Barnyard The Original Party Animals

While the animation and storyline is for the most part deadly dull (aside from occasional caricatures that seems as if they spilled from the pen of a ’60s acid casualty), at times Barnyard erupts in a Muppet Show-meets-Tex Avery delirium with an odd Gaelic vibe, displaying a freewheeling sense of anarchy. Most of the time, though, there is a staid sensibility that aches to be earnest, executed with bipolar fervor. It is, in its own way, weirdly compelling. Warning: the coyotes might be kind of intense for the young’uns.