Barnyard
When you think of Barnyard, think of The Lion King except with cows. No, think of The Lion King except with cows that look like people in cow suits. No, that’s not quite it…ummm, ok, think of all that stuff I just said along with one of those little Playskool barnyard sets with the barn door that goes mmmmrrrrraaaawww and has all those little round characters and whatnot and then I think you’ll have a pretty good idea of what Barnyard is all about. If you’re still confused, just know that Barnyard is a lot of fun; a bit unbalanced, fairly cliché, but still fun.
Some animals are just funny, and cows are one of them. There’s just something about cows that for some reason tickles the funny bone. This is something Gary Larson understood when he was penning The Far Side, and I think some of his work must have inspired Barnyard ‘cause where else would you get the idea of having cows standing around on their hind legs talking to each other? It’s a great gag, but it’s a gag that’s hard to sustain for a full-length film, which is probably why the creators of Barnyard attached that gag to a well-worn, cliché yet familiar plot. It’s a story about a young cow that must learn to grow up and accept responsibility as a leader after his role model and father is suddenly taken from him…just think Lion King with cows and you have the basic plot. This isn’t really a detraction because the fun of seeing cows walking around and the energy of the humor helps differentiate Barnyard from its obvious inspiration…though not by much.
There was one thing about this film that really bugged me, however, and maybe someone can help me out with this. Do male cows have udders? I’m watching this movie that has these male cows, one of them voiced by the very manly Sam Elliot, and they’re walking around on their hind legs with udders jiggling around on their front. I found it disconcerting and confusing because I thought only girl cows had those while male cows or bulls were not so equipped. Granted it was a funny - although vaguely disturbing - sight gag, but I just couldn’t get past the fact that I thought boy cows didn’t have udders.
Well, if you can get past the whole udder thing, you’re in for a good time at the Barnyard, and who doesn’t like a good time? In fact, our lead cow Otis – voiced competently by the always affable Kevin James – is all about having fun. It’s his one purpose in life; to have a good time. Responsibility can wait, or so he thinks. In many ways, a lot of us are lot like Otis the cow. We may not have udders, but we do like to put off certain decisions until later so we can enjoy ourselves now. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard people say that they’ll get around to looking into the whole Christianity thing after they’ve had all the fun they want to have. However, just as Otis discovered, life rarely keeps to our schedule. The time we think we have isn’t nearly as long we might believe. Sooner or later, life will interrupt our so-called fun and than we’re suddenly left with an eternity of regrets and if onlys. If there’s one thing we learn from the cows of Barnyard, it’s that we can avoid responsibility only so long; sooner or later it will be thrust upon us. So, we can either accept it on our own terms or be at its mercy; the choice is ours…but only for so long. Don’t be like Otis and wait until it’s too late and it costs more than you can afford. You may think you have plenty of time to come to Christ, but then Simba…I mean Otis, also thought he had plenty of time to party while his dad Mufasa…I mean Ben, took care of the responsible stuff.
That’s a pretty heavy theme for a kid’s movie, I know, but that’s one of the problems of Barnyard; it’s a bit unbalanced. Don’t get me wrong, this is definitely a kid’s movie; the animation style, the silly animals and the manic humor is all aimed squarely at kids, and one would expect nothing less from Nickelodeon. However, it also tries to work in some material for adults to enjoy as well, but it doesn’t really blend these two elements together quite as well as Pixar did in films like Finding Nemo or Monsters Inc. As I said, the gimmick of talking cows partying on their hind legs can only go so far, hence the need for some dramatic elements to move the plot forward from gag to action to gag. Smoother transitions between these scenes and better blend of the kid/adult elements would have gone a long way to making Barnyard more than just a Lion King imitator.
Still, Barnyard is a lot fun, and definitely the most kid-centric of the animated films to come out this summer. Despite the Lion King de-ja-vu I had, I found the adventures of Otis and his friends a lot fun. I laughed more than I did in Over the Hedge, but missed the greater depth of character and emotion of the Pixar films, including Cars. The cows may look like people in cow suits (complete with udders) and the animation may look a little plastic (which may be intentional), but the important thing is Barnyard is a lot of fun and it’ll put a smile on your face no matter what age you are, and you can’t ask for more than that from a kid’s film in the summer.
Some animals are just funny, and cows are one of them. There’s just something about cows that for some reason tickles the funny bone. This is something Gary Larson understood when he was penning The Far Side, and I think some of his work must have inspired Barnyard ‘cause where else would you get the idea of having cows standing around on their hind legs talking to each other? It’s a great gag, but it’s a gag that’s hard to sustain for a full-length film, which is probably why the creators of Barnyard attached that gag to a well-worn, cliché yet familiar plot. It’s a story about a young cow that must learn to grow up and accept responsibility as a leader after his role model and father is suddenly taken from him…just think Lion King with cows and you have the basic plot. This isn’t really a detraction because the fun of seeing cows walking around and the energy of the humor helps differentiate Barnyard from its obvious inspiration…though not by much.
There was one thing about this film that really bugged me, however, and maybe someone can help me out with this. Do male cows have udders? I’m watching this movie that has these male cows, one of them voiced by the very manly Sam Elliot, and they’re walking around on their hind legs with udders jiggling around on their front. I found it disconcerting and confusing because I thought only girl cows had those while male cows or bulls were not so equipped. Granted it was a funny - although vaguely disturbing - sight gag, but I just couldn’t get past the fact that I thought boy cows didn’t have udders.
Well, if you can get past the whole udder thing, you’re in for a good time at the Barnyard, and who doesn’t like a good time? In fact, our lead cow Otis – voiced competently by the always affable Kevin James – is all about having fun. It’s his one purpose in life; to have a good time. Responsibility can wait, or so he thinks. In many ways, a lot of us are lot like Otis the cow. We may not have udders, but we do like to put off certain decisions until later so we can enjoy ourselves now. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard people say that they’ll get around to looking into the whole Christianity thing after they’ve had all the fun they want to have. However, just as Otis discovered, life rarely keeps to our schedule. The time we think we have isn’t nearly as long we might believe. Sooner or later, life will interrupt our so-called fun and than we’re suddenly left with an eternity of regrets and if onlys. If there’s one thing we learn from the cows of Barnyard, it’s that we can avoid responsibility only so long; sooner or later it will be thrust upon us. So, we can either accept it on our own terms or be at its mercy; the choice is ours…but only for so long. Don’t be like Otis and wait until it’s too late and it costs more than you can afford. You may think you have plenty of time to come to Christ, but then Simba…I mean Otis, also thought he had plenty of time to party while his dad Mufasa…I mean Ben, took care of the responsible stuff.
That’s a pretty heavy theme for a kid’s movie, I know, but that’s one of the problems of Barnyard; it’s a bit unbalanced. Don’t get me wrong, this is definitely a kid’s movie; the animation style, the silly animals and the manic humor is all aimed squarely at kids, and one would expect nothing less from Nickelodeon. However, it also tries to work in some material for adults to enjoy as well, but it doesn’t really blend these two elements together quite as well as Pixar did in films like Finding Nemo or Monsters Inc. As I said, the gimmick of talking cows partying on their hind legs can only go so far, hence the need for some dramatic elements to move the plot forward from gag to action to gag. Smoother transitions between these scenes and better blend of the kid/adult elements would have gone a long way to making Barnyard more than just a Lion King imitator.
Still, Barnyard is a lot fun, and definitely the most kid-centric of the animated films to come out this summer. Despite the Lion King de-ja-vu I had, I found the adventures of Otis and his friends a lot fun. I laughed more than I did in Over the Hedge, but missed the greater depth of character and emotion of the Pixar films, including Cars. The cows may look like people in cow suits (complete with udders) and the animation may look a little plastic (which may be intentional), but the important thing is Barnyard is a lot of fun and it’ll put a smile on your face no matter what age you are, and you can’t ask for more than that from a kid’s film in the summer.
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