BARNYARD

2006, Paramount Pictures

Animation

Rating: PG

Approx. 90 mins.

THE STORY:

Otis the cow (Kevin James) loves to party with his other animal friends on the farm. And little does the farmer know that his livestock can all walk and talk as well as any human when they want to. While Otis enjoys his carefree life, his adoptive father Ben (Sam Elliott) guards the perimeter, protecting his fellow barnyarders from marauding coyotes.

Otis' life is transformed when Ben is killed in a coyote attack. Otis is chosen to be the new leader on the farm and the mantle does not rest easy at first. He tries to balance his leadership duties with his romantic interest in the new pregnant cow on the farm with his instinct for fun, and at first appears to succeed at none of the above.

In the end, Otis learns to listen to the voice of maturity in his head and to balance the need fun responsibility with the need for fun.  

QUESTIONABLE LANGUAGE:

• fat
• "Milk me" as an expletive substitute

VIOLENCE:

• some pretty scary, threatening scenes where coyotes attack other animals
• a cow dies of wounds inflicted in a fight with coyotes-- fight, death scene and funeral shown
• fighting, hitting, punching, biting all shown

TEACHING POINTS:

• "A strong man stands up for himself. A stronger man stands up for others."

THE UPSHOT:

It's never a good sign when a movie starts and your first thought is, "Haven't we already seen this?" The short answer was 'no.' The longer answer was, 'But we might as well have.'

The 5 year-old in the room enjoyed it, but felt a little concerned for the animals threatened by the coyotes. The grown up in the room felt a bit bludgeoned by the heavy-handed messaging and the complete lack of subtlety. The good guys are Good; the bad guys are Bad.

I think this film had potential, but needed a bit more script work. It has its moments, but the humour just isn't steady or sophisticated enough to make it a really enjoyable movie experience for the whole family.  

3/5