrive to help Otis. Dag tries to attack Otis from behind, but he is alerted when Peck successfully manages to crow a warning. Otis thwarts Dag's attack and threatens to punch him like Ben did, but warns him to never return to the barnyard before sending him flying out of the junkyard; finally avenging his father's death.

On their way back, Pip reveals to Otis that Daisy went into labor after he left, so Otis and the rest of the animals steal a biker gang's motorcycles from a diner and make it back to the barn in time to witness Daisy giving birth to a calf that she names Lil' Ben. Otis then takes full responsibility and becomes the new leader of the barnyard as he watches the stars of himself, Daisy and Lil' Ben dancing just like Ben said.

The movie ends with one last scene where Mrs. Beady is getting ready for bed, but she noticed that Wild Mike is on top of her head in her hair while looking herself at the mirror in her house.

Cast[]

• Kevin James as Otis, a carefree cow.
• Courteney Cox as Daisy, a kind-hearted cow and Otis' love interest.
• Sam Elliott as Ben, a cow who is Otis' adoptive father.
• Danny Glover as Miles, an old mule and Ben's best friend.
• Wanda Sykes as Bessy, a sassy cow and Daisy's friend.
• Andie MacDowell as Etta, a mother hen and Maddy's mother.
• David Koechner as Dag, a sadistic coyote and the leader of his pack.
• Jane Krakowski as Female Coyote.
• Jeffrey Garcia as Pip, a wisecracking mouse and Otis' best friend.
• Tino Insana as Pig, a pig who is Otis' friend.
• Dom Irrera as Duke, a sheepdog who is Otis' friend.
• Cam Clarke as Freddy, a panicky, neurotic ferret who is one of Otis' friends.
• Rob Paulsen as Peck, a chicken who is another one of Otis' friends.
  • Paulsen also voices a gopher.
• S. Scott Bullock as Eddy, a Jersey cow.
• John DiMaggio as Bud, a Jersey cow.
  • DiMaggio also voices Officer O'Hanlon who is a cop.
• Maurice LaMarche as Igg, a Jersey cow.
• Fred Tatasciore as Farmer Brown, the owner of the farm that Otis and his friends live on.
• Lloyd Sherr as Everett, a bloodhound.
• Madeline Lovejoy as Maddy, a chick who looks up to Otis.
• Nathaniel Stroman as Root, a handsome rooster.
• Steve Oedekerk as Snotty Boy, a boy who is cruel to animals.
  • Steve Oedekerk also voices Randall Beady, the farmer's neighbor and the reluctant uncle of Snotty Boy.
  • Steve Oedekerk also voices Snotty Boy's Father.
• Maria Bamford as Nora Beady, the farmer's neighbor and the aunt of Snotty Boy.
• Jill Talley as Snotty Boy's Mother, the unnamed mother of Snotty Boy.
• Laraine Newman and Katie Leigh as Snotty Boy's Friends.

Archive recording of Shaggy's "Boombastic" was used for the performance of the rapping mouse Biggie Cheese.

Chicks portrayed by Eliana Bendetson, Paul Butcher, Khamani Griffin, Arlo Levin, Liliana Mumy, Cydney Neal, Cat Ozawa, Thomas Pistor, Isaiah Tefilo, and George Van Newkirk.

Additional voices portrayed by Keith Anthony, , , Chad Einbinder, Leigh French, Eddie Frierson, Nika Futterman, Nicholas Guest, Archie Hahn, Katie Leigh, , , Phil Proctor, Justin Shenkarow, Lynne Marie Stewart, Audrey Wasilewski and

Release[]

Barnyard was released in theaters on August 4, 2006 by Paramount Pictures.

Home media[]

Barnyard was released on DVD on December 12, 2006 in separate widescreen and full screen versions.^[4] The DVD includes the alternate opening, A " Barnyard Bop" music video, a comic book creator, and a commentary by Steve Oedekerk and Paul Marshal. The film's DVD release has been constantly reprinted later on. As of now, the film has not been released on Blu-Ray.^[5]

Reception[]

Critical reception[]

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 22% based on 97 reviews, and an average rating of 4.37/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "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, based on 24 critics, 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] Critics panned Barnyard when it was theatrically released. Most of the criticism came from the plot, animation, humor, characters, though they praised the voice acting.

Roger Moore of the 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 a writer (and director) Steve Oedekerk's gift for gags and almost-edgy humor."^[8] Kyle Smith of the New York Post gave the film 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."^[9] 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."^[10]

On the positive side, J. R. Jones of the Chicago Reader enjoyed Barnyard, 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."^[11] 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."^[12]

Box office[]

Barnyard grossed $72.6 million domestically and $43.9 million internationally for a worldwide total of $116.5 million against its production budget of $51 million.

The 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 from 3,311 theaters. On the film's second weekend, it dropped 38.7%, grossing $9.7 million and finishing in 4th place, behind Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Step Up, and World Trade Center. By its closing on November 2, 2006, it grossed almost $73 million in its domestic theatrical release.^[2]

Accolades[]

Year	Award	Category	Recipients and nominees	Results	Ref.
2007	2006 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards	Worst Movie Title	Paramount, Nickelodeon	Nominated	[13]
		Worst Animated Film

Soundtrack[]

Barnyard (Music from the Motion Picture)
Soundtrack album by Various artists
Released	August 22, 2006 (2006-08-22)
Recorded	2005–2006 ("Wild 'N Free" was recorded in 1994; "Boombastic" was recorded in 1995)
Genre	Alternative rock, Pop
Length	36:58
Label	Bulletproof

The film's score is done by John Debney. 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.^[14]

Track listing[]

No.	Title	Performed by	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 (End Credits)"	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 ‘N’ Free"	Rednex	3:37
12.	"Boombastic"	Shaggy	4:06
Total length:			36:58

Other songs featured in the film:

• "The Barnyard Dance" - Lewis Arquette and Family
• "You Gotta Move" - Aerosmith
• "Sister Rosetta" - Alabama 3
• "Slow Ride" - Paul D. Calder (as Paul Calder)
• "Truck Song" - Paul D. Calder (as Paul Calder)

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, Game Boy Advance, and Nintendo DS.

Spin-off television series[]

On September 29, 2007, a CGI 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.^[15] The series ran for two seasons, and ended on November 12, 2011.

References[]

External links[]

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Barnyard (film)

• Barnyard at IMDb
• Barnyard at AllMovie
• Barnyard at The Big Cartoon DataBase
• Barnyard at Rotten Tomatoes
• Barnyard at Metacritic
• Barnyard at Box Office Mojo