Bee Movie film review

BEE MOVIE

I'll resist making lots of bad bee puns, which is something Bee Movie's screenwriters couldn't. In fact, at times it seems the only reason the striped insects were chosen as a subject matter for an animated comedy is that they afforded the opportunity for an endless supply of corny gags. Gags that extend to the guest appearance of none other than Sting, who finds himself accused by bees of having adopted a derogatory name. They have a point. But there is a limit to how many bee jokes you can make and endure before something a little more substantial is required to sustain your interest, like a good story. Which is what Bee Movie lacks.

On the plus side, and the film certainly has one, Jerry Seinfeld's involvement both as a co-screenwriter and the voice of the lead character raises the level of the humour. His observational and droll wit is evident throughout, but even that isn't enough. The success of Pixar has shown that a compelling script is at least if not more important than innovative and imaginative animation and while Bee Movie is richly colorful, it's certainly nothing original.

With the best will in the world, Seinfeld's humour couldn't be classified as particularly kid-friendly and even with the help of three other co-writers, Bee Movie has a distinctly more grown-up sensibility than such fare as Finding Nemo or Over The Hedge. The film's political persuasion and courtroom scenes are also prone to slow things down. These lulls and the film's low-key tone are highlighted when the exuberant Chris Rock energizes proceedings as the voice of an embittered mosquito. It made me wish I was watching Mosquito Movie instead.

Seinfeld is the voice of Barry B. Benson, a young bee who has just graduated but finds the prospect of a life on the factory line making honey less appealing than his best pal Adam (Matthew Broderick). Instead he joins the hive heroes, the Pollen Jocks, an elite squadron who get to fly around the outside world gathering pollen. On one trip Barry meets and becomes smitten by the florist Vanessa Bloome (Renée Zellweger) who is the first human he encounters who doesn't want to swat him to death.