Barnyard. On DVD now. (*****5/10)
The new trend in kids’ movies is to take a concept from a classic adult film, dress it up with cutesy animated characters, and dumb it down for the kids who might buy the lunchbox. Barnyard is no exception. I’m reviewing Barnyard here as a point of reference for a TV series that is coming out on Tuesday.
Animals can talk and walk on two legs, but of course they do so only when people aren’t looking. Otis is a cow who is left in charge of the Barnyard after his father is killed defending the other animals from coyotes. Of course, Otis just wants to party, doesn’t want to fill his father’s shoes, but comes to grips with his role by the end of the film and saves the day. Much like the thousands of kung-fu movies I’ve seen.
One problem I had with Barnyard is that they’re cows. But they’re male. They don’t have udders, so they MUST be bulls, but there are other bulls we see in passing with rings through their noses who seem to have nothing to do with the movie. Secondly, why is it up to cows (or bulls, if that’s what they really are) to defend the farm? Wouldn’t horses do a better job? I’m thinking Boxer in Animal Farm. And there ARE horses there as well. So what are they doing while the coyotes eat chickens?
Every animated movie must have several characters meant to be cute and funny, and I guess in Barnyard they’re supposed to be the mouse with the Mexican accent, the tiny baby chick who idolizes Otis, and the freaky nondescript animal who keeps bursting out of a box for some very unnecessary dancing scenes. But none of these characters is funny, they’re just cuddly and irritating.
Not that Barnyard is that bad. It has some decent moments, like a scene involving a bad apple neighbourhood kid and some cow-tipping, and a scene where the donkey keeps knocking the farmer unconscious. But overall, it’s a movie every adult has seen thirty or forty times, with not enough humour to keep the kids entertained throughout.