by kellie abrahamson kabrahamson1@aol.com
C Rated PG 91 min.
He’s won a Golden Globe, an Emmy, three American Comedy Awards and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. Despite practically dropping off the face of the earth when his long-running sitcom ended nearly 10 years ago, Jerry Seinfeld remains one of the most beloved comedians alive today. His latest project, DreamWorks’ Bee Movie, is one of the most anticipated movies of the fall, with many hoping the film will mark Seinfeld’s grand return to the limelight. Bee Movie buzzes into theaters this weekend.
Barry B. Benson (Seinfeld) is a young honeybee fresh out of college and about to start his life-long honey-making career in the Central Park hive he calls home. The problem is Barry doesn’t know what he wants to be and definitely doesn’t know if he wants to do it for the rest of his days. Fear of making the wrong choice forces Barry to leave the hive with the “Pollen Jocks,” macho foragers who spend much of their time outside gathering nectar and pollinating flowers. While exploring New York City, Barry finds himself in the apartment of a compassionate florist named Vanessa Bloome (Renee Zellweger) who saves the bee from being squished by her boyfriend Ken (Patrick Warburton). The near-death experience and Vanessa’s kindness compels Barry to violate bee law and reveal that bees can in fact talk. Once the initial shock wears off, Vanessa finds a friend in Barry, who himself is rather smitten with the florist, and the two begin learning about each other’s cultures. While spending time together in a supermarket Barry makes a shocking discovery about the human race: they like honey and are getting it without permission from bees. This “thievery” cannot go unpunished so Barry, his best buddy Adam (also a bee – voiced by Matthew Broderick) and Vanessa decide to sue national honey companies to get the sweet stuff back to the bee hives where it rightfully belongs.
I’m usually pretty easy on animated films. Most of the time if my kids are entertained by it and I can make it through without looking at my watch and praying for the closing credits, I’ll give it a pass. After all, I’m not really the target audience, right? With Bee Movie that rule really doesn’t apply. There’s plenty here for adults, beginning of course with our leading man, er, bug, Barry. His Graduate-esque search for a life of meaning is what most new college grads go through, and is something my five-year-old wont “get” for another couple of decades. Quarter-life crisis aside, Barry’s reaction to sue the pants off of “Big Honey” is another rather adult concept to try and wrap a kindergartner’s head around. Gags about Barry’s love interest not being a “wasp” and lawyers being “bloodsucking parasites” got big laughs from adults in the audience, but my kids? Not so much. Thankfully there’s a nice balance of slap-stick cartoon violence to keep kids entertained while grownups enjoy the more cerebral dialogue.
The problem with Bee Movie isn’t so much the comedy, it’s the story. It seems as if Seinfeld wrote a bunch of bee jokes and handed them to his co-writers to build a story around. The result is a disjointed film that feels like four separate movies loosely tied together. We start off within the hive, learning the secret lives of bees and its fascinating and charming and just the right amount of silly. Then Barry exits the only home he’s ever known and falls for Vanessa and suddenly we’re in the middle of an inter-species romantic comedy complete with a jealous boyfriend and a pair of fretting parents (voiced by Kathy Bates and Barry Levinson). Soon that takes a backseat to a courtroom drama as two bees and a florist take on a hot shot southern attorney (John Goodman) who seems to be the only human who finds it the least bit odd that an insect managed to file a lawsuit. Once the dust settles and the trail is over, the film switches yet again, this time to a classic cartoon fantasy where a sprinkle of pollen instantly solves all problems, a single hive full of bees can successfully land a commercial jet without human assistance and a cow (Tress MacNeille) seeks legal advice from a mosquito (Chris Rock). This strange combination of themes keeps viewers from sitting back and truly enjoying the protagonists and what they go through. As a result, you’ve got a bunch of potentially great characters getting lost in a bunch of weird storylines in a movie that sadly ends up being forgettable.
The only thing keeping Bee Movie from completely falling apart are a decent helping of clever jokes sprinkled throughout. Unfortunately, a few good jokes do not a good movie make. Bee Movie lacks the consistency to really become a standout animated classic. I have no doubt that the film will do well at the box office. With an amazing cast of talented actors behind these characters and an extensive ad campaign that has ruled all forms of media for the past two months, I would be in shock if the film isn’t the number one movie in America this weekend. Ultimately though, Bee Movie will be remembered for what it could have been, not for what it bee.
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EU Critic’s Choice Awards
