Bee Movie (2007) December 23, 2007
Posted by gproject in : Cinema, Recently Viewed , trackbackDirected by: Steve Hickner & Simon J. Smith
As far as staying out of the limelight goes, comedian Jerry Seinfeld does a great job of remaining elusive despite his high profile status. From being one of television’s most popular actors at the end of the 9-year Seinfeld run, he then quickly faded into the background, making few contributions to the world that provided him his fame. Content to continue his stand-up career, we were offered a brief resurface in 2002, when Jerry appeared in and executive produced the sublime documentary Comedian, recounting his return to the stage. He then slipped away once more, this time to spend four years writing, producing and lending his vocal talents to an unlikely new project: an animated comedy about bees.
Jerry Seinfeld plays Barry B. Benson, a bee who is about to start his first job in the hive, doing what everybody else does – making honey. Despite his friend Adam’s enthusiasm for the work, Barry is unsure whether honey is the right industry for him. After taking a dangerous trip out of the hive with the nectar collectors, Barry finds himself being saved from a squishing by kind florist Vanessa (Renée Zellweger). He breaks the bee law and talks to her, after which the two become friends, much to the chagrin of Vanessa’s boyfriend, Ken. It isn’t until Barry discovers that humans have been stealing the bee’s honey for consumer sale that the little worker realises his true calling – to sue humankind for honey theft!
As you can tell, the central premise is almost straight out of a stand-up routine – the same twisted logic concept that is behind so much observational material. This is no surprise given that Seinfeld himself had a hand in the script, along with two of his old TV writers Spike Feresten and Andy Robin, as well as Barry Marder. The influence of Seinfeld is clear: the film is packed full of gags and really only sustains itself through a love of the one-liner, as well as some celebrity cameos and pop-culture references which fill out most of Bee Movie’s humour. Unfortunately, this adult perspective on life and laughs comes with a huge price.
There’s a central problem with the film that develops over the course of the narrative surrounding its targeted demographic. Often in CG family fare such as this, children are well catered to while adults can sometimes be left out in the cold. Bee Movie takes the opposite tack, giving adults plenty of sly references and gags that reflect their life, leaving children with only the odd moment of slapstick to contend with. A court case forms a central part of the story, for example, while Barry is a character driven by the compulsion to not follow a traditional career path – a principle influenced strongly by the life of a stand-up comic. The ideals about work and celebrity nods (Sting, Ray Liotta, and Larry King all show up), as well as a strong knowing sense of itself that it isn’t afraid to acknowledge (“There’s a Larry King in the human world too”, Barry tells interviewer ‘Bee Larry King’; “It’s a common name” comes the reply) make for an adult-oriented style of humour in a colourful kid-friendly wrapping.
On the positive side, the vocal casting is very well handled, with Seinfeld’s manic high-pitched vocal style playing nicely out of the character of a tiny bee. Renée Zellweger is fairly sweet and innocent as the florist and rather bizarre love interest for Barry, while Patrick Warburton (playing Venessa’s boyfriend Ken) spends almost the entire movie shouting – although, to be honest, that’s why they hired him. Small parts go to John Goodman, Rip Torn and Chris Rock who, despite a high credit in the cast, is barely in the final film at all. Best of the bunch, however, is Matthew Broderick playing Barry’s best friend Adam Flayman. He’s funny and expressive when necessary, as well as being the most heartfelt character, shown perfectly by a speech in which he explains how much he was looking forward to working in the hive. It’s a non-comic highpoint in a film that is otherwise quite bereft of emotion.
As a computer generated movie, it would be impossible not to mention the standard of animation which takes a distinct rounded style to its characters and environments – similar to the ‘cartoon’ realism that is present in Monster House or Pixar’s The Incredibles. In terms of detail though, the whole film is surprisingly lacking, choosing to give objects and characters a very smoothed-out look with only the bee’s hair (their ‘fuzz’) showing any signs of technical accuracy. Usually, animation is the one area that excels in even poor examples of the genre, but this film feels as if it was designed back in the concept stage of 2004 and never advanced itself with the development of technology.
So it’s lucky then that Bee Movie has got its humour to fall back on. With all the detractions of plot and visuals, there’s no denying that if you like Jerry Seinfeld and his style of comedy then you’ll undoubtedly find something to enjoy here. The dialogue is crammed with gags plus there are some nice background jokes to look out for. It’s very difficult to recommend to children and not for a lack of suitability, but for a feeling that they just won’t care about the adult-influenced world presented to them. The other worry is that adults may be turned off by the areas of the movie that contradict each other – such as the way very grounded concepts like bee farms and court cases are mixed with overly-imaginative ideas such as bees driving cars, or running a complicated and machine-driven honey factory. It strongly feels like a central concept born from a humorous observation that has had its story structured around it at a later date. I’m a big Seinfeld fan, so my bases are covered, but for everyone else and especially its target family audience, Bee Movie holds a distinct sting in the tail.
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