Review of Bee Movie (2007) by Chads — 07 Jan 2008

"Bee Movie" lost me in the courtroom. Talk about a buzzkill. It reminded me of the "Seinfeld" finale when Jerry and his friends are put on trial for not caring. In the hive, "Bee Movie" is at its anthromorphic best, as we nod with recognition about the day-to-day drudgery of our lives.

Because of Renee Zellweger's wonderful voice-over work, the interspecies relationship between Barry(Jerry Seinfeld) and Vanessa has a surprisingly winsome charm. It's easy to see why Barry falls in love with her.

Too bad the movie gets away from its modest strengths and overreaches with some barely concealed social commentary about our country's shameful past. "Bee Movie" alludes to the slave trade when Barry learns that bees are producing honey in forced labor hives.

"Bee" could stand for "B", as in "Black", since the returning of the honey to its rightful owner sounds an awful lot like slave reparations. "Bee Movie" is also hampered by some shaky plotting(the sequence in which Barry and Vanessa reintroduce flowers to the ecosystem may strike you as bizarre) and inappropriate cameos by pop culture icons(the bee version of a television newsman took me completely out of the movie).

"Bee Movie" should've stayed in the animal kingdom and made bears their primary nemesis. Vanessa could've been some sort of Jane Goodall-type, or a forest ranger.