I can’t remember the last time an animated film didn’t look good. It seems that filmmakers these days have the visual splendor aspect down. Just look at the recent Beowulf for example. That movie looked so good, you might think it’s real in some parts. So why did they even animate it then? No matter though, because Bee Movie didn’t take the approach towards realism. Instead, it looks exactly like an animated film should, which means it looks animated. Redundancy aside, Bee Movie isn’t exactly the comedic hive you’d expect from co-writer and voice supplier Jerry Seinfeld, but it won’t exactly bore you either.
Barry B. Benson (Seinfeld) is a bee who doesn’t want to get caught up working the honey fields for the rest of his life, like his parents, so he decides he wants something more. He wants to leave the hive and see the outside world - a task only a handful of hive-mates tackle. Sure, he is a “male” bee and in the real world, male bees don’t work with honey, but this is a children’s film. So suspend your disbelief a little harder.
Who knows anything about the inner-workings of beehives anyway? Such things aren’t the concern of directors Steve Hickner and Simon Smith, or writers Seinfeld, Spike Feresten, Barry Marder and Andy Robin.
The story follows Barry out of the hive and into New York City, where he gets caught up in the hustle bustle, and loses his mates. He ends up at the residence of Vanessa Bloom (Renée Zellweger). It is here where he soon discovers that humans “steal” honey from millions (if not billions) of the world’s bee populace. Angered, he takes to the courts (yes, a bee goes to court and sues humans for the fair treatment of bees) to fight for what he believes will benefit hives all over.
He never takes into considerations, however, just what bees do for our planet. If they are just lazying about, who will be around to pollinate? It’s the sort of environmental issue you probably never thought about prior, nor will you much after. Even kids, who are the prime audience for this film, may not even remember its importance.
And since this is a kids film, the 2-disc DVD version is chock full of extra goodies to keep those without an Xbox or Playstation at bay for an hour or two afterwards. A few deleted bits, making-of featurettes, games, and commentary round out the extras.
