This is actually probably the second movie I ever cried watching, after The Spongebob Movie (2004). I was eight when this movie came out, and I remember crying my eyes out when Otis' dad died. Gawd just thinking about it is making me choke up again. This ain't no animated masterpiece, but boy did it have some heart, and I still remember it to this day.

Be right back I've gotta get some tissues cause I am crying just thinking about Otis and his dad in that one scene :''(

I remember seeing the poster in the cinema, it looked like a slightly cheap style of CGI animation, from Nickelodeon, but I was going to see it regardless, from director Steve Oedekerk (Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls). Basically Otis the cow (Hitch's Kevin James) is irresponsible and loves to party with all the other barnyard animals, and his father Ben the cow (The Golden Compass's Sam Elliott) is hoping he will change his ways. Otis ignores his father's advice, and continues to party with his friends, Pip the mouse (Jeffrey Garcia),Pig the pig (Tino Insana),Freddy the ferret (Cam Clarke),and Peck the rooster (Rob Paulsen),and he also meets female cows, pregnant Daisy (Courteney Cox) and Bessy (Wanda Sykes). One night the biggest party is organised while the farmer is away, Otis does have a real heart to heart with his father, before a pack of coyotes led by Dag (David Koechner) come to raid the chicken coop. Ben did manage to scare off the coyotes, but he is very badly injured and dies in Otis's arms, he is elected as the new leader, and the only thing they can do when the farmer spots them being like humans is have Miles the mule (Danny Glover) kick him unconscious. He can't be bothered to be a proper leader, he leaves Freddy and Peck to keep an eye on everyone while he goes out with some other cows to have fun, teach some snotty kid a lesson, and have Mrs. Beady (Maria Bamford) complaining. That night he gets to know Daisy much better, but then he overhears the coyotes coming back, Dag says that if Otis gains some courage and tries to stand up for himself or the farm, he will kill everyone. Thinking he has no chance against them Otis threatened to leave, but he finds out there has been some backstabbing by Dag, and he sets off to defeat the pack and bring the poultry back safely. In the end, after Otis looks beaten but is helped by all his friends, Dag and the pack are scared away for good, and he watches in glee as Daisy has her baby calf she names Ben. Also starring Andie MacDowell as Etta the Hen, Futurama's John Di Maggio as Bud the Cow and Officer O'Hanlon and Earthquake as Root the Rooster. The voice casting is reasonable, the animation as I said wasn't very exciting, both male and female cows have udders which is inaccurate, but for all the sight gags and some one-liners it is an alright family animated comedy. Worth watching!

I don't think this is the worst animated movie I have ever seen, Titanic:The Animated Movie, Doogal and Secret of NIMH 2 are worse I feel, but Barnyard in my opinion isn't particularly that good. It does have a decent vocal cast; Kevin James, Courtney Cox, Danny Glover, Sam Elliot and Rob Paulsen do a good job but deserve better than their material lets them onto. And I did like the saying "A strong man stands up for himself, a stronger man stands up for others".

However, there were many things I did not like. The animation is not that great I feel, there is the occasional nice colourful background, but the character movements are cheap, forced and blocky. At best the music is forgettable, the story is unoriginal and uninspired, the dialogue is simplistic and often lowbrow, the gags are crude and totally not smart(well there was the occasional laugh but that isn't enough, but they went well overboard with the udders) and the characters(with the exception of Ben and Dag the Coyote) are obnoxious and unlikeable, with no really unique personalities. Overall, a big disappointment, could have been much better. 3/10 Bethany Cox