note: also appears on my film review website, ShaunMunro.co.uk, and Dooyoo!
The idea of anthropomorphism is certainly nothing new in animated cinema, but in Bee Movie, written by comedy giant Jerry Seinfeld, one is driven to ask – is this one step too far?
Bee Movie is essentially an allegory of the drudgery of human existence, namely as it pertains to one’s working life. Our protagonist, Barry Benson (Jerry Seinfeld), a bee, has recently graduated and become disenfranchised with the idea of making honey for the rest of his life. Through a series of events, Benson comes to learn that humans eat honey, and as such, endeavours to sue the human race. How such subject matter meanders into a children’s film is a curiosity, and I find myself thinking that adults may better identify with the film’s themes than the ankle-biting target audience.
Bee Movie also employs a rather strange means of character modelling – the bee characters resemble human beings more than in any other film such as this, with even their skin tones closely resembling the white cross-section of society. When you combine this with the fact that the bees drive cars to work, it would at times become easy to forget that this is even a film about insects.
As questionable as the film’s content can be, the visual effects are undeniably impressive, although will
be starkly overshadowed by the visual feast that is Beowulf. There are numerous scenes of distinct chaos, all of which are appropriately bombastic and colourful, and as such are easy to simply sit back and absorb.
Whilst one doesn’t expect moral complexity from a film such as this, the characters are incredibly black and white – the human who interacts with Benson, Vanessa (Renée Zellweger), is an exponent of animal rights, rather preposterously attesting that the life of a bee is as important as that of a human. Meanwhile, her boyfriend, Ken (voiced by Family Guy’s excellent Patrick Warburton) is very much the opposite, and quite rightly, I found myself agreeing with his sentiments.
Some of the inherent mechanics of Bee Movie’s premise are materially strange – the fact that a bee alone can talk to a human is preposterous enough, but the fact that she can hear the minute sound that a bee is able to project is insane. Still, I see this not as an overt complaint – as a mechanic it is slightly clumsy and awkward-looking, but one soon gets used to it, and for whom this film ultimately concerns, they’re unlikely to be bothered by it. However, there is one sigh-inducing instance, in which Benson is able to overpower a human in a mock “sword fight” – whilst I don’t necessarily expect a scientifically plausible film, this came close to destroying the barrier entirely. That said, without most of these divergences, we wouldn’t have much of a film, would we now?
As strange a choice as the premise is for a children’s film, there are also a number of adult jibes that will undoubtedly zoom far over the heads of the target audience. There was a rather surprising blink-and-you’ll-miss-it reference to sexually transmitted diseases (which left me unsure whether to laugh or fold my arms), and numerous cinematic references in Ray Liotta’s brief appearance.
The real gems of Bee Movie are the numerous cameo appearances, including Chris Rock (as a blood-hungry mosquito), John Goodman (a slimy, morbidly obese and melodramatic lawyer), as well as the aforementioned Ray Liotta, and Sting as themselves. There’s even a bee version of Larry King, inventively named “Bee Larry King”, an overly anthropomorphic character (in that he almost entirely resembles King to a tee), but Seinfeld makes light of this fact and its deliberation, so it hardly irritates.
The idea of a bee taking legal action against the human race is about as preposterous a premise as one could excavate, and I largely expect that had Jerry Seinfeld or a similarly talented individual not appeared at the helm, then this project would have been thrown headlong into development Hell, or been given the red light from the outset. More to the point, the film’s finale barely befits the tone of the proceeding hour, with a high-octane finale placing human lives at stake. Naturally, we know that there’s never any real danger, and nobody will die in this film, yet it still feels like a cheesy, inane throwback to films such as Turbulence or about fifty direct-to-video action films, and worse still, the laws of physics are torn up, shredded, and shredded once more.
As one can expect, everything returns to the status quo, the equilibrium is re-introduced, everyone gets their just desserts and the credits roll rather swiftly. Bee Movie is a feel good film by its end, but there’s a decent amount of adult content so very tactfully slotted in between the bright colours and pretty rendered faces. Given the film’s tone at times, with jokes about suicide pacts, I was half expecting the film to end with our sympathetic human protagonist turning out to be insane, having invented her conversations with the bee in her head, but alas, it wasn’t so, which is a shame, as it would have made for a considerably more entertaining film.
Bee Movie is one of the more intriguing animated films to surface in a long time – it’s not that the film is outstanding in any aspect, but Seinfeld’s brand of humour transposed onto and disguised as a children’s film is either quite disconcerting, or incredibly smart on his part. The film is full of awkward action scenes, but each instance it falls down, it still manages to dazzle with slick, frenetic animation. Zellweger is appropriately irritating as the overexcited human protagonist, and the supporting cast, cameos and all, form most of what is enjoyable about Bee Movie. Seinfeld may need to reconsider who his target audience is, but this is an interesting and daring attempt at something a little different in the animated world.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Comedy - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Tessa Peake-Jones, Buster Merryfield, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst
Comedy - Director: Richard Boden, Mandie Fletcher, Martin Shardlow - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Hugh Laurie, Miranda Richardson, Stephen Fry, Brian Blessed, Tim McInnerny, Tony Robinson, Rowan Atkinson
There aren't a lot of choices in a bee's life: a bee attends a few days of school, ... more
graduates from college, and chooses a job in the hive that he'll labour at for the rest of his life. Barry (Jerry Seinfeld) is different from his best friend Adam (Matth...
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There aren't a lot of choices in a bee's life: a bee attends a few days of school, ... more
graduates from college, and chooses a job in the hive that he'll labour at for the rest of his life. Barry (Jerry Seinfeld) is different from his best friend Adam (Matth...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Bee Movie stars Jerry Seinfeld as Barry B. Benson - a bee who has just graduated from ... more
college and is disillusioned at his lone career choice: making honey. On a special trip outside the hive Barry's life is saved by Vanessa (Renee Zellweger) a floris...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
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Sep 26th, 2009
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