Two out of
Five stars
Running time:
90 mins
This has the odd decent line and a couple of good gags but it's let down by a dismal script, poorly written characters and an over-reliance on tedious musical numbers.
What's it all about?
When the humans aren't around, party-loving cow Otis (voiced by Kevin
James) likes nothing better than to play pranks with his friends or organise nightly barn-dances, much to the consternation of his father, Ben (Sam Elliott), who wants Otis to take over as leader when he's gone. However, when Ben falls victim to a vicious coyote (David
Koechner) and his gang, Otis has to grow up fast and accept his responsibilities.
The Bad
This year has been packed to the gills with animated animal movies but Barnyard is hands down the worst of the lot. The story doesn't come together at all, with the script leaping all over the place and failing to develop any of the characters properly.
The voice cast are also surprisingly dull - Kevin James is actually irritating in the lead, whilst Courtney Cox is completely wasted as Otis' love interest, Daisy. Only David Koechner's snarling coyote makes any kind of impression and his scenes are likely to be too scary for small children.
The Worst
It's impossible to shake the impression that Barnyard was written by idiots. Why else would the male cows have udders? As if that wasn't bad enough, the film is padded out with several tedious musical numbers that will test the patience of both adults and children alike.
To be fair, there's the odd decent one-liner and a couple of good gags but if you've seen the trailer you've already seen both of them. The rest of the film is desperately unfunny and completely fails to pay off either its emotional or dramatic climax.
Worth seeing?
Barnyard is only worth seeing if you have children who are obsessed with cows. Otherwise you're better off seeing one of the other animated animal movies instead.