Bee Movie: Movie Review (2007)

Directed by Simon J. Smith and Steve Hickner, written by Jerry Seinfeld, Spike Feresten, Barry Marder and Andy Robin, 100 minutes, rated PG.

(Originally published 2007)

If the new computer-animated movie, “Bee Movie,” had been directed by a queen bee rather than by Simon J. Smith and Steve Hickner, it likely would have been tighter, more productive and had a sense of purpose. The film's worker bees--in this case, the animators and writers--also might have been more focused on creating a great movie, rather than the average one they've given us here.

Unfortunately, too much of “Bee Movie” seems as if it was driven by drones. After an aggressive marketing campaign that naturally highlighted the movie’s high points, the film initially seemed a shoo-in for Academy Awards consideration. And yet “Bee Movie” is a film that likely played out better on the page than it does onscreen.

At least that’s true for its first half. The movie is the pet project of Jerry Seinfeld, who worked for years on the film, apparently polishing it to the point that he rubbed its edges smooth. Some of the dialogue does snap and there are a few good laughs, but they come after a labored first half, from which the film struggles to recover.

Set in New Hive City, the movie follows one Barry B. Benson (voice of Seinfeld), a bee fresh out of college who is inspired to change the world by ending human consumption of honey. For Barry, the idea that humans are robbing hives blind and working bees to death is a good reason to rebel. His idea is to get the humans out of the honey business, and allow some down time for the bumbles.

Helping him in that task is Vanessa (Renee Zellweger), a florist with boyfriend troubles who agrees to help Barry in his quest to sue the human race for enslavement and thievery. Eventually, they wind up in court and it’s here, in the film’s second half, that it finally leaps to life.

This is due in great part to the human race's hefty lawyer Layton T. Montgomery (John Goodman, excellent), who is given to marvelous bouts of histrionics, and also to the fallout that springs from the trial, which is dire. After all, what is the world to do if Barry actually wins his case? Has anyone considered the ramifications? Bees already are in dangerously short supply. If they stop pollinating flowers and plants, wouldn’t a worldwide collapse ensue, with all vegetation dying?

That’s a serious subject to explore, but in a cartoon that would rather squeeze the life out of every bee pun it can get its hands on, the big monster in this movie isn't the human race, but those humans who failed to make a compelling film.

Grade: CView the hi-def video review by clicking here.

View a low-res version of the video review by clicking below: