Review 463: Bee Movie

Bee Movie is a very subpar animated film and defiantly one of DreamWorks lesser offerings.

Fresh out of collage, Barry B. Benson (Jerry Seinfeld), a bee who lives in a Hive, doesn't find the prospect of working Honex Industries honey-making workforce for the rest of his life very inspiring. One day, he flies outside the hive for the first time and befriends a human florist named Vanessa (Renee Zellweger), breaking a cardinal rule of his species. Barry soon learns that humans have been stealing and eating honey for centuries and he realises that his true calling is to obtain justice for his kind by suing humanity for theft.

The plot is...   well the only two words are bizarre and awkward. The film treats humans taking It starts to loose me

lacking in warmth and charm

It treats its subject matter so earnestly that it stretches plausibility and starts to lack sting and becomes perplexing and head scratching. The No. 1 rule of the Bees is "Don't talk to humans" which at first seems to be funny in a self aware sort of way but Barry's fellow bees go on and on about how terrible it is.

It's almost not trying to be that funny it's trying to tell the story straight forward. There are a few nice chuckles here and there but nothing laugh-out-loud. Possibly the only character who comes close to being funny is Chris Rock as Mooseblood the Mosquito who does get some decent laughs.

The characters feel designed purely to advance the plot from Point A to Point B. Almost every single one of their actions feels staged/planned ahead of time.

Director Simon J. Smith's animation direction is the animation is gorgeous, the production design (creating the inside of a bee hive and loads of different microscopic locations) is excellent and richly detailed, the score by Rupert Gregson-Williams is catchy, the character design is immaculate and creative

Barry B. Benson is the stereotypical non conformist, idealistic character archetype who thinks outside the box we've seen many times in animated films. His character arc is, not surprisingly, about as generic as it sounds.
When he's finally given a chance to reflect on his actions, I can't help but think it could've come earlier in the film or else, there should have been far greater consequences.

Apologies for the lack of originality but Bee Movie lacks...   sting, 2/5.

The Anonymous Critic.