Male "cows" with bright pink teats? Not so easy to get past.

Yet that's what can be found in "Barnyard," a movie where the animals throw barn dances, watch television and generally party it up once the farmer closes shop for the night.

The film's premise is a lot like that of the classic (and much better) "The Lion King": Ben the cow (voiced by Sam Elliott) is the leader of the barnyard until he is killed in a battle with the pack of coyotes that provides a constant threat to the henhouse. Dag, the head of the coyotes, threatens that they will soon be back to turn the hens into a tasty snack.

Somebody has to step up and take responsibility for the animals, and the obvious choice is Ben's "son" (again, those pink teats!), a cow named Otis, who is voiced by Kevin James. Only Otis isn't quite ready to accept his dad's mantra, which is that "a strong man stands up for himself, a stronger man stands up for others."

But while "Lion King" has the sweet, young Simba finding his way from life as a cub to life as the king of beasts, "Barnyard" has Otis, who is essentially a teenager not quite ready to quit partying. He'd rather hang out with his buddies -- a mouse, a ferret, a rooster, a pig -- and play jokes than be the barn leader. A Nickelodeon film, "Barnyard" will entertain the kids; not so much the grown-ups. It will, however, get everybody out of the stultifying summer heat for a blissfully air-conditioned hour and a half.

-- Jennifer Frey (Aug. 4, 2006)

Contains crude humor and mild peril.