Story

A competition to be crowned King Sausage ends in uproar when Butcher Tuitjes (voice of Kees Prins) is attacked by Butcher Smak (voice of John Kraaijkamp Jr), who accuses Tuitjes of putting rat tails in his sausages. The pair fight and are subsequently banned from all competitions for the next 25 years. Tuitjes disappears, leaving his young daughter Margareet (voice of Jelka Van Houten) with her aunt, and Smak opens a butcher shop in town, biding his time until he’s allowed to compete again.

Margareet grows up and becomes a mother herself. Her vegetarian daughter, Babs (voice of Hiba Ghafry), loves to ride skateboards and cook with her best friend, Tijn (voice of Matsen Montsma). Her dearest wish is to have a puppy. One day, as Babs is playing with Tijn, her Grandpa Tuitjes shows up unexpectedly. He says he wants to get to know his granddaughter and make amends for the past, but there’s something about Tuitjes that Tijn doesn’t trust.

When Babs’s parents won’t get her a puppy for her birthday, Grandpa Tuitjes takes her to a farm and allows her to pick out a piglet. He shows her how to look after it and does everything he can to make Margareet happy with the situation, although she doesn’t want a pig on her property. All the while Grandpa Tuitjes sings about sausages. When the piglet, called Oink, destroys Margareet’s vegetable garden, Margareet insists that the pig be returned, but she relents on the condition that Oink attend obedience training and pass an exam at puppy school.

Against all odds, Oink passes puppy school with flying colours. The family is proud, but Tijn makes a shocking discovery about Grandpa Tuitjes, although no-one wants to believe it. When Babs wakes up on the morning of the King Sausage competition to find both Oink and Grandpa Tuitjes missing, she can’t help but think the worst – only the worst is far more terrible than anything she could have imagined.

Will Babs be able to save Oink? Will anyone be able to save Babs? And will justice finally be served at the King Sausage competition?

Themes

Family dysfunction; the slaughtering of animals; the desire to be the best at all costs; betrayal; child abandonment

Violence

Oink has some violence. For example:

• Tuitjes and Smak punch each other during a competition, throw tongs and condiments at each other, wrestle on the ground, and hit each other with sausages.
• Smak throws sausages at children.
• A car nearly hits Babs and Tijn.
• Smak threatens to put Tijn and Babs in a meat grinder.
• Margareet is reminded that her mother died and her father abandoned her.
• Oink misbehaves in puppy school and gets everyone tied up in a big knot.
• A car hits Tijn.
• Grandpa Tuitjes ties up and gags Babs when she comes to try to save Oink, who’s tied to a meat grinder.
• Grandpa Tuitjes tries to put Oink into the meat grinder. The piglet is so terrified that he poos into the grinder instead.
• Someone throws a dog at a man.
• Potatoes fly out of a machine and repeatedly hit Grandpa Tuitjes in the head.
• Margareet hits Grandpa Tuitjes with a bag of poo sausages.
• Oink looks like he’s being pulled apart as Babs and Grandpa Tuitjes fight to get control of him.

Sexual references

There are no sexual references in Oink.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

Oink shows some use of substances. For example, characters drink vodka.

Nudity and sexual activity

Oink has some nudity and sexual activity. For example, the top of Grandpa Tuitjes’ bare bottom is seen on his way to the shower.

Product placement

There’s no product placement in Oink.

Coarse language

Oink has some mild name-calling and insults, including ‘stupid’ and ‘stupid pig’.

Ideas to discuss with your children

Oink is a Dutch stop motion animation based on a book by Tosca Menten. The movie is dubbed into English so there are no subtitles, which seems to flatten the characters’ expression.

Oink has a lot of crude humour, including numerous pig farts, as well as Oink pooing all over the place – on slides, in the garden, in a butcher’s shop and on customers. He also poos while being spun around a room, so poo flies onto all the family members. Grandpa Tuitjes also shows Babs how to squeeze the poo out of Oink. For these reasons, Oink is likely to be enjoyed most by children aged 9 and up, and we recommend parental guidance for children aged 6-8 years.

These are the main messages from Oink:

• What goes around comes around.
• We don’t have to eat meat to be happy or healthy.
• Vegetables can be more delicious than animal products, if you prepare them properly.

Values in Oink that you could reinforce with your children include love, compassion, determination, creativity and friendship.

Oink could also give you the chance to talk with your children about the real-life consequences of things like:

• following your own desires without thinking of others
• eating meat and where the food comes from
• abandoning or betraying your family.