 |  | | Bee Movie |
Review #559 of 365
Movie Review of Bee Movie (2007) [PG] 90 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $11.75
Where Viewed: United Artists Denver Pavilions Stadium 15, Denver, CO
When 1st Seen: 2 November 2007
Time: 2:15 pm
DVD Release Date: 11 March 2008 (click date to purchase or pre-order)
Film's Official Website • Film's Trailer
Soundtrack: Download now from ![Rupert Gregson-Williams - Bee Movie (Music from the Motion Picture) [Bonus Track Version]](http://ax.phobos.apple.com.edgesuite.net/images/badgeitunes61x15dark.gif){kind=small}
- or - order the CD below
Directed by: Steve Hickner (The Prince of Egypt)
Written by: Jerry Seinfeld (Hindsight is 20/20) • Spike Feresten ("Seinfeld") • Barry Marder (debut) Also directed by Simon J. Smith (Shrek 4-D) and written by Andy Robin (Live Free or Die)
Featured Cast (Where You Might Remember Him/Her From):
Jerry Seinfeld (The Thing About My Folks) • Renée Zellweger (Miss Potter) • Matthew Broderick (Deck the Halls) • Patrick Warburton (Underdog) • John Goodman (Death Sentence) • Chris Rock (I Think I Love My Wife) • Kathy Bates (Charlotte's Web) • Barry Levinson (Quiz Show ) • Larry King (Shrek the Third) • Ray Liotta (Wild Hogs) • Sting (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) • Oprah Winfrey (Charlotte's Web) • Larry Miller (Blonde Ambition) • Megan Mullally ("Will and Grace")
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word or less review of this film]
Click to see photos from the Premiere of Bee Movie
Click to read the spoiler points for Bee Movie
While 2006 was definitely the year of the Animated Film, 2007 has proven somewhat lack luster by comparison. The three biggest features of the year: Shrek 3, Ratatouille, and The Bee Movie have all been excellently animated (Ratatouille reigns in the area of digital animation—probably the best of all time), but all three have been hampered by story line. Shrek the Third was, well, the third, and the story is getting worn and to be a bit of a parody of itself. Ratatouille was inventive and new in every possible way, but the animators and writers took a decidedly dangerous turn opening the film with a horrifying sequence with a gas mask-wearing Granny trying to murder the protagonist with a shot gun that never ended up settling in with kids and parents the way that Happy Feet and Cars had done the year before. Now enter the third and final blockbuster animated film of the year, this one, like Shrek, from the folks at Dreamworks Animation, but with a buzzing Jerry Seinfeld as not only the voice talent for the lead Bee but, also, the co-writer of the film. Setting aside all biological deference to the bee insect order Hymenoptera, the overly complicated story presents an odd moral challenge that may cause parents and guardians, especially if they are environmentally conscious in the least some concern. For, you see, the story entails a little bee named Barry B. Benson (voiced by Jerry Seinfeld) who starts out on a very noble cause when he leaves the hive for some sort of outer world adventure, and ends up discovering that his noble cause leads to the world wide death of all flowers. If you want specifics, see the spoiler points. In a nutshell, the message of the film, perhaps unintentionally, turns out to be that one should, instead, allow major corporations to 'steal' while you work away slavishly to fulfill their profit margins, because if you don't, you'll so upend the natural order of things as to doom the planet—after all, there're no complex life forms alive that don't either eat flourishing plants directly or eat else something that did. It's a very, very odd and morally complicated film that could serve for many rounds of discussion, most importantly would probably be (not bee) why a comedian who emerged into the limelight for his uncanny ability to make the mundane hilarious, choose to go this complicated route with a children's movie?
"… a lot of great talent went into making Bee Movie …"
As far as I can see it defies all logic. While animated films have made a habit out of pitching some material right over the tops of the heads of their target audience to the receipt of great chuckles from their guardians required to accompany them, this film's plot takes that concept to an entirely new level. It's impossible as an adult immersed in the historical complex of our times and not see this film as being oddly twisted or slanted toward an un-environmentally sound direction. Worse, even cutting slack for the writers either complete ignorance of the biology of the organisms involved or their suspension of reality in favor of cutesy animation, the science presented is inexcusably incorrect (more on this in the spoiler points). This is compounded by a sequence in the film where a determined lawyer for the Honey industry attacks the character of Barry Benson by suggesting that his parents aren't his parents, rather the Queen is the mother of all the bees in his hive (technically true). Why go to all this trouble to elaborate on this point? Either someone who was involved with writing and directing the film actually knew something about bees or they didn't. If they didn't this would be more excusable. But, if you're going to insert a character who does, then you invite this type of criticism. In any case, there's no denying that a lot of great talent went into making Bee Movie on all sides. The animation is lustrous and glowing. The voice cast is mostly very charming—with the notable exception of Chris Rock's Mooseblood mosquito which was conceptually a bad idea made worse by his interpretation of the character and Patrick Warburton's Ken who comes across as one of the most needlessly vile characters in animated film history. There are loads and loads of fun puns and concepts involved (Bee Larry King and Sting, for example).
"… the overly complicated story presents an odd moral challenge …"
Yet nothing seems to alter the odd perception by the end that the moral of the story is, "Injustice be darned, don't rock the boat when a system is corrupt because it could lead to your imminent extinction." Poor Barry goes from hero to zero and only regains his former luster when he resorts to a carefully orchestrated theft with his partner in crime, a little florist from Manhattan named Vanessa Bloome (Renée Zellweger). Somebody wasn't paying attention to the plots of Cars and Happy Feet the former was brilliant because it had no villain and one of the best 'morals' of any animated film ever, and the latter because it encouraged everything that Bee Movie seems to suggest is a bad idea. You know like being yourself and fighting for your beliefs. This should be good news for the writers and directors of Disney's Animation team responsible for Meet the Robinsons as it is more clear than ever that it is still the best all-around, animated film of 2007.
Alternate Posters
Click to Purchase
Back to Top | W.I.P. Scale™ | Most Recently Reviewed Films | Films of 2005 | Films of 2006 | Films of 2007
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
Other Projects Featuring Bee Movie (2007)
Cast Members
Jerry Seinfeld
• Renée Zellweger • Matthew BroderickPatrick Warburton
• John Goodman • Chris RockKathy Bates
• Barry Levinson • Larry KingRay Liotta
• Megan Mullally • Oprah WinfreyDirector
Steve Hickner
Writers
Jerry Seinfeld
• Spike Feresten • Barry Marder| Art Book | Video Games | Toys |
| DVD | VHS | |
Jerry Seinfeld and company write and voice a morally complicated tale of a bee who finds himself longing for greater adventure than being a honey stirrer for the rest of his life. Unfortunately, while doing what most would consider the right thing—fighting injustice—he inadvertently nearly wipes out all life on earth. This might be way too 'heady' for little kids to wrap their minds around, especially ones whom we are trying to teach right from wrong. In the end, the lustrous animation is nearly wasted on a film where the protagonist has to resort to stealing to right his wrongs.
No comments:
Post a Comment