Movie Review - 'Bee Movie'

Bee Movie

Starring the voices of Jerry Seinfeld, Renee Zellweger and Chris Rock
Directed by Steve Hickner and Simon J. Smith
Rated PG

In a truly cynical world, it would be easy to hate Bee Movie on principle. After all, the idea was hatched when multi-millionaire comedian Jerry Seinfeld pitched a movie title with no story to billionaire filmmaker Steven Spielberg over dinner in the Hamptons. Why should any hard-working, salt-of-the-earth father or mother want to line the pockets of those responsible for such a pre-fabricated get rich quick scheme?

But the truth is, the concept is clever enough, some of the dialogue is appropriately smart, outlandish and/or funny and it’s a fast-paced cartoon that kids will laugh at, making it exactly the sort of thing a hard-working, salt-of-the-earth father or mother would get in line for.

Granted, this is not the fifth or sixth season of Seinfeld, and Jerry is not bouncing his ideas off Larry David. Also, the target is families here, which the movie clearly hits, albeit at the expense of better jokes, bigger laughs and a smarter fan base.

Barry B. Benson (Seinfeld) is about to embark on his life as a worker bee, but facing the only choice he’s ever going to make as a drone, he decides instead to leave the hive and explore the human world. Oh, and bees can talk in Bee Movie, which helps tremendously when Barry sues the human race for stealing all the honey reserves bees have slaved away on for millions of years. He even subpoenas Ray Liotta, who in this world has his own line of private select honey.

Seinfeld has kept a mostly low profile since retiring his genre-bending sitcom nearly a decade ago, and while Bee Movie doesn’t exactly reopen the floodgates of his observant, absurdist creativity, it’s a lot better than a movie deal crafted at an exclusive table in the Hamptons should expect to be.