Directed by: Steve Oedekerk
Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!
Synopsis: Otis the cow (voiced by Kevin James) would rather play than help his father Ben (voiced by Sam Elliott) guard the farm from coyotes.
Cartoon Cats: This notoriously bizarre film suffers from all kinds of weirdness, not the least of which is male cow characters with udders (why not just make them bulls?) There are three cats in the movie, none of which are mentioned by name. The most notable is a female percussionist and singer with The Barn Boys (she is sometimes referred to online as Tambourine Cat).
She has a solo turn in the band’s first number Hittin’ the Hay.
The cat musician is also performing as backup for rapper Biggie Cheese, a very large rat, who performs Boombastic.
In one of the films more bizarre moments, the band whistles to encourage a bizarre creature named Wild Mike, a hairy unidentifiable animal, to burst out of a crate and go into a mad dance that drives all the barnyard critters to join in.
Another cat character is a tiny yellow and orange tabby kitten, also not named. The kitten is nervous when Otis and his friends burst late into the barn during a meeting.
At another meeting, Duke the dog is trying to get all of the animals to pick him as their new leader. When the vote is called, three dogs hold up pro-Duke signs. The kitten is sitting between them and one dog growls at him, forcing the poor kitten to hold up an “I ‘Heart’ Duke” sign.
The kitten is last seen in the final moments of the film, watching with a gray cat through the slats of a stall at a newborn baby cow. The gray cat appears in a couple of scenes as a background character.
Final Mewsings: Thank goodness all of the cat characters didn’t have nipples!
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