MOO-VIE STARS COURTENEY COX AND SAM ELLIOTT AREN'T COWED BY `BARNYARD' ANTICS.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Writer

The people at Nickelodeon Movies thought they'd made a nice little kids' cartoon. ``Barnyard'' was this fun, wacky story about farm animals who stand up on their hind legs and talk when the farmer isn't looking.

Little were they anticipating controversy. But now, the ``Barnyard'' folks are faced with one relentless question that just won't go away: Why do the movie's boy cows have udders?

``It's funny. For something that I spent, probably, .002 seconds on, it's become quite the talk,'' says Steve Oedekerk, ``Barnyard's'' writer-director-producer. ``There was never a real decision made. I get a lot of images that pop into my head. I've always thought cows are kind of funny animals -- and udders are funny.

``They're not there to define gender,'' Oedekerk soberly clarifies. ``In the movie, the men are clearly men, the women are clearly women. There's no weird stuff that's going on. It just looks funny.''

Easy for him to say. Oedekerk doesn't have an instantly recognizable, Man-of-the-West voice associated with a teat-baring bovine.

Sam Elliott, on the other hand, does.

``I've played a bunch of cowboys, but I never thought I'd play a cow,'' Elliott says in his trademark, gravelly drawl. ``Particularly a cow named Ben. I'm still trying to figure out this whole gender issue.

``I'd been really thinking about it hard for a while,'' Elliott reveals. ``But then I realized, y'know, it's family fare, and it's a kid thing, and I don't think the audience is going to be thinking that much about anatomical correctness and all that stuff. Probably best to stick with udders; what else are they going to put on 'em? It maintains the rating considerably.''

``Barnyard'' is rated PG for some scary stuff involving predatory coyotes and a little rude humor. But while it revels in Nickelodeon's house brand of crazy kid anarchy -- Oedekerk also produced the network's ``Jimmy Neutron'' feature and series -- it's stocked with messages about taking care of others and learning responsibility.

Elliott's Ben is the barnyard's steady and protective leader. His adopted son Otis (voiced by ``The King of Queens' '' Kevin James) is a hard-core party animal who may or may not be able to step up to the plate when Ben can no longer lead. Courteney Cox lends her voice to Daisy, a new arrival from another farm whose udders aren't out of place -- she's expecting a calf.

``Gosh, there's lots in the movie that teaches people,'' former ``Friends'' star Cox says. ``There's a theme of responsibility and not blaming yourself for things. It's just such a sweet story; I just think there are so many different elements to this film that touch so many different parts of your heart.''

As for the burning controversy ...

``Wow, I feel stupid, but do boy cows have udders in real life?'' Cox asks. ``I guess they don't.''

For Elliott, the heart-to-heart talks between Ben and Otis brought back fond memories of his own father, an animal control officer from West Texas.

`I was 18 when my dad died,'' the ``Tombstone'' star recalls. ``We had an amazing relationship, but it was never one where everybody sat down and talked a lot. My dad grew up in El Paso. He was all about the outdoors, worked for the Fish and Wildlife Service. The few times that we did have sit-downs, the thing that probably resonated most with me was his advice to always do more than was expected of you, go the extra distance. And it worked -- served me well.

``I think Dad would get a big kick out of this movie.''

Without even consciously realizing it, Oedekerk -- who was adopted -- worked a lot of his own memories into the Ben-Otis relationship.

``The whole thing is very close to my life,'' says Oedekerk, who's written such movies as ``Bruce Almighty,'' ``Patch Adams'' and ``The Nutty Professor.'' ``I didn't realize until I got halfway through the script that the story was really similar to mine. And about three-quarters of the way through, I realized that the story isn't that uncommon in general. The whole kids-just-want-to-have-fun idea -- it's not that they don't want to be responsible, but they don't really understand why it's necessary. That became the core of Otis' character. Everybody has their own story of the certain moment when they had to grow up and make a decision about what kind of person they were going to be.''

Lest your children get the impression that ``Barnyard'' is good for them, though, Oedekerk and company assure us that it's mostly just crazy, critters-gone-wild shenanigans.

``Steve is one of the few filmmakers that I think has the ability to deliver very irreverent and edgy humor that is still completely wholesome and full of heart,'' says Julia Pistor, executive vice president of Nickelodeon Movies and one of ``Barnyard's'' executive producers. ``This delivers on a core family dynamic, which is something that we strive for in all of our movies, outrageous and silly as they are.''

Nick had better hope that approach still works. ``Barnyard'' is bringing up the, um, tail end of the most competitive feature animation season ever. Five major-studio CGI releases have come out this summer. ``Barnyard'' is the third one in as many weeks. ``The Ant Bully'' bombed at launch last weekend, and although ``Monster House'' opened decently, it's second-weekend box-office gross saw a steep-for-the-genre 47.5 percent drop.

``It's the first time in history, I believe,'' Oedekerk says, sounding optimistic. ``I don't think there's ever been three studio animated films in a row. But you know, not only are there three animated movies out, there are a lot of other big movies out. I call it summer. This year, we have the animation kicker.

``At the same time, you've also got to recognize that it's being driven by a fad,'' Oedekerk acknowledges. ``Everybody jumps on as soon as they see something makes money. But I think that portion of it will settle down, and the cream will rise.''

Which appears to be the cycle we're entering now. Any worries?

``I think people go to movies not because of the technology that they're presented in but for the stories they're telling,'' Pistor says. ``A few years ago, CGI animation was novel in and of itself, and you could get people to the theaters just to see it. What I love about `Barnyard' is it's not just silly cartoons. It delivers on the comedy, but it also delivers on a real story with cathartic moments. So, I'm not worried. I think, as a movie, it stands on its own.''

A movie whose male stars, when they stand on their own, expose decidedly female body parts.

``My feeling about the udders -- and I've worked at Nickelodeon for 10 years, so I speak for my whole company when I say this -- we think udders are funny,'' Pistor says, chuckling. ``There was no intention for them to be anything but funny. And when you think about it, in a world where animals stand up and talk, who's to say that there are not male and female cows?''

As lines of bull go, that one's pretty hard to argue with.

Bob Strauss [phone]

bob.strauss(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) Udder nonsense

`Barnyard' folks get silly when it comes to cows' anatomy

(2) no caption (cow)

(3) no caption (cow)

(4) - Courteney Cox

voice of Daisy the Cow