"Bee Movie" movie review

We continue our look at films already in the cineplexes. This week it is the animated adventure, Bee Movie. Produced and co-written by Jerry Seinfeld, Bee Movie tells the tale of a young bee, named Barry, who dreams of life outside the hive. Getting his wish, Barry soon learns that humans are abusing bees to get their honey. So what does Barry do? He sues the human race. Lending their voices to the project are Seinfeld, Renee Zellweger, Matthew Broderick and John Goodman.

Andy: Bee Movie is a strange animated feature. It doesn't seem to be committed to targeting children or adults so it ends up reaching neither very well. It is a cartoon about talking bees and it is rated PG, so it seems like a kids movie. But most of the dialogue and plot seem pointed directly at the adults. The result is that the concept of the film, much like the plot, remains disjointed and unclear throughout the duration of the movie.

Ryan: For the most part, Bee Movie is a pretty entertaining animated feature. The movie is not a Pixar classic but it's better than a majority of animated films that get released. I agree with Andy's sentiment that Bee Movie is not a typical animated movie. A movie like Shrek is geared towards kids but contains many allusions that appeal to adults. Bee Movie has a large number of allusions that appeal to adults but unlike Shrek, Bee Movie's narrative is aimed at adults with a story filled with lawsuits and a trial. A great number of kids will like the movie because it looks great but they are not going to get what the movie is about even on the literal level.

Andy: Animated, anthropomorphized, animal, adventure movies often have an underlying message that allows the movie to be read as an allegory or at the very least an extended metaphor. Reading Bee Movie in this way leads to questionable conclusions. The bees discover that the dominant culture (humans) is taking their product (honey) with little or no compensation. After an attempt to rectify this injustice is made, the entire ecosystem begins to fall apart, and the bees realize that they were happier when they were making honey for the humans. So the lesson here is its okay for a dominant culture to exploit an entire class of workers because that is the natural order of things. In fact, that's what the workers want.

Ryan: The biggest problem with the film's conclusion is how unclear it is. Because of that one could make case for Andy's argument in terms of the film's message. I don't 100% agree with his argument but I do see how one could think that. One could read the film's resolution that has Barry (the bee) and Vanessa (the human florist) in business together as a harmonious balance between bee and human. Whether one thinks that or not, ultimately the loose ends of the plot are not clearly spelled out. Because of that, the movie ends on a choppy note.

Andy: Bee Movie was uneven, disjointed, and had a plot that was not particularly enjoyable to watch. However, there were several moments in the movie that were brilliant, laugh-out-loud funny on the scale of Seinfeld's best television shows. So in spite of its shortcomings elsewhere, Bee Movie is funny enough that it ends up being a pretty decent movie.

Ryan: With Seinfeld's involvement, it is no surprise that Bee Movie has quite a few funny moments. I found myself laughing quite a bit-- more so than with most animated features. The movie is quite heavy with it's dialogue and while I found that enjoyable I don't think many young kids will. Also enhancing the film is the voice work especially that of Zellweger's. In this case she seems to be really into the voice work and does a stupendous job with it.


Bee Movie is not the most consistent animated feature but it is a charming film for both kids and adults. Final grade: B-.