Barnyard

Barnyard

Another week, and another animated movie makes it to shiny disc. This one, from the children’s cable channel Nickelodeon, was not seen in UK cinemas much because of the negative reviews it received. It’s really frustrating, because Barnyard, directed by Steve Oedekerk, is like a really happy movie which has a ton of fun-filled action for children and also adults.

Using the Toy Story concept of what would be inanimate objects in their world toys, and in this case, animals being alive and needing to be kept away from prying human eyes, the movie takes on an engaging yet simple style set down on the most vivid and happy farm that you ever come across! Keeping in check this general chaos and makes sure order is maintained, Ben the invincible bull follows the assets of the barnyard as though he were the sheriff of an old western town on the frontier. He is loyal and fearless and will realistically overpower any challenge which rises over the hill to defeat anyone that resides behind the fence.

So, the only issue remaining is that the son he is trying to mold in his dutiful and honorable image is Otis, who has a penchant of having fun and partying all night. The only sense of duty that the boy knows is to be the loudest and the wittiest actors in the center. Both in all other places, maybe quite the opposite, his heart is in the right place. And with him on the mission of making a cow out of his boy, things are just going to become more complicated as the new cow Daisy will be making the barn her home.

But none of these matters for the boy as fate, as always will throw its useless hands at him and throughout the sequence of circumstances in the film, Otis will need to gather up all his courage and fill up his father’s hooves to battle a sharp fanged enemy who is on the search for the boy. The idea is quite familiar, and the characters are also quite common, perhaps the only thing the movie made up for this with a kinetic setup, laughter, as well as a spectacular script often thrilling that provides even fascinating tragedy love meanwhile style and humorous at the same time pays tribute to the John Ford western films.

Kevin James who does the vocal works for the loud-mouth Otis the cow who loves pizzas, gets the right mood as he seems to effortlessly turn the pizza-loving cow into a compassionate creature who learns that it is greater to defend the weak rather than just be assertive for one’s own self.

“Dag, put the hen down.”

This line uttered by Sam Elliot’s devoted ranch hand Ben is a textbook classic. In the midst of a nasty rainstorm, the awful coyote clan led by a nasty, red furred, and well hued hulk Dave Koechner tries to raid the henhouse. The voice that every cowboy knows and expects is often surreal for a cow ‘Elliot’s Texan growl.’ The end possibly bursts into the largely overused thunderhead of “the battle of good versus evil” devise. It’s all about how individuals, visually represented as meek cartoon animals, build up Western archetypes.

Ben is reminiscent of a serge that has spent too much time in the army for most social and moral thinking, but remarkably, his character’s arc sends out some positive messages bootstrapped with the moral: DO NOT ASSUME THE COWS ARE UNARMED. Graphic violence taking place when he violently assaults six starved and angry coyotes during a battle is never a gratifying sight. Major points to Oedekerk for delivering the cliched storyline better than any other filmmaker. And then there was the silence after Ben’s defeat it seemed far more emotional than any resonance in the Lion King mourning scene.

Furthermore, as Ben fights his battle to protect what’s right it is a brilliant touch to have Elliott himself sing the appropriate Tom Petty song I Won’t Back Down. I’m so angry at these silly talking animals for making me give a damn about a bunch of polygon looking blobs! Well, I do like these father-son revenge stories regardless of the singing and the dancing and the crazy-looking CGI nonsense that decorates the movie and there is a lot of that, believe me this part of the plot actually did work for me. One more thing, simply by having Sam Elliott’s voice in this movie, even if it’s only his voice, instantly separates it from the ordinary and allows it to soar with a cool dark tone.

“Now, why don’t you simply lie there and watch as we indulge in your morsels, serving your companions instead.”

Dag, the demon, is indeed an ultimate yet commendable villain in a film about vibrant creatures having fun. Even his pronunciation looks quite familiar, particularly the tall Werewolves from Joe Dantes’ The Howling – the ears, the neck, the smile, his wide mouth filled with teeth everything about him is simply memorable.

The creators have said that they were not aiming to make it too scary for children. But there are also several frames of this character leering and stalking, and they are simply terrific refreshingly frightening in a children’s film. If I remember correctly, the sabre-toothed tigers in the first Ice Age were bad, but Dag was bad in a fairy tale way. Dark shadows standing Tall morph brightly lit ruddy fur in the moon to a demonic visage.

All the supporting characters are equally well fleshed as portrayed by the central characters. Danny Glover’s mule might be having the facial outline of a very rough version of Shrek’s donkey, but it is Miles who gives the soul to the problems, which a very grudgingly instated Otis ever has to face.

Courtney Cox’s Daisy and Wanda Sykes’ udder-buddy Betsy both exhibit a playful and light hearted energy, while Andie MacDowell plays Etta the hen with the right kind of motherly affection one would expect. Oedekerk, who also plays one of the characters, does a great job as the annoying teenage brat called Snotty Kid that bullies cows, and there are also memorable stoner pizza delivery guys who wander aimlessly around the film.

But in real sense, it is the guys populating the party barn which are sure to bring the house down with so what there is truly terrifying nothing, of course, the barn becomes the centerpiece of all the feathered leathery and haired creatures populated on the farm and the film is mostly at its most fun and coolest during the countless shindigs of cotton eye joe in the visual comedic pop culture, the iconic smokey fifteen minutes after dogs poker. It presents horses in different rivers dancing their fans a blistering Irony African pinch Riverdance a series of sequences in the vice of the funnel are quite engaging and fueled by alcohol.

To span the bloody leash even more, Oedekerk puts The North Mississippi Allstars lazily dancing on a few pieces with a terrifically belligerent set. To raise the hat before, especially the fat rat-rapper Biggie Cheese with an amazing cover of Shaggy Bombastic cheesily guddled cheese. It’s also worth pointing out the hairy thing in the box.

What type of animal this matted ball of hair really is no one knows, but as Otis remarks, “He sure can dance!” There is a certain unexplainable madness to these scenes and only the animation can pull it off, which my son has been able to prove, as the scene repeats over and over again, the bright and active feeling is not in any way dull, rather, it is vibrant. My son personally adores biggie cheese.

Animation style is splashed with bright color and is over the top in terms of sheen. The characters are also well sketched out and easy to like and have that sort of Tractor Tom feel (which is fitting I guess). The vacation painted here is not of the detail and drip-dry clarity found in every other animation by Pixar. There is a certain artificiality which is otherwise built into the animation but in my case it is not a concern at all. A friend of mine who took her children to watch this movie in a cinema thought rather differently.

She could simply not stand the look of the film and its characters all appeared too much, too bright, too simple. As for me it was quite the opposite. The film is beautiful. The works of art are great, with undulating fields, lush beautified grass and trees, and even backgrounds like moonlit space and silver clouds all present with beautiful moods. The lighting is very nice too, be it for sun glowing daytime, or star glowing night. The action scenes are high on detail and dramatics as well.

As expected, ‘Otis and Co. In Stolen Mariners’ Otis Pumbnil overdo it as Sir Lawrence Sheldon Polycow unleashes a series of blows on Otis. Never fear, young relegated bull has his wise and strong friends ready in the eye of the chaotic storm. As the dizzy chaos commences so do the emotions of the audience and once again two highlights emerge. The police are chasing cows stolen from cars (seriously!) and there are a few great Matrix-style scenes in the script with udder-timed moments.

For the time being, however, this entire situation is presented in hopes of improvement, and thank goodness that Nickolodeon made a spin off: Otis and Co. In Stolen Mariners- Long Road Ahead has been valuable in the making. The audience is wise enough to know that the scenarists have a number of Original ideas where children are allowed to play freely, chase after other children, or more often than not something gratuitous.

‘Barnyard, however, got ray from the local sea rats. Ignore the local press and take your children to see it, and you will wound up surprised by this new cartoon. I strongly urge you to buy it. No skeleton expectations anywhere.

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