The laughs subside near the end as the requisite moral kicks in, but this is still that rare kids' movie I'd recommend to parents and nonparents alike.

| May 18, 2010

Full Review | Original Score: C- | Mar 3, 2007

Deserves to be hanging in the nearest meat locker.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 24, 2006

This could be the film that snaps everyone's patience with Hollywood animations which have a Dell computer chip where their heart should be.

| Original Score: 1/5 | Oct 21, 2006

Good voice talent and some funny moments.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 21, 2006

Loud, raucous and dispiritingly unfunny.

| Oct 19, 2006

Strictly for kids, and, as the three or four people who saw Oedekerk's previous directing effort, Kung Pow: Enter the Fist, can attest, the writer/director tends to stretch even throwaway jokes minutes past the punch line.

| Original Score: 1.5/5 | Sep 23, 2006

It shouldn't be surprising that writer-director Steve Oedekerk, the man responsible for Kung Pow! Enter The Fist and the second Ace Ventura movie, considers single-celled organisms as he shoots for the lowest common denominator.

Full Review | Original Score: D | Aug 12, 2006

Don't the filmmakers know there are children watching -- and listening?

Full Review | Aug 12, 2006

Could qualify as a case study in just how quickly and thoroughly computer-animated studio releases have declined to a state of inspiration-depleted, assembly-line anthropomorphism.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Aug 4, 2006

A sweet and mildly funny movie that will entertain young audiences, but one aspect is utterly mystifying: The two main characters, father and son bovine creatures, have large, distracting udders.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 4, 2006

This is a darn cute movie and I think you'll find it funny.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 4, 2006

If you want to punish your kids, send them to bed without dinner. If you want to disturb, frighten and depress them while making sure they fail biology, take them to the animated feature Barnyard.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Aug 4, 2006

Too mature for little kids and much too corny for older siblings and chaperones, Barnyard probably should have been put out to pasture long before it made it to the multiplex.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Aug 4, 2006

Surely there's no better way to introduce kids to the joys of knee-jerk stereotyping than to randomly distribute clichés among talking livestock.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 4, 2006

The giddily indeterminate approach to bovine gender -- and charmingly sappy adoption subtext lend ample appeal to this decidedly non-Orwellian story of four legs good, two legs irrelevant.

Full Review | Aug 4, 2006

Adults will get enough laughs to survive gags such as the chickens using a Col. Sanders dartboard but will likely lose patience waiting for the very predictable story and sentiments to slowly play themselves out.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 4, 2006

Barnyard moves with a frenetic energy, especially in the numerous barn dance and chase scenes, that will probably keep family audiences moderately entertained. But it doesn't stand up to this summer's relative bonanza of animated family films. Moo.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Aug 4, 2006

While there are occasional funny bits, the question remains: Why should you go see this movie instead of its competitors? The answer is: You shouldn't.

| Original Score: C | Aug 4, 2006

There's no reason to spend good, hard-earned dollars on seeing this one at the theater.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 4, 2006