電影評論 Movie Review

Without question, this has been a year of animation overload. Especially this summer, Hollywood's release schedule of family-oriented, cute fables -- chock-a-block with cartoon denizens from both the worlds of domesticated farm animals and woodland creatures have been flying into theaters.

Maybe I've just seen too many of these pictures, but the basically good -- though not very inspired -- "Barnyard" just stirred up a lot of "been there, done that" feelings in me as I watched this film. Though it's guaranteed to keep kids amused and attentive, a lot of parents or older people joining the kiddies in the multiplexes may find themselves a bit bored by it all.

Last week, John A. Davis, co-creator with "Barnyard" writer and director Steve Oedekerk on "Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius," brought us "The Ant Bully," a film I truly enjoyed and felt was in the front ranks of the animated fare produced so far in 2006. While "Barnyard" certainly has its moments -- some extremely funny -- it just never hits a home run. Oedekerk takes the concept of anthropomorphism into a new chapter -- but very, VERY similar to one that we've seen many times before -- dating all the way back to early Disney fare.

Paramount Pictures presents an animated film written and directed by Steve Oedekerk. Running time: 84 minutes. Rated PG (for some mild peril and rude humor). Opening today at local theaters.

Ben (voice of Sam Elliott) is a cow who -- along with his fellow barnyard buddies has learned to walk on two legs. But then Ben and all of his fellow animal associates also can talk (of course!), swim and act like the rest of us screwed-up human beings. And a good thing, too, or else we wouldn't have a cute little movie here, would we?

The catch, naturally, is that the animals never, ever, are seen doing the seemingly impossible whenever any of us bothersome humans show up. For most of his life, Ben has hoped that his son Otis (voice of Kevin James) would inherit his responsibilities as the leader of the animals on the farm, but Otis is way too irresponsible and light-hearted to worry too much about taking on dad's drudgery and serious duties. He'd much prefer to hang with his girlfriend, Daisy (Courteney Cox) -- much to the chagrin of Ben and his sidekick, Miles the Mule (Danny Glover).

On the flip side, the always wonderful Wanda Sykes voices Bessy -- Daisy's best pal -- who clearly is no fan of the no-account Otis, and thinks her good friend needs to find someone better with whom to share her life on the farm.

As is always the case with these tales, the moral lesson kicks in fairly early on. In this case it comes when Otis decides to tackle a major issue afflicting his fellow cattle. He decides to do something serious about the boy who gets his kicks engaging in an age-old farm kid "sport" known as cow tipping.

The problem -- seen from the point of view of his father and Miles the Mule -- Otis' way of playing tricks on the humans could endanger the other animals deep secret -- that they have humanlike intelligence. Yes, "Barnyard" is a good way of teaching younger audiences about values like courage, confidence and family values, but it never breaks new ground in so doing.

You won't be upset or disappointed -- in a major way -- by going to see this cheerful movie, it just won't make you walk away feeling you've just witnessed anything unique or terribly special. And while the computer-generated animation is fine, it too doesn't give us anything we haven't seen before.