BEE MOVIE
This Flying Flick of Buzz Is Funny, Honey and on the Money
PopcornReel.com Movie Review: "Bee Movie"
By Omar P.L. Moore/November 2, 2007
Got Honey? Jerry Seinfeld as the voice of Barry B. Benson (left) and
Matthew Broderick as Adam Flayman (right), in "Bee Movie",
which opened across the U.S. and Canada today. (Photos: Dreamworks
Animation LLC.)
Renee Zellweger as the voice of Vanessa, in "Bee Movie", produced by Jerry
Seinfeld and Christina Steinberg.
Steve Hickner and Simon J. Smith direct the enjoyable and highly
entertaining animated comedy "Bee Movie", which stings you with lots of
laughter, not venom. Jerry Seinfeld voices Barry B. Benson, a newly
college-graduated bumble bee who longs to escape from the rigorous world of
Honex, a bee-owned, bee operated, and bee-employed company, a world where bees
work themselves to death. One bee humorously informs us that bees at Honex
have been working for 27 million years without a break, or something to that
effect. The fun begins for Barry (and the audience) about 15 minutes in,
when he flies out on a flying bee mission with a troupe of other senior bees.
Soon, Barry will find adventure, and meet Vanessa, a curvaceous human in the
mold of Jessica Rabbit. Vanessa is voiced by Renee Zellweger and both Mr.
Seinfeld's and Ms. Zellweger's vocals are pitch-perfect for their characters.
As usual the animation is executed very well, and Dreamworks puts together a
strong presentation here, particularly in the action sequences of the film. most
notably involving a tennis ball and beyond. Normally it is Disney/Pixar
that has the visual splendor of the animation market cornered, but here,
Dreamworks has a film in "Bee Movie" that really stands apart from some of the
previous Dreamworks Animation company's efforts. Alex McDowell's
production design alone would be astounding in a live-action feature film, and
here it is stunning, but thankfully not overwhelming. The vocalists, who
include a few surprise names from the television, film and music worlds, all
work so well together, and the screenplay for "Bee Movie", craftily devised by
Jerry Seinfeld, and Spike Feresten & Barry Marder & Andy Robin, is witty and
sweetly appetizing. The film contains a lot of tongue-in-cheek humor,
including a subliminal stereotypical reference that some may find offensive (a
Mexican worker angrily wielding a box-cutter knife in one scene.) There
are also jokes and comments about being Jewish which are also lightly sprinkled
in with a wink and a nod. Mr. Seinfeld and company have a script that is
as funny as it can possibly be, with some trademark Seinfeld-isms, as well as
lots of other loud, long belly laughs.
The biggest surprise about "Bee Movie" is that it is more for adults than for
kids. Many of the jokes have an adult sensibility to them. There are
a few shots of Vanessa in low cut attire and tight-fitting jeans as well.
Furthermore, a lot more adults than kids were laughing in an audience that saw
the film, and the film's central story about a bee who wants to sue humans
because they have absconded with their precious commodity called honey feels
like a story that adults will enjoy and grasp more easily than kids of a certain
age might. (Some of the dialogue in the film evokes memories of some lines
or scenarios in movies like "Jungle Fever", "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner" or
"To Kill A Mockingbird".)
Throughout, "Bee Movie" is a satirical pleasure and Chris Rock is a gut-busting
laugh-riot in a cameo appearance as he voices a mosquito named Mooseblood.
John Goodman is also great as Layton Montgomery, the lawyer opposing Barry
Benson, and the animation for Mr. Montgomery is priceless, especially in one or
two sequences. If you're in need of cheering up, or simply need a buzz of
honey to energize you, "Bee Movie" is the perfect nectar for your animated
tastes.
"Bee Movie" is rated PG by the Motion Picture Association of America for mild
suggestive humor and a brief depiction of smoking. The film flies around
for a total of one hour and 30 minutes. You may not be able to keep up
with the speed of flight, but will you keep laughing. Again, there are
some surprise voices and characters that appear in the film, and they are very
funny in the context of this delightful film. Buzz off now to your local
movie theater.
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