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Today, 13 October 2008

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The ‘Barnyard’ has cows, at least one bull (equipped with horns and a nose ring), and man-cows. For all intents and purposes these look like female cows — that is, they have prominent udders and no horns — but they are male. Confused?

Admittedly, a movie about farm animals which walk on their hind legs, speak English and throw raucous nightly parties in the barn, requires a bit of a stretch of the imagination. But it is the kind of stretch that you expect from an animated movie.

Weird cross-gender cow mutants, on the other hand, are a little disturbing.

Nickelodeon’s latest contribution to the world of animal-loving kids offers nothing particularly novel. Written and directed by Steve Oedekerk (‘Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius’ and ‘Ace Ventura’), ‘Barnyard’ tells the story of a fun-loving, work-shirking boy, I mean cow, who has to grow up and become responsible when his ‘bigger-than-life’ father dies. Think Simba but with cows… 'The Cow King'?

As is the case in farms across America, the animals in the 'Barnyard' are actually humans in animal form. Sure, while the farmer is around they pretend to be animals — you know, grazing, mooing and all banal stuff — but the minute the humans are out of sight, the farmyard becomes a two-legged walking, talking, partying democracy.

Leader of this little community is a ‘cow’ named Ben (Sam Elliot). Deep-voiced, strong and protector of the people, um animals, Ben is infallible Assisted by a quiet but wise old mule called Miles, one of his most serious responsibilities is protecting the farm from the evil and very mangy coyotes.

Ben’s adopted son, Otis (Kevin James) — also a ‘cow’ — is the aforementioned irresponsible party animal. He ‘surfs’ down impossibly steep cliffs with his posse of ill-matched farmyard buddies, plays golf and shirks his responsibilities to party, inadvertently contributing to his father’s death.

Following Ben’s demise, the animals elect Otis as their new leader. Naturally chaos ensues and with the threat of Ben gone, the coyotes grow feisty. Struggling to cope, Ben decides to leave the farm, the words of his father echoing in his head: “A strong man sticks up for himself; a stronger man sticks up for others.”

Naturally, there is a love interest (a pregnant widow called Daisy) and obviously, with a little nudge from Daisy and Miles and a little help from his friends, Otis becomes the man-cow his father wanted him to be.

Predictable? Yes. Done before? Yes. But ‘Barnyard’ is not without its funny moments and quirky details. Unlike most modern animation, it skimps a little on the adult humour and will probably appeal more to younger kids.