jacksbovine

[jacksbovine]

Tropes

An Aesop: Home is where the heart is.

Make your own story.

Anti Climax Cut: "We RIDE!" Cut to Bertha's posse galloping towards... nothing in particular.

Bait-and-Switch: At the beginning of Stark’s Villain Song, one of the Hopalong Brothers tosses Stark an object that looks like a rifle and it seems that he will shoot Bertha. It’s really his guitar, which he uses to hypnotize Bertha and the herd of steers.

Bright Is Not Good: Stark, whose psychedelic hypnosis offers a strong contrast to the usual dark themed antagonist.

Circling Monologue: When Songbird Stark confronts Bertha for apparently being the only human affected by his singing.

Deadpan Snarker: Half of everyone in this movie.

Disney Villain Death: Stark falls off the Gargantia to his death towards the ending.

Everyone Is Armed: The townspeople of Proudgulch may not have much, but they have guns... lots and lots of guns.

Bertha: Anybody know how to use a gun?

(all manner of gun noises)

Bertha: Okay.

Evil Cripple: Not only is Stark the Big Bad, but he uses a prosthetic leg.

Fantasy Americana: The film is set in a fairytale version of the Wild West, and homages about every Spaghetti Western ever made.

Foreshadowing: When we first meet Bertha after Stark manages to swipe her fellow cattle from her old home, her eyes look a little multi-colored and she looks dizzy inside her locked paddock before shaking them both off and there was some singing heard before the cattle was gone. This foreshadows that “Songbird” Stark has hypnotic powers over cattle through his singing.

For Want of a Nail: As a prize-winning cow, Bertha was kept separate from the rest of the herd on the Trotter Ranch in a locked paddock. If not for that, she would have been abducted with the rest through Stark's Mind-Control Music, as she's visibly waking up from said trance whilst in the flashback.

Gratuitous Mariachi Band: The mariachi fairies that follow Bertha around and sing about the events of the film.

Greek Chorus: The mariachi fairies.

Humanity Ensues: Bertha is transformed by Highmore into a human to serve as his maid. She isn’t happy about this and escapes, staying human for most of the film until Periculum changes her back. The cattle stolen by Stark ar also turned human by Periculum to build the Gargantia.

Instant Awesome: Just Add Mecha!: The Gargantia.

Involuntary Smile of Incapacitation: Played for Laughs. All the cows who are susceptible to Stark's hypnotic singing give a goofy grin when they fall under his control. Even Bertha as a human is affected, tipping the ranchers off that she’s not an ordinary girl.

Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Bertha is a prize winning cow and can be headstrong and aggressive. She is also loyal to her new home and kind to her new family and friends.

Joke and Receive: During the infiltration of Stark's hideout, Grover creeps into the rafters. After Stark captures Bertha and Shiloh, he says "What is happenin’?! Are these morons just fallin’ from the sky?!" Grover loses his grip and falls onto a nearby table. Harry Hopalong says "Yup".

Let's Get Dangerous!: Done powerfully in the film's finale once the heroes escape from their respective prisons.

Lock-and-Load Montage: It's a Western. What would a Western be without one?

Lyrical Dissonance: Songbird Stark's Villain Song, Git Along, starts off very ominously as the infamous cattle rustler shows up in the dark of the nighttime desert and exposits about how skilled and dangerous he is while seemingly unaware of Bertha's efforts to attack him, and for a moment it looks like he's about to shoot her with a rifle. And then he starts actually singing, and the whole scene becomes more upbeat and colorful, even funny and loaded with self-deprecation.

Magic Realism: It's all over the place. It is a fantasy movie, after all.

Malicious Misnaming: Stark keeps referring Mr. Periculum as "Mr. Pericles" to annoy him.

Mind-Control Eyes: The cows (especially the cow-turned-human Bertha) get these when affected by Stark's Mind-Control Music.

Misfit Mobilization Moment: Done by the posse in the climax.

The Münchausen: Some of the guys in Bertha’s posse:

Dan: This one time, I hacked up a basketfull of eggs.

Grover: That ain’t nothin’. I coughed up an entire barrel of monkeys. They started lookin' at me weird.

Elmer: I remember that. They turned out to be nice guys.

Bud: I found part of a spinal column in my toilet once.

(Everyone stares at him)

Never Say "Die": Averted, in spades. It can be quite surprising how many times death is either explicitly mentioned or threatened in a movie that was marketed towards kids.

One Bullet Left: Dusty Dan’s revolver has only one bullet and he uses it to disable Stark’s prosthetic.

Ow, My Body Part!: "I think that joke broke my spleen."

Parental Bonus: Right in the first scene, when Bertha is introduced, the camera centers on her udders while she says to the viewer:

Bertha: Yeah, they're real. Quit staring.

Perspective Flip: The story follows the adventures of Bertha, the cow from Jack and the Beanstalk, focusing on her before and after she was sold.

Poke the Poodle: The "evil" deeds Shiloh tries to tell Periculum they did quickly dwindle down to pruning the hedges.

Precision F-Strike: This film isn't shy about swearing despite being a family film.

Riding into the Sunset: It's a Western, so of course someone does. Although it’s Jack, not Bertha.

Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Bertha intends to get even with Stark and eventually succeeds.

Scenery Porn: This film has some pretty impressive scenery. The use of faceting makes for some interesting lighting choices, and the color palette is just lovely.

Shut Up, Hannibal!: A near-literal example: when Stark is subdued, he tries to sing again to get the upper hand, but Grover shoves a muzzle onto him, silencing him for good.

Spaghetti Western: Despite being a family animated film, this movie is a straight-up love letter to all those classic Spaghetti Westerns.

Steampunk: The Gargantia, created by cattle transformed into human slaves.

Suspiciously Specific Denial: Mrs. Trotter saying to her son “Ever since your father... did not fall drunk down a mine shaft,”. Jack, however, obviously already knows otherwise.

Talking Animal: Bertha keeps her ability to talk to humans after she’s changed back into a cow.

Tap on the Head: How Shiloh saves Bertha from being lured away by Stark’s hypnotic singing.

“Sorry ‘bout this, ma’am.” (WHACK!)

Theme Naming: The Hopalong bros are named Howie (blue hat and blue bandanna), Harry (red hat and red bandanna) and Horacio (green hat and green bandanna).

This Is Gonna Suck: The Gargantia is about to fall into the canyon. Grover’s response? “Well, time to run.”

Too Much Information: The posse's campfire discussion.

Bud: I found part of a spinal column in my toilet once.

Villain Song: "Git Along" starts out as a typical villain song where the villain brags in rhyme about how mean he is, but then the actual singing starts, turning the scene into a goofy Disney Acid Sequence.

Weird West: With fantastic creatures, magicians and Cattle Punk super-tech, this is to be expected.

The Wild West: The movie moves the original setting of Jack and the Beanstalk out west, focusing on cattle rustling as the main issue.

You Can't Go Home Again: Bertha's beloved home, the Trotter farm, was raided by Stark, leaving her the only remaining cow. She's sold to Highmore at the beginning of the film, along with all the issues one might expect to arise from this.

This also applies to Bolt, who, as he says, once lived in the mine along with many other jackalopes for generations, until Stark arrived and kicked 'em out.

[jacksbovine]

Good Guys, Bad Guys and a Cow

Swingers/Fairies: ¡Vamonos! Join in, everybody!

Gather round, señorita, señor

It's a moment you've all been waiting for

Pack your troubles and worries away

and we'll play you a sweet serenade

It's a tale of the wild and woolly West

So sit back and prepare to be impressed

'Cause we've packed it with more than enough

of the stuff of which legends are made

Good guys and bad guys

An exciting stampede and incredible things

Also-

Life from the prairies and outlaws and cowboys

So gather around in the camp, as the sun is going down

And there's more than just good guys and bad guys

Desperadoes and rangers and all kinds of dangers

And not to forget-

Also gunslinging strangers who mosey into town

But especially the cow

Kyoden: Wait a second. Did you just say cow?

Tomo: Yup. A heroic cow.

Nori: Does she lead a stampede?

Tomo: Nope, but she did incredible things that will shock and amaze!

Yasuo: What kind of Western fantasy epic doesn’t have a stampede?

Tomo: Guess I’ll have to tell the story all by myself.

Kisa: No, we’ll help you.

Good guys and bad guys

Pioneers and vaqueros and wild pistoleros

And also a cow

And the busting of broncos and the mighty frontier

The saloons and the falling for a start

But it's more than just

Good guys and bad guys

It's the whole enchilada

from here to Nevada

No cow?

Don't you worry,

we're living off nada

The cow

The cigarettes, the guns-

The cow!

Deaths and fate

And the most important part, good guys and bad guys...

And a cow!

[jacksbovine]

Official Movie logo!

[jacksbovine]

True Friend

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[jacksbovine]

CMoF

Pretty much any time the Greek Chorus of mariachi fairies shows up.

Stark’s song, “Git Along”, mixed with awesome.

The entire "that's a cow’s skull" bit, where the mayor is calmly explaining things and Bertha is horrified that he's casually having this discussion with a cow’s skull hanging on the wall. Culminating in:

Bertha: What are you, a maniac?!

The formation of the posse.

Bertha: We all know exactly what we need to do now! (aside) Which would be...?

Mayor: Form a posse.

Bertha: Farm opossum! (to the mayor) Farm opossum!?

Mayor: No, a posse!

The sequence immediately after that.

Elmer: So, now what?

Bertha: Now, we ride!

Cut to them riding off and blazing across the desert, heroic music blaring.

Fern: Where... are we going?

Bertha: What?

Fern: Where are we going?!

Bertha: ...

Cut to an embarrassed posse riding back into town.

When they pick up Stark’s trail, Bertha once again says, "Now, we ride!" We hear a whip crack but no music, before she turns and sees the fairy mariachi band looking uncertain and wondering if this isn't just another false alarm. Bertha says, "That means we're riding now! Right now!" The fairy mariachi band then begins playing the heroic music.

When Bertha's posse is gathered under the rock in the rain:

Bud: I found part of a spinal column in my toilet once.

"... You might want to get that looked at."

Bud's story is so weird and farfetched that even the rain stops falling, not to mention Elmer's reaction.

Shiloh giving "the signal!"

Bolt: [after a few tense moments] Is sumthin' suppose'ta happen?

Dan: Hell, I'm open to suggestions.

"Good grief, this lady’s a cow.”

Shiloh disguises himself as an old acquaintance of Periculum’s to save Bertha, leading to this gem:

Periculum: Who are you?

Shiloh: Come on, Lazar, it’s me, Zeke! We used to work together.

Periculum: Really? Did we...?

Shiloh: Burn down a barn together, yes.

(Hopalongs gasp)

Periculum: And?

Shiloh: Maliced the farm animals.

Hopalongs: OOHH!

Periculum: And then we...?

Shiloh: Plundered the farmhouse.

Hopalongs: YEAH!

Periculum: And...

Shiloh: Pruned!

Periculum: Pruned what?

Shiloh: The hedges!

Periculum: Pruned the... hedges.

Stark: ...WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!

Periculum: (holds a gun to Shiloh) Another damn intruder, Stark!

Stark: What is goin’ on?! What is happenin’?! Are these morons just fallin’ from the sky?!

(Grover loses his grip, falling to the ground.)

Harry Hopalong: Yup.

The entire pre-fight and chase/fight scene in the mine with the bad guys and the posse counts as both a CMOF and CMOA.

When the heroes are summarizing their assets.

Bertha: We’ve got teamwork, we’ve got a sense of purpose, and we’ve got the element of surprise! So, what does Stark have?

Fern: A goddamn sixty-foot metal monster.

Bertha: Well, yeah...

Just the level of absolute resignation in Grover's voice as he says:

Grover: Well, time to run.

[jacksbovine]

The Ballad of Jack’s Bovine

In a magical version of America called Columbia, where fairytale tropes are accepted ways of life, show cow Bertha lives with Jack and his mother on the Trotter farm. However, after a wanted cattle rustler named Songbird Stark steals all the rest of the cattle, leaving only Bertha, the Trotters have no choice but to sell her. Jack runs into a mysterious man, Bardo Highmore, on the way into town and trades Bertha for a handful of "magic" beans. While Jack returns home to show his mother, Bertha is taken to Highmore’s home, where, revealing that he is a wizard, he transforms her into a human to help around the house. Tired of working, Bertha escapes, learning from a flock of sheep of a town called Proudgulch. Seeing no other options, Bertha heads out into the desert, where she encounters a cattle drive. Songbird Stark arrives with his henchmen, the Hopalongs, and before Bertha can attack him, he begins a song which sends all the cattle (including Bertha) into a trance that causes them to dance madly and follow him anywhere. A rancher, Shiloh Osborne, manages to subdue Bertha just before Stark closes the path behind him with a rock slide to stop anyone from following. The ranchers take Bertha to Proudgulch, where the mayor, upon learning of Bertha’s true nature, demands that she try to capture Stark. Bertha organizes a posse, consisting of herself, Shiloh, Elmer Ryan, Fern Grant, Dusty Dan Gill, Grover McGee and Bud Nielsen. However, the posse loses the trail in a flash flood, and spends the night under a large rock. The next morning, however, they are awakened by a jackalope named Bolt, who has also lost his home, an old mine, to Songbird Stark; Bolt agrees to guide them there. At the mine, Stark is planning to have a wizard named Lazar Periculum to turn the steers human, before using them as workmen to build a giant war machine, the Gargantia, using stolen blueprints; He intends to invade Washington and become President in a coup d'etat. The posse infiltrates the hideout, but Bertha, Shiloh and Grover are caught. However, the others manage to trap Stark, and all run off with the Hopalongs and Periculum in pursuit. When the chase stops, Periculum, recognizing Bertha as a transformed cow, reverts her to her true shape, though she retains the ability to speak. The others are taken hostage as Stark heads to Washington in the finished Gargantia. With Bolt’s help, Bertha manages to escape and free the others. In Washington, Stark demands that the President accept his terms of surrender, but the President rejects his ultimatum, and Stark retaliates by attacking a small town. The group frees the transformed cattle and battles Periculum and the Hopalongs before confronting Stark. Dusty Dan shoots Stark’s prosthetic leg, allowing the group to gain the upper hand, muzzling him in order to prevent him from singing the cattle into submission. As the Gargantia approaches a cliff, Stark shoots at Bertha with a concealed gun, but instead hits the Gargantia’s machinery, halting the Gargantia abruptly at the canyon's edge. Both Shiloh and Stark fall from the spider, but Shiloh is saved by Bertha. The Gargantia begins to fall into the canyon, forcing everyone aboard to evacuate before it plummets to the ground and is destroyed. As Periculum is forced to restore all the cattle to their true forms, the President offers to promote the heroes as the first agents of his new Secret Service, but they decline and return to Proudgulch by train. A few weeks pass, and at the county fair, Jack, having returned from his own adventure, arrives searching for Bertha, who has won a prize. Upon seeing that she is happy living in Proudgulch, he leaves her to her new life.