Barnyard's greatest feat is its total contempt for its audience. 2 out of 10.
(Yeah, I know this flick's been out for several weeks, but this was the first chance I had to see it. See review below)
Jennifer Shiner, Suite101's Luxury & Resort Travel writer, once described watching Barnyard: The Original Party Animals as "There's one evening I'll never get back." After watching the flick, I have to agree.
Here's the synopsis of the film (usually I'd give spoiler alerts but any alert viewer will know exactly how this movie will go): Good-hearted Otis (Kevin James) prefers having fun to fulfilling his responsibilities, much to the despair of his tough-minded father, Ben (Sam Elliott). When Ben falls to the dastardly coyotes led by Dag (David Koechner), it's Otis who must take up his father's place as leader of the barnyard and protect the helpless animals from predators.
What follows is what Roger Ebert so memorably called "CliDVic" (Climb from Despair to Victory). Barnyard has a story so devoid of imagination that it doesn't even bother to hide its thefts from other sources: Maddy the cute little chick is a dead ringer for Looney Tunes' Tweety Bird, Dag has Wil E. Coyote's pointed nose, Pig the . . . Pig is a direct rip-off of Runt of the Litter in Chicken Little and many facial expressions (indeed half the plot) is right out of Disney's The Lion King.
Most of the sporadic jokes will fly right over the Under-7 set, such as the riffs on Cops, mental illness and Jersy cows.
So how bad is Barnyard? Try to imagine the most cynically-manipulative movie you've ever seen; a film that telegraphs its every tawdry plot point well in advance. Add the indifferent CGI animation (everyone else has mentioned the the anatomically-incorrect bulls), the not-so-subtle product placement, and you have a flick that doesn't deserve the success it's had. Apparently the idea of animals riding motorbikes is supposed to be funny; the children in the audience were indifferent. Indeed, one child spent most of the film's running time asking his dad what was going on.
So what's good in this movie? Kevin James and Sam Elliott are well cast as their respective voices and the backgrounds are not bad, especially when the story takes us to the coyotes' territory. All of a sudden, the movie kicks into gear, and we see what this film could've been if the senior animators had given a rat's . . . pellet.
While we're at it, the best animated characters in this film are the villains: Dag and his coyotes are rendered with an attention to detail that the barnyard animals don't come close to possessing. They could almost be from different movies.
Overall, Barnyard is surprising only for its contempt for its audience This movie is so cynical in its lack of originality that it doesn't even deserve a DVD rental, much less a buy. 2 out of 10.
Trailers with Barnyard include Charlotte's Web, Flushed Away, Santa Clause 3, and Happy Feet.
