PLOT: On a farm where the animals party hearty whenever humans aren't around, a young cow finds the yoke of leadership suddenly thrust onto his neck. Can he face down a pack of menacing coyotes and save the herd?

If you're of that very special subset of people who love both The Lion King and the, uh, "comedy" stylings of Jeff Foxworthy and Larry the Cable Guy, then Barnyard is the movie for you. Boy howdy, is it ever.

What starts out as a strained, silly and strictly-for-the-chitlins collection of talking animal shenanigans redeems itself through sheer force of personality. These critters are too cute not to love, or at least like.

Written and directed by Steve Oedekerk, the man who penned the Jim Carrey vehicles Bruce Almighty and (yikes) Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, Barnyard borrows its central plot from the Disney classic about Simba's tumultuous transition from carefree cub to leader, protector and good husband.

In this case, it's fun-loving party cow Otis (voiced by The King Of Queens' Kevin James) who has his world turned upside down when his stern but loving daddy (Sam Elliot) puts him in charge of the barnyard's motley collection of talking cows, pigs, horses and the rest of the cloven-hooved lot.

The ante is upped when Otis falls for a preggers newcomer cow (Courteney Cox), and then again when he has to dig deep in his multiple stomachs to find the intestinal fortitude to face down a scary pack of marauding coyotes.

The character design is dead simple -- the cows look for all the world like 3-D versions of Gary Larson's stoic bovines from The Far Side -- but Barnyard's animation is slick as heck and pops off the screen. Strange thing is, it's never explained why all the boy cows have udders. Though I guess it's better than their having giant, swaying bull-parts down there.

Maybe Barnyard would have truly stood out from the herd had it been released five years ago. Trouble is, we're awash in CGI 'toons, and this one isn't as good as the already-forgotten Over The Hedge or the just-released Monster House.

Still, it has its moments. Like the ubiquitous "Hello Moto" ringtone interrupting a serious meeting (nice bit of product placement there, Motorola), or an extended sequence where Otis and three Sopranos-inspired "Jersey cows" seek revenge on a cow-tipping brat.

Kids will like the action-packed dance numbers, car chases and fight scenes, and parents -- well, if you can survive the oddly flat first 30 minutes of bad jokes and on-the-nose pop culture references, it gets better. Kind of like aged beef.

BOTTOM LINE: Dumb but cute like a farmer's favourite dairy cow, Barnyard isn't going to make you forget the latest Pixar flick. But it's got enough silly jokes and crazed action to keep over-stimulated young'uns temporarily enthralled.

(This film is rated G)