'Bee Movie': Not Quite as Good as the Buzz

By Martha Brockenbrough
MSN Cinemama

Variety: 'Bee Movie' Review

When we last saw Jerry Seinfeld, he and his cast of friends were on trial for being lousy human beings. Now, Seinfeld is back -- as a bee putting lousy human beings on trial for stealing honey.

Maybe somebody should get Seinfeld a new plot device for Hanukkah this year.

It's not that "Bee Movie" is bad. It has moments of great wit. It's just that anyone who thinks that courtroom drama belongs in a kids' movie has maybe, just maybe, been living in New York a bit too long.

"Bee Movie" is the latest animated picture from DreamWorks Animation, and it tells the story of Barry B. Benson (Seinfeld) as he faces the choice of his lifetime: which job to take in the hive. It truly is the choice of a lifetime. Barry can't change his mind and do something else, and he'll work every day until he dies. Even if the movie doesn't make the obvious drone joke, Barry wants more of a buzz out of life.

Never mind that the hive is designed to look like an amusement park; he'd rather spread his wings on the outside. And so he goes, traveling along with the beehive equivalent of Top Gun pilots as they gather nectar and spread pollen. Until, of course, he's separated from the rest and is saved by a kindly florist named Vanessa Bloome (Renée Zellweger). Barry breaks the cardinal rule of beedom and strikes up a relationship with Miss Bloome, ultimately learning the dark secrets of the human honey exchange. Yada, yada, yada.

Given the efforts spent to build buzz for this movie -- from Seinfeld's unfortunate appearance on the season premiere of "30 Rock" to commercials during children's television programming to the pre-opening availability of "Bee Movie" Happy Meals at McDonald's -- kids will be very eager to see this movie in the theater.

The good news is it's perfectly fine family fare. It's rated PG, for mild innuendo and a brief smoking scene. It does have a few action sequences that will scare very small children. It also has some good comedy, both for grown-ups and for kids. Parents will recognize a lot of vintage "Seinfeld"-style humor. And kids? They'll love the toilet-surfing scene.

What's in It for Kids

The coolest part about "Bee Movie" from a kid's point of view is the inner workings of the hive. It resembles an amusement park, but the rides are even better than Disneyland. Not only are there no apparent height requirements, but you get to dip your head in honey.

A close second are the flight scenes over New York. Who wouldn't want to zoom through a box kite soaring high above Central Park?

The characters have their appeal, too. While Seinfeld is a better voice actor than he is a screen actor, Chris Rock nearly steals the movie in the few scenes where he appears as a mosquito. Rock's bug-on-a-windshield performance is one of the movie's best.

In addition to the toilet-surfing episode, which is pure honey-colored comedy gold for 7-year-olds, there's a well-applied bee sting that saves the courtroom drama from turning into a child-sized sleeping pill.

This is the movie's central weakness for kids. While grown-ups can hear the stand-up Seinfeld riffing on the injustice of man toward bees and the potential for a lawsuit, this just isn't kid humor at all.

It's sort of surprising, given that Seinfeld has three larvae of his own. His wife has just written a book about slipping vegetables into their kids' cookies and cocoa -- maybe this is all part of their grand parenting plan. Raise them on courtroom drama and yam-flavored drinks, and they'll grow up grateful for anything halfway decent.

What's in It for Grown-ups

Anyone who has missed "Seinfeld" will be glad to hear his familiar comic patter in "Bee Movie." Seinfeld, who wrote the screenplay, is a clever guy. Ray Liotta's "Private Select" honey is a hilarious touch, especially at 50 percent off.

Seinfeld's storytelling, though, can't compare with the likes of Brad Bird or Hayao Miyazaki. This shows up painfully when the relationship of Barry and Vanessa changes after the trial in a way that doesn't make sense, making the ending feel tacked on and a bit forced.

What's more, the cleverness doesn't extend fully to the animation. The art is spectacular -- but today that's the norm for animation. And every so often, scale problems crop up. A bee who loses his stinger replaces it with a cocktail toothpick. He'd have to be the size of a mouse to pull that off. This is sloppy -- a decision made for the sake of comedy but which ultimately breaks the illusion of the world.

More disappointing, though, is the effect of Zellweger's performance. Her voice doesn't match her character, and it's distracting to watch. While Seinfeld is better as an animated character because you don't have to watch his nostrils flare as he suppresses his own laughter, you miss Zellweger's face. She's a great actress, and here she's been robbed of an important tool.

On the whole, though, the cast is very good. Patrick Warburton (Puddy from "Seinfeld") makes for a great bellowing buffoon of a boyfriend. Matthew Broderick plays Barry's bosom friend, Adam, without veering once into annoying sidekick territory. John Goodman is excellent as the evil, soft-bodied lawyer, and there are even appearances by Oprah (as the judge), Rip Torn, Liotta, Larry King and Sting. So it's a star-studded cast, even if some of the cameos make the film look more bloated than someone wearing horizontal stripes.

In all, it's not a bad first effort for Seinfeld. It's not the bee-all and end-all of kid flicks, but it won't give you hives. He'd just better lay off the lawsuit jokes in the future. Like a bee in the rain, those just won't fly.

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Martha Brockenbrough is author of "It Could Happen to You: Diary of a Pregnancy and Beyond." She's also founder of SPOGG, the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar. She writes a fun-with-kids column for Cranium.com, as well as an educational humor column for Encarta. Check out her Web site.

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