Movie Review

Bee Movie

I heard a commercial on the radio the other day that said that the bees were dying. If they're using the same comedy material that Jerry Seinfeld is using here, I can see why. Seinfeld plays Barry B. Benson, a bee having just graduated from college (most likely with a Bee-A) who finds himself disillusioned by the lack of career prospects open to him. Like an English major who finds that a job in the food service industry is his best option, Barry finds that his best is creating honey. Determined not to let this get him down, Barry decides to venture out of the hive one day and commits one of the rules of the bee world: he talks to a human. Vanessa (Renee Zellweger) is a New York City florist whom he begins a relationship with, until he realizes that the humans have actually been stealing and eating the bees’ honey. Dead set on trying to make this right, Barry decides to sue the human race for damages.

Jerry Seinfeld is a comedy genius; a man who has committed himself to the mechanics of his jokes and pulled them out beautifully. "Bee Movie" has moments of the same kind of observational wit that made his TV series such a hit for all those years. Whether he's poking fun at the bee dress code of yellow and black or holding recording artist Sting up to standard for stealing a "bee" trademark name, you can't fault Seinfeld for mining this material dry for ideas. The problem is once the story really gets going, Seinfeld succeeds neither in creating something that's lively enough for kids or satirical enough for adults. Kids won't be interested in a love story between a bee and a human or a drawn out courtroom trial based primarily on the fact that humans are taking away from the environment, and parents will be disappointed that the comedy wastes away to a few throwaway sight gags and a couple of over-the-top and irritating characters.

There was potential here, maybe even another animated bug comedy like "Antz" for adults, but this is a movie that tries to please everybody and mostly fails. Seinfeld is a funny guy, which is mostly all of the reason why I wanted to see this movie and all the reason why I tried desperately not to hate it, but it's hard to sit through and that's a real buzz-kill. P.S, sorry for ending on a bad pun.

Craig's Grade: C

A	10.9%
B	41.8%
C	31.8%
D	15.3%
F	0.3%