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Plot

Otis, a carefree Holstein ox, lives on a farm in the Arizona town of Oedeville, where its animal occupants are allowed to reveal their anthropomorphism when humans are not watching them. Otis prefers to have fun with his friends: Pip the mouse, Pig the pig, Freddy the ferret, and Peck the rooster, to the disapproval of his adoptive father, Ben, and the farm's leader.

One evening, Otis convinces Ben to cover his night watch, so he can attend a massive party in the barn and impress Daisy, a pregnant cow who recently arrived at the farm with her best friend Bessy. Before Otis leaves, Ben tells him he saw the stars dance the night he found him as a calf. As the farm animals party, the sadistic coyote Dag and his pack attempt to raid the farm's hen coop. Ben arrives and successfully fends the coyotes off alone, but is mortally wounded. Otis rushes to Ben's aid, but Ben dies in his arms.

Following Ben's death, the animals elect Otis as the new leader. He struggles with his new position and duties, which include salvaging an incident in which the farmer witnesses the animals partying and Miles, an elderly mule who was Ben's best friend and assistant until his death, knocking him unconscious. Leaving Freddy and Peck to guard the chicken coop, Otis joins the Jersey Cows, a trio of troublemaking cattle, in getting revenge against Snotty Boy, a cow-tipping bully. After narrowly avoiding the authorities, Otis returns for his night watch and shares a tender moment with Daisy, who recalls the time her late husband and fellow cattle were lost to a storm.

Otis soon encounters Dag, who easily deters him by exploiting his weakness as a leader and guilt over Ben's death. Dag arranges to periodically steal animals from the farm, threatening to kill them all if Otis interferes. Ashamed, Otis decides to abandon the farm, but relents after learning that the coyotes have kidnapped the hens, including Etta and her young daughter Maddy, during the day behind his back.

Encouraged by Miles, Otis sets out to confront Dag alone at his wrecking yard den. Initially outnumbered by the coyotes, Otis' friends arrive to fight alongside him. Together, they defeat the pack, with Otis warning Dag never to threaten their home again. The animals hijack motorcycles and drive home, where Daisy gives birth to a calf named Ben after Otis' father. Otis vows to protect the farm as his father did before, watching the stars form images of him, Daisy, and young Ben dancing together.

Voice cast

Kevin James as Otis, a carefree male Holstein ox and adoptive son of Ben; he becomes the farm's eventual leader following Ben's death.

Courteney Cox as Daisy, a kindhearted, widowed and pregnant cow who becomes Otis' love interest.

Jeffrey Garcia as Pip, a wisecracking mouse and one of Otis' best friends.

Tino Insana as Pig, an unkempt, well-meaning pig and one of Otis' best friends.

Cam Clarke as Freddy, a dimwitted, neurotic ferret and one of Otis' best friends.

Rob Paulsen as Peck, an intelligent but physically weak rooster and one of Otis' best friends.

Paulsen also voices a gopher and one of the pizza delivery twins.

David Koechner as Dag, the sadistic leader of a coyote pack seeking to hunt and eat the farm's animals, namely the hens.

Sam Elliott as Ben, Otis' adoptive father and original leader of the farm.

Danny Glover as Miles, an elderly mule and Ben's best friend who was the assistant leader of the farm until Ben's death.

Wanda Sykes as Bessy, Daisy's sassy friend and fellow cow.

Dom Irrera as Duke, an overweight Border Collie serving as the farm's pet sheep dog.

S. Scott Bullock as Eddy, the leader of the Jersey Cows, who speak with New Jersey accents.

John DiMaggio as Bud, a member of the Jersey Cows.

DiMaggio also voices Frederick O'Hanlon, a local police officer.

Maurice LaMarche as Igg, a member of the Jersey Cows.

Maria Bamford as Noreen "Nora" Beady, the farmer's neighbor and Snotty Boy's aunt, who is aware of animals' anthropomorphism.

Fred Tatasciore as Farmer Buyer, the owner of the farm that Otis and his friends live on.

Andie MacDowell as Etta, one of the farm's hens and Maddy's mother.

Madeline Lovejoy as Maddy, Etta's daughter who looks up to Otis.

Earthquake as Root, a handsome rooster and Peck's rival for the hens' attention.

Steve Oedekerk as Eugene "Snotty Boy" Goldner, the Beadys' nephew who is cruel to animals.

Oedekerk also voices Nathaniel Randall "Nathan" Beady III, the farmer's neighbor, Nora's husband and the reluctant uncle of Snotty Boy; Reginald Goldner, Snotty Boy's father; and one of the pizza delivery twins.

Jill Talley as Serena Goldner, Snotty Boy's mother.

Laraine Newman and Katie Leigh as Snotty Boy's friends.

Archival recordings of Shaggy's "Boombastic" were used for the performance of Biggie Cheese, a mouse musician.

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 22% of 94 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.5/10. The website's consensus reads: "Unimaginative and unfunny, this tale of barnyard mischief borders on 'udder' creepiness and adds little to this summer's repertoire of animated films." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 42 out of 100, based on 24 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore assigned the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

Roger Moore of the Orlando Sentinel gave the film 2 stars out of 5, saying that, "with Barnyard, another quick-and-dirty 'all-star cast' mess churned out by the digital start-ups hired to steal some of Pixar's cash, the year that computer-generated animation 'jumps the shark' becomes official. Politically correct, anatomically incorrect, and ugly to look at, the only thing that saves Barnyard is writer (and director) Steve Oedekerk's gift for gags and almost-edgy humor." Kyle Smith of the New York Post gave the film a score of 1.5/4, saying that "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." Gregory Kirschling of Entertainment Weekly criticized the film's plot, giving it a C+ score and said that "it feels like Barnyard swipes too much of its plot from The Lion King."

On the positive side, J. R. Jones of the Chicago Reader enjoyed Barnyard, saying that "it's way funnier than many of the R-rated comedies I've seen lately, though Oedekerk seems to have ignored the writer's edict to know your subject—most of his cows are male. The CGI is excellent, with characters whose depth and solidity suggest Nick Park's clay animations. 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 non-parents alike." Claudia Puig of USA Today gave the film a score of 2.5/4, calling it "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."

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