Sunday, June 25, 2006

Udderly Confused

I realize that I often think I know a lot more than I actually do, but aren't all cows female? Could somebody please watch one of these trailers forThe Barnyard and then explain to me how these cows are male?

Otis the cow, played by Kevin James, is unmistakably shown with a giant pink flapping udder in the trailer and there are other male cows: Eddie the Jersey Cow voiced by S. Scott Bullock, Ben the Cow voiced by Sam Elliott, Budd the Jersey Cow voiced by John DiMaggio.

Is there a cross gender message I'm missing here?

13 comments:

Chesher Cat said...

You're udderly right. The boy ones are called steers.

I can't believe Nick and Paramount would make a mistake like that. Having a man's voice for an uddered cow? Maybe they're promoting sexual diversity to kids through animal sex changes.

MaryAn Batchellor said...

Maybe so, Deb, since if these animated cows were translated into people, they'd be men walking around with Dolly Parton breasts.

MPAA says it's rated PG for some mild peril and rude humor.
Maybe "The Barnyard" really got its PG rating for trans-sexual cows.

Anonymous said...

yep, if there is an udder it's definitely a female... here is a funny grade school description
http://www.cssd.ab.ca/tech/aisi/farmer/COWS.html

MaryAn Batchellor said...

That was great, Todd, we should email it to Nickleodean.

This is just bizarre. There has GOT TO BE something we're missing here. It must be intentional and explained logically some place in the story line. They wouldn't mistakenly give four male bovine characters udders -- would they?

Chesher Cat said...

I think it's worth a phone call to the production companies, distributor and the MPAA and ask them what they were thinking. Stupid is all I can come up with.

Okay, I just watched the trailer. It's a travesty. The people who made this movie and those distributing it have to be stopped. What were they thinking? Was every person on this project, from the writer on up, a city slicker? And what's with the cow tipping thing? Cruelty to transvestite animals?

I hope you follow up on this MaryAn...I can't wait to hear who made the executive decisions on this one, and why. Hopefully, they will at least add a "sorry we were so stupid" disclaimer to help parents explain it to their kids.

MaryAn Batchellor said...

I'd love to follow up on this, but where to begin? Oh wait -- journalism roots -- yeah, I can do this.

wcdixon said...

I'll be following this one - feel stupid because I've now seen the trailer 'twice' and it never occured to me...albeit I was making sure kids in seats and had their popcorn, but still...

cmw said...

Yeah, I wondered about that. These critters sound like boys (bulls in Bovine World) but are dressed as girls (cows). I doubt they'd make a cartoon about dancing animals flapping around what's under a bull.

My first thought was jeez these guys are stupid, then, poor city people, never been to a farm.

Sam Elliott should have known better.

Anonymous said...

Are you sure you weren't watching a trailer to "Brokeback Barnyard?"

Anonymous said...

It was actually my six-year-old son who noticed the udder on a "boy cow" and brought it to my attention. Do these idiots actually think that children believe that all bovines are uddered?

Anonymous said...

Thank god I'm not the only animation geek who noticed it...

Anonymous said...

These guys must think kids are stupid! It can't be possible that they overlooked a mistake this drastic. In their defense, boobs really are funny on males... Is that the "funny" they were going for?

Anonymous said...

This movie poses the question: Which came first, the voice acting or the animation? If they animated female cows, why not give them female voices? Rockadoodle pulled it off, so it CAN'T be that difficult.