Bee Movie

The one that comes up all the time if you google me!

Lover: Taken from IMDB
“This kids movie was totally awesome and had lot's of adult humor. Welcome back Jerry Seinfeld who hasn't really done anything since Seinfeld. Renne Zellewigger was awesome as usual. Tons of big actors. I hate to say Matthew Brodderick grows on me when I see him in good movies. My favourite character was Chris Rock the Mosquito "I was a blood sucking parasite before... I just needed a briefcase. Animated movies are just mind blowing how smooth the animation is and how realistic. Actors get way more into the voice roles I find. This movie has catchy music and lot's of laughs. Very inventive script. Jerry Seinfeld is a great whiny bee who challenges bee ethics and human nature. This movie is totally cool and I already know I will be buying this on video this week. Sweet...”

They point out the one thing I like most about this film, the casting of Jerry Seinfeld. A lot like the casting of Woody Allen as an ant, the dry humour and observation comedy just fits into these worlds with ease.

Hater: Taken from IMDB
“When bee keepers are portrayed as evil scoundrels, it's time to question the intelligence of writers. Not only do they have no concept of bees and bee keeping, they don't know that only the sterile females do all the work. Male bees are DRONES, who do nothing but fertilize young queens. Which highlights why useless people are called drones. We might extend that term to include the writers and producers of this movie. Granted, animation is basically aimed at fanciful imagination and impossible situations. But let's keep it funny. Gross error and stupidity is not funny. Smokers don't kill bees - they discourage bee aggression. Even the "ecological" theme is skewed. The idea of entertainment is to entertain. This movie fails to do so. Undoubtedly, fans of Seinfeld and self absorbed urban culture will enjoy parts of this, but overall, it's awful. Jerry, revive "Seinfeld" if you want to parody New York culture, but spare us from further "bumbling" beez niss.”

I really like this review, I think it’s well written and makes some valid points. However I will mention two things, the portrayal of beekeepers is down to anyone with prior knowledge to decide, but isn’t it just a kids movie? Does it matter that much? Also I’m pretty sure they never use the smokers to literally kill bees just knock them out?

What I thought:
There is a wonderful moment in Bee Movie where the humans wait with bated breath to hear the Bee talk, When the Bee opens his mouth all that comes out is “buzz buzz buzz buzz”. He does it on purpose and it’s one of the biggest laughs in the film, for me it is the epitome of what makes this film funny. That kind of tongue in cheek humour that knows the film is based on a childish idea, it’s the same reason Antz was so good.

Another reason Antz was soo good was the casting of Woody Allen, as I’ve said already the casting of Jerry Seinfeld is very fitting and that kind comedy is well received here. Like Antz it’s a social commentary applied to the life of Bee’s, the intricate design of their beehives is used ingeniously and their social order makes complete sense. From being made to work for the rest of their life in the same job to simple things like yellow and black jumpers, all very clever and worth a smile.

Clever comedy and hilarious cameos from Sting and Ray Liotta however do not help the fact that you don’t really care for the characters. It’s not about character development, it’s just the majority of the running time plays more to the idea of Bee’s having this life and being able to speak. It doesn’t leave much room to develop any affinity to the characters.

It’s a clever comedy with too much emphasis on the nature of the idea than the characters.