Sting operation

With the weekend upon us, I decided to head over to the budget theater and check out Bee Movie. Aside from the Pixar films, I tend not to check out these animated films, since they're more aimed at kids. However, I have always been a fan of Jerry Seinfeld and his sitcom, so his presence here made things a bit more appealing.

Seinfeld voices Barry B. Benson, a bee who is not content with the drone lifestyle. He'd rather be with the "pollen jocks" (those bees who leave the hive and pollenate the flowers). The film's plot takes hold once Barry ventures out with them and makes the shocking discovery that humans are consuming the honey they work so hard to make. He learns this truth after befriending a woman named Vanessa (voiced by Renee Zellweger). Zellweger, I should add gives a fantastic performance here. Then again, any performance where we don't have to see that old catcher's mitt she calls a face will be considered fantastic by me.

Barry's meeting of Vanessa is where things take a turn for the surreal. It takes Vanessa all of about 30 seconds to get over the idea that a bee can talk and then proceeds to hang out with him as if they are the best of friends. Patrick Warburton voices Vanessa's boyfriend, who is incredulous over the fact that she's befriended a bee. He's portrayed in the film as a raving lunatic, but if you ask me, he comes off as the voice of reason.

If you can look past this bizarre plot development, what you have is a beautiful film that has some very funny moments. At this point, we really shouldn't be surprised by the precision and style that these animated films can display, but I still can't help but be amazed with the detail they can create in these movies. They are able to make vast cityscapes and the tiny hairs on a tennis ball look equally impressive. The animation here truly rivals anything seen in the Pixar films.

I mentioned that the film also has some funny moments, which is obviously should given that it's a cartoon and features Jerry Seinfeld. To me, the best stuff involved their humorous takes on the bee lifestyle. From the Willy Wonka-esque factory where the honey is made to Bee Larry King, they get the most mileage out all bee-related humor. The jokes made at the human's expense are more hit and miss. It's hard to say whether this is because Seinfeld is a little out of touch with humorous observations about humanity or whether I was still trying to wrap my head around this bizarro world where humans normally interact with insects.

There are several celebrity cameos strewn throughout the movie. Some are fun like Ray Liotta who plays himself and is a Paul Newman-like pitchman for a brand of honey. Others, like Matthew Broderick playing Barry's best friend are frustrating as I sat through the whole movie realizing that I recognized the voice but couldn't tell who it was. As fun as these celebrity cameos are, they can also be somewhat annoying. In this film more than any other recent animated film, I thought it was really noticeable that the voice actors had all done their parts seperately. As a result, it was difficult to gain a sense of connection between the characters.

There is a lot to enjoy here, but I have a feeling that there will be aspects that all audiences find annoying. For someone like me, I mentioned having a difficult time grasping with the odd bee-human interactions. I just felt like that needed to be developed more before jumping right in and making it seem normal. I wouldn't be surprised if other adults share this confusion. For kids, there is a lot of adult humor that is likely to fly right over their heads, which is probably why this film didn't have the success that most Pixar films do.

Bee Movie is equal parts bee-dazzling and bee-fuddling (and here I thought I could get through the whole review without any bee puns). In general, there is plenty enough here for an enjoyable film. If you are not resistant to the computer animated genre, you'll likely find the film appealing enough. It may not provide the solid laughs that were found on some of those classic episodes of Seinfeld, but it's an entertaining little diversion nontheless. Grade: B