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1%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.
2
3[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/barnyard_ver2.jpg]]
4 [[caption-width-right:350:What happens in the barn stays in the barn.]]
5->''"[[ArcWords A strong man stands up for himself. A stronger man stands up for others.]]"''
6-->-- '''Ben'''
7
8''Barnyard'' (also marketed as ''Barnyard: The Original Party Animals'') is a 2006 Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} animated comedy-drama film written, directed and produced by Creator/SteveOedekerk (who also co-wrote and produced ''WesternAnimation/JimmyNeutronBoyGenius''), and starring the voices of Creator/KevinJames, Creator/CourteneyCox, Creator/SamElliott, Creator/DannyGlover, Creator/WandaSykes, Creator/AndieMacDowell and Creator/DavidKoechner.
9
10Otis is a party animal cow, one of many barnyard animals who hide their walking and talking lifestyle from humanity. Ben, the leader of the barn and Otis' father, is constantly assuring his son that he'll have to shape up and improve his attitude one day. Sure enough, one night of irresponsibility leads to Ben's death at the hands of the evil coyote Dag and his pack. With Otis elected as the new leader, he must look out for all the other animals and struggle with accepting responsibility for others, all while coping with the developing feelings he has for the newest addition to the barnyard, Daisy, a pregnant cow.
11
12The film served as the PilotMovie for ''WesternAnimation/BackAtTheBarnyard'', which premiered the following year.
13----
14!!''Barnyard'' provides examples of:
15* ActorAllusion: Creator/SamElliott plays Ben, the "Sheriff" of the Barnyard, as a tribute to his roles as authority figures in numerous Westerns. Appropriate, since this movie is in itself something of a Western, [[RecycledInSpace but with cows.]]
16* AllCGICartoon: The style of the movie and later the animated series.
17* AllJustADream: The animals pull this on the farmer after he catches them partying.
18* AnimalGenderBender: "Male cows" don't have udders. To be fair, bulls have nipples, but they don't have udders (and showing actual genitalia wouldn't fly). Director Steve Oedekerk admits that he put udders on the steers because he thought [[RuleOfFunny "it'd be funny to give them the incorrect anatomy"]], and he had figured that city folk thought that all cows would look like this. Muddying things even further is there's a scene with a bull -- no, not a male cow, an actual ''bull'' -- riding a mechanical man. [[WildMassGuessing Perhaps bulls and cows are separate species in this universe.]]
19* ArcWords: "A strong man stands up for himself. A ''stronger'' man stands up for ''others''."
20* ArtisticLicenseBiology:
21** Coyotes do not travel in packs and are actually highly territorial, though it's implied that the other coyotes joined Dag because they were impressed with his skills at hunting chickens.
22** Male cattle are depicted as having udders, which they do not have in real life.
23* ArtStyleDissonance: The cartoony CGI cows fit in fine with the goofy farm antics. The dark Western revenge story which ''[[NeverTrustATrailer actually]]'' drives the plot, not so much....
24* AxCrazy: Dag has ''too'' much fun in the hunt. And then there is the fact that he keeps the legs from the chickens he has killed before as decorations for his chain...
25* BabiesMakeEverythingBetter: [[spoiler:The end of the movie has Daisy giving birth, and Otis doesn't lose his protector zen about it.]]
26* BackStab: Dag's way of killing seems to be sneaking around and biting his opponent in the back while they're occupied with his minions.
27%%** Miles also counts.
28%%* BigDamnHeroes: In the finale all the farm animals do this to Otis.
29* BigFun: Besides the cows, there's also Biggie Cheese, an incredibly obese rapping rat.
30* BigThinShortTrio: The Jersey Cows consist of Igg (Big), Eddy (Thin), and Bud (Short).
31* BlackAndGreyMorality: Dag and his coyotes are pretty clear villains. The heroes can be pretty loving, well-meaning, and look out for each other but they are also not perfect role models. The animals of the barnyard, except for the hens, Ben, and Miles, act pretty much like college kids or young adults.
32* BloodlessCarnage: Despite having been mauled by coyotes, Ben is perfectly fine save for a little bit of blood around his mouth. [[spoiler:He dies, of course.]]
33* CaninesGamblingInACardGame: During the party in the barn house some dogs are seen playing poker while one animal is painting a picture of them in the exact same likeness of the original panting.
34* CartoonCreature: This dancing hairy creature called Wild Mike. He heavily resembles [[WesternAnimation/CaptainCavemanAndTheTeenAngels Captain Caveman]].
35* CassandraTruth: Mrs. Beady is the only one who realizes that cows hijacked her car and throw nightly parties. She reprises this role in the ''WesternAnimation/BackAtTheBarnyard''.
36* CentralTheme: "A strong man stands up for himself, a stronger man stands up for others". [[WordOfGod According to Steve Oedekerk]], the movie is about family and what makes a family is people being there for each other and caring for one another.
37* ConstantlyLactatingCow: PlayedForLaughs. Not only can the ''female'' cattle give milk without nursing, but the male cattle say "Milk me" as a G-rated curse.
38* CompanyCrossReferences: When the animals trick the farmer into thinking he's sleeping the entire time after getting knocked by Miles when he saw them acting like humans, They give him a copy of ''Literature/CharlottesWeb'' to read. Nickelodeon and Paramount would release a [[Film/CharlottesWeb live-action version]] of the book later the same year.
39* CowTipping: After a boy tries cowtipping along with his friends, the cows respond with “boytipping” him.
40* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Miles, Dag, and Daisy have not appeared or even been mentioned at all in the TV series. The latter is especially ridiculous because [[spoiler: she gave birth to a son with Otis at the end. (Well, technically, it was her son from a previous relationship, who Otis adopts with her, but ''still''.)]]
41* CruelCoyotes: Dag, the film's primary antagonist, is a sadistic, heartless coyote who leads a pack of coyotes just as vicious as he is and terrorizes the farm where the main characters live. Whereas his pack hunt for food, he seems to prefer killing his victims over eating them and even proves this by holding a keychain adorned with chicken feet. Finally, he is even responsible for [[spoiler:the death of Otis' father Ben]], fully pushing him into the [[MoralEventHorizon irredeemable]] territory. To further illustrate just how truly evil Dag is, the film's otherwise comedic tone disappears in a flash whenever he shows up.
42* DarkerAndEdgier: The film is much darker than the TV series, and it's actually a very mature portrayal of dealing with loss and responsibility, with Otis (and possibly Etta) blaming himself for [[spoiler:his dad dying]] and of course, there's Dag the sadistic, serial killing coyote.
43* DeadGuyJunior: [[spoiler:Daisy names her and Otis' son after Ben.]]
44* DeadpanSnarker: Mr. Beady is this, particularly to his wife:
45-->'''Mrs. Beady:''' Randall! There is a cow outside!\
46'''Mr. Beady:''' There's a cow farm. You're gonna find cows outside.
47* DirtyCoward: Dag won't get his hands dirty against targets that fight back, but as soon as they turn their [[BackStab back on him]]...
48%%* TheDogBitesBack: "THAT'S CALLED ''BOY TIPPING''!! HA HA HA!!"
49* ADogNamedDog: Or rather, a pig named Pig.
50%%* DownInTheDumps: The coyotes have a base in one.
51%%* DropTheCow: Happens to a group of coyotes in the final battle.
52* DrunkOnMilk: At the barn party, one of the barnyard animals is seen getting drunk from drinking the party beverage entitled "Milk & Honey".
53* DyingMomentOfAwesome: [[spoiler: Let's face it. Going out battling coyotes all while playing the Johnny Cash version of "I Won't Back Down" at the same time is an awesome way to die.]]
54* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: This movie is ''much'' more [[DarkerAndEdgier solemn and grim]] than the subsequent animated series that would follow it. It's more of a combination between a wacky comedy and a Neo-Western {{dramedy}} (but you know, [[RecycledInSpace with cows]]).
55* ExactWords: Dag promises Otis that he and his pack would kidnap only a few animals from the Barnyard every night, but didn't say anything about kidnapping ''seven'' hens during the day.
56* ExcuseMeWhileIMultitask: Ben can kick coyote ass and play a Tom Petty song in the style of Johnny Cash's cover at the same time.
57* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: While [[BloodlessCarnage there's no blood]], the movie doesn't hide the fact that [[spoiler: Ben dies from his wounds after the coyotes dogpile and ''maul him to death''.]]
58* GirlsStareAtSceneryBoysStareAtGirls: This exchange:
59-->'''Daisy:''' It's beautiful, isn't it?\
60'''Otis:''' My cud?
61* {{Gonk}}: Most of the human characters are pretty weird-looking. The snotty-boy in particular has a very ugly appearance.
62* HappilyAdopted:
63** [[spoiler:Ben is not actually the birth father of Otis: he took the latter in when he was just a calf. Although they do have their fights (most of them concerning the ManChild nature of Otis), it's clear that both of them love each other, and Otis is absolutely devastated when Ben dies.]]
64** Otis and Daisy raising her child (and his adoptive stepchild) Ben together at the film's end.
65* HalfwayPlotSwitch: For the first half-hour or so of the film, it's an entertainingly silly WackyFratboyHijinks plot with cows. Then [[spoiler:Otis' father]] dies and it becomes a dark revenge Western story...with cows.
66* HeKnowsTooMuch: Defied.
67-->'''Freddy:''' He knows too much! We gotta take care of him. We gotta ''whack'' him!\
68'''Otis:''' There will be NO WHACKING! Okay? The farmer's a good guy! He's been good to us.
69%%* HeroicBSOD: [[spoiler:Otis, after being beaten by the coyotes.]]
70* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: Ben dies protecting the chickens.]]
71* HorrorHunger: Freddy the Ferret is constantly trying to resist himself from eating his best friend Peck the Rooster. He ends up turning this on the coyotes when biting one of them apparently tastes like chicken
72* InsultBackfire:
73-->'''Maddy:''' You're a meaner!\
74'''Dag:''' Oh yeah? Well, meaners gotta eat too!
75* IronicEcho:
76-->'''Snotty Boy:''' That's called "cow tipping!" Ha ha ha!\
77'''Otis:''' That's called "boy tipping!" Ha ha ha!
78* LactoseOverLiquor: At the party, the animals get [[GRatedDrug drunk on milk mixed with honey.]]
79* LanguageFluencyDenial: Although the farmer does, at one point, see the animals doing human-like things, he never actually hears them talking. The closest the farmer gets to hearing an animal talk is when Otis goes "Woo hoo!", sees the farmer, and goes "Uh... moo?"
80* LazyBum: Mr. Beady, who doesn't appear to do much other than sit in his chair, drinking and watching television.
81* ManipulativeBastard: Although not shown much, Dag has some shades of this. It's most notable when he taunts Otis, making him feel terrible about not helping his father on the night he died, and afterwards proposing Otis a deal: he and his pack would only take a few animals each night, but if Otis tries again to stop them, they will slaughter every single one of them. He says Otis that he will be seeing him around by the next nights. When he returns to the farm, it's during the day, relying on Otis only counting on him return at night as he had always done.
82* {{Masquerade}}: PlayedForLaughs. While the animals don't speak to humans in English (or any human language), it's made clear that the animals really are speaking English and it's not [[TranslationConvention just their noises being translated]].
83* MoodWhiplash: If’s a kids movie about silly farm animals being funny, yet also has a genuine VileVillainSaccharineShow badguy who serves a darker and more somber subplot about legacy and family. This is best encapsulated, early on, where much of the farm animals are having a big party with Biggie Cheese singing, while shortly after also showing [[spoiler: Ben's tragic LastStand]].
84* MookChivalry: Averted. The coyotes dogpile Ben and then Otis during the last fight.
85* MundaneMadeAwesome: Playing a Music/TomPetty song on a homemade guitar? Simple enough. Playing a Tom Petty song on a homemade guitar while fighting a pack of coyotes? Now THAT's badass!
86* NeverTrustATrailer: The trailers imply that this is a light comedy with crazy animal antics. The movie is really a comedy-drama about Otis' ComingOfAgeStory, his connection with his adopted father, and dealing with his issues of loss, identity, and fear.
87* NewOldWest: This is less the wacky animal comedy that [[NeverTrustATrailer it was advertised as]] and more of a modern Western (with [[RecycledInSpace farm animals]]). Most of the animals (especially the chickens) are the innocent frontier townsfolk, Dag and his pack are the roving posse of bandits that threaten the town's safety and livelihood, and Ben is the Sheriff who keeps the bandits at bay and the town -- er, farm -- safe from them. Otis' ComingOfAgeStory is completed by him [[spoiler: functionally becoming the new "Sheriff" after Ben's death.]]
88* OhCrap: The scene where the farmer walks in on the animals partying has this twofold: from every animal in the barn when he sees them and when he first regains consciousness, then from Otis when their first attempt to fool him didn’t work.
89* ParentalAbandonment: Ben found Otis as an orphaned calf following him in the fields, so he decided to raise him.
90* ParentalBonus: Two female cows shown at party are [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything getting their udders pumped of their milk]] for the beverage at the party.
91* ParentalSubstitute: Ben isn't Otis' actual father, but adopted him and raised him as his own. Later, [[spoiler: Otis himself adopts Daisy's child as their own, bringing things full circle.]]
92* PrecisionFStrike: The producers managed to include the Music/JohnnyCash version of Music/TomPetty's "I Won't Back Down". Complete with the word "hell". In a kid's movie. Arguably [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]], depending on how you view the word "Hell" - in the context of the song, it's referring to the ''location'', "the gates of Hell", rather than as a curse word, which many consider perfectly acceptable.
93* RecycledInSpace: But [[NeverTrustATrailer not in the way it was advertised.]] It's ''Film/AnimalHouse'' with cows meets a modern Western revenge story. (With cows.)
94%%* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Otis attempts one. [[spoiler:It doesn't end well.]]
95* RomanticRibbing: Daisy, Otis's pregnant love interest, at one point tells Otis the baby's coming, then laughs at his reaction.
96-->'''Daisy''': Haha, I made you jump.
97* SassyBlackWoman: Bessie has the voice and attitude of one.
98* SeinfeldianConversation: In the middle of the farmer discovering them, it leads to a very intense discussion of what vegans are. It doesn't really help their case when the Farmer wakes up again.
99* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: There is some elements of cynicism but the movie is surprisingly very heartwarming.
100* SoleSurvivor: Daisy and her friend are the sole survivors of a flash flood that apparently wiped out their previous herd.
101* StabThePicture: In one of the party scenes, the chickens are seen throwing darts on a picture of [[UsefulNotes/KentuckyFriedChicken Colonel Sanders]] taped to a dartboard.
102* TalkingAnimal: Arguably the main point [[spoiler:until Ben dies.]]
103* TarAndFeathers: At the beginning of this film, when Otis and his friends go surfing, they fly through an oil well and a chicken farm, resulting in them becoming covered in feathers when they arrive at the barn during the morning meeting.
104* TastesLikeChicken: The resident ferret quotes this upon biting a coyote.
105%%* ThoseWilyCoyotes: Dag
106* ToiletDrinkingDogGag: After the death of Ben, Otis' father, Duke the sheepdog holds an emergency meeting over who the new leader of the farm animals should be. When Duke nominates himself to be the new leader, Pig objects and tells him that he saw him drink out of a toilet once, to which Duke tells him that he only did that because his water bowl was empty.
107* UnusualEuphemism: When Otis and his friends are on the run from the police, one of them is saying to himself "Oh, milk me!"
108* VileVillainSaccharineShow: For a movie about farm animals that like to party, the coyotes can be pretty terrifying.
109* VillainBall: Rather than just quickly kill Otis while he has him pinned down, Dag decided to gloat instead, allowing Otis time to recover.
110* VisualPun: Biggie Cheese performs "Boombastic" by Shaggy, and as he starts his song, we cut to a member of the barn band... a ''shaggy'' dog.
111* WouldHurtAChild: Dag has absolutely no problems with eating Maddy, who is only a young chick.
112* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: Despite having Otis pinned down and wounded ''twice'', Dag gloats and lets him recover for no discernible reason, even when it would guarantee his victory.
113* YouKilledMyFather: [[spoiler:Otis' father Ben was killed by Dag while he was protecting the chickens.]]
114* ZergRush: Seems to be Dag's chief way of dealing with obstacles. He bites them first to weaken them, then orders his entire pack to do this.
115----
116-->''♪ Well, I won't back down\
117No, I won't back down\
118And I'll keep this world from draggin' me down\
119Gonna stand my ground\

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