My So-Called Homeschool

I really do have some other stuff to post, but I need to get some business done — for some reason, these folks want links before Christmas! I wonder why?

(Barnyard was provided to me free of charge by Special Ops Media for the purpose of review.)

Watching the trailers, I wasn’t that impressed — it just wasn’t a movie I thought I’d want to go see. It looked like just another anthromorphic movie, and fart-joking animals just aren’t my thing. Plus, being raised in Kansas, the whole male-cattle-with-udders thing hit me wrong right off the bat. But, I thought I’d see what the kids thought and offered to watch and review it.

Once I watched it, my opinion didn’t change much. The udder thing still bothered me. Really, if you’re going to do a movie about animals, research the subject animal thoroughly! The kids, being Detroiters, however never even noticed or commented on it. City kids, what do they know?! The music was rockin’. Monkey boy rarely sat down the entire time, either dancing on a chair or rocking around the room. Ben’s rendition of “I Won’t Back Down” worked very well in his coyote fighting scenes and I liked the repeat of it when Otis finally grows a backbone.

The message that you have to grow up sometime — and if you don’t something bad could happen — is one that I think kids need to hear. I’m not sure if this really was the vehicle for that message. The movie bounced back and forth between fart jokes and nearly maudlin introspective scenes much too quickly, leaving one with a bit of mental whiplash. The movie is rated PG, and rightfully so. Some PG movies my 6 and 8 year olds — and even the 3 year old — can handle just fine. The girls were fine with it, although Pink Pixie turned her back on the coyote scenes. They were NOT too scary, mind you, she just “didn’t like them”. Monkey Boy (3) found it a little too scary. Other than that, I thought there were just a few too many jokes with innuendo for my kids’ ages. Most of it went over their heads, but in my opinion what goes over their heads often still goes into their subconscious and they just don’t need that in the back of their minds. Also, the bonus features are not rated — nothing horribly inappropriate, I just think the image of a pig with a bottle of BBQ sauce stuck in its butt is an image they didn’t need burned into their brains.

Overall, there were cute moments — but they didn’t square with the overall tone of the movie which was geared to older kids. Conversely, older kids may have found the cute bits boring and the message a bit preachy. It wasn’t bad to watch for free, but I wouldn’t have paid for it.