Oink (Dutch: Knor) is a stop-motion animated film directed by Mascha Halberstad that was released in 2022. It is based on the book The Revenge of Oink by Tosca Menten and is the first stop-motion feature film to be made in the Netherlands.
Babs is a young vegetarian girl whose grandpa, a meat butcher named Tuitjes who was barred from participating in the King Sausage contest for 25 years after fighting one of the other competitors there, comes over to visit the family he once left behind. She is given a pig by him for her birthday, who she names Oink, but as the bond between girl and pig grows, little does Babs realize that Tuitjes is planning to turn Oink into pork sausage for the forthcoming King Sausage contest.
Not to be confused with the similarly named comic book or video game.
Oink has these Tropes:
- Bespectacled Cutie: Babs is a sweet young glasses-wearing girl who grows attached to Oink despite the latter about to be turned into sausage by her grandpa.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Babs’ grandpa presents himself as a charming, if eccentric, fellow who works his way into winning back the family he once left behind. This is all to hide his selfish plans to turn the pig he gave Babs into sausage so that he can win the Sausage King contest that he was once banned from.
- Costume-Test Montage: Babs, her grandpa, and Oink visit a costume store to try out various costumes for a party to celebrate Oink passing the pet exam. One of the costumes Oink tries on during that time is a sausage.
- The End... Or Is It?: The final scene before the end credits play is Babs and her family winning the King Sausage contest holding their trophy. The guy in the hot dog costume watching them turns out to be Tuitjes, who hasn’t given up on going after Oink despite being permanently banned from the contest.
- Housepet Pig: Since Babs isn’t allowed to have a dog due to her father being allergic to them, she decides to have a pig as a pet after being given one by Tuitjes. Oink being a mess in and out of the house makes it difficult to keep the pig around despite Babs’ efforts and it isn’t until the end of the film that Oink fully becomes part of Babs’ family.
- I Ate WHAT?!: The beginning of the film has the judges of a previous King Sausage contest discover rat tails in the sausages they’re eating, leading to a fight between two competitors that gets them disqualified and banned from competing for 25 years. It almost happens again at the end with the sausage-shaped poop.
- Low-Speed Chase: Babs and her family chase Tuitjes with farming vehicles in order to get Oink back from him, resulting in a chase with slow-moving heavy machinery. And then there’s a moped driven by the dog trainer that’s unable to keep up with the others.
- Messy Pig: Oink is a rambunctious little pig, making a mess of Babs’ family garden and pooping at inopportune moments.
- My New Gift Is Lame: As thanks for Babs taking care of the slug problem in their garden (unaware that Babs was using the slugs to play a prank on Tuitjes that didn’t pan out), her parents give her a gardening set as a birthday present. Babs isn’t impressed with it.
- Properly Paranoid: Babs’ friend Tijn and her aunt Christine are the only ones who aren’t won over by Titjes’ seemingly kind demeanor and are aware of the fact that he’s planning to turn Babs’ pig into sausage for the King Sausage contest before the rest of the family does.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: Oink is an adorable dot-eyed piglet and it’s easy to see why Babs wants to keep it as a pet despite Oink’s messy habits.
- Sausage String Silliness: When Tijn discovers the meat grinder in Tuitjes’ suitcase, Tuitjes convinces Babs that he doesn’t make pork sausages via putting some licorice inside the grinder, resulting in licorice-shaped sausages coming out and Babs falling for the ruse. After being taken by Tuitjes to be put in the meat grinder, Oink poops into it, leading to poop-shaped sausages coming out and Tuitjes unknowingly taking them after the chase, not realizing that they’re not pork sausages until it’s too late.
- Toilet Humour: Much of the film’s comedy is derived from Oink leaving poop all over the place, culminating in a meat grinder putting out poop that’s shaped like sausages.
- Training the Pet: After being given Oink by Tuitjes and her parents being concerned about having a pig in the house, Babs decides to train the pig to behave so that she can keep it as a pet. After the garden gets wrecked while trying to get Oink under control, Babs decides to take Oink to dog-training classes in the hopes that it’ll get the pig to behave properly, but that leads to its own set of challenges.
- Unconventional Vehicle Chase: Two tractors, a combine harvester, and a slow-moving moped are featured in the chase to get Oink back from Tuitjes.
- Virtuous Vegetarianism: Babs is the protagonist of the story and is open about how bad meat made from animals is. Her family also counts as they raise a vegetable garden together and at the end of the film, they compete in the King Sausage contest with their plant-based sausages.
