Barnyard: The Original Party Animals (2006)

While our niece was visiting us recently, we saw an episode of the Nickelodeon cartoon show “Barnyard”, based on the Nickelodeon film that came out last year. Surprised, we realized we hadn’t yet checked out the animated film it was based on.

While the cartoon show was rather simplistic, we figured the movie characters had been simplified to fit into the weekly half-hour time slot (similar to what Disney did with it’s “101 Dalmatians” cartoon show). Figuring that, we wanted to see what these animals could do in all their glory in their own movie, so we rented Barnyard: The Original Party Animals next time we stopped by a Blockbuster®.

While Kevin James seems a natural to voice an animated character, viewers are more likely to picture him as a frenetic monkey rather than a laid-back cow. With his vocals, it’s much easier to see him in some naturally hyper animal, rather than the laid-back cow. True, the cows in the film aren’t exactly laid back, but they aren’t really frenetic in their activity either. Despite the sticky situations, the panicky-voiced James is definitely not a match for a cow - no matter how much of a party animal he is.

That’s not to say all the voices didn’t match their characters. Wanda Sykes was great as a over-protective - and scathingly sarcastic - cow, and Danny Glover slipped into his older-and-wiser donkey character with ease. But with the voice of Kevin James jarring so completely with the main character, even they can’t help the film totally recover.

And the film didn’t do much to help them either, presenting a story fit for the half-hour cartoon slot the series now occupies rather than a feature-length film. Entirely predictable, the plot takes the viewers through the paces as the cow “grows up” - basically, the same story that Disney has already told much better in The Lion King.

Why are they re-hashing this plot? Simple. Kids love talking animals, and some of them might not make the Lion King connection - or won’t care if they do, because it’s different animals. For the more discerning viewer, however, this film doesn’t do anything to improve on the original story, and comes off as just a cheap knock-off as this made-for-TV quality film is just trying to cash in on the recent animation boom.

Since it’s pretty short (under an hour and a half), you should be able to suffer through with minimal damage if you’re forced to watch this with your kids. Beware, however, of repeated viewings - Barnyard is one film that you won’t want to watch over and over….despite Wanda, Danny’s and Sam Elliott’s brief shining moments.