Bee-grade
posted on Wednesday, January 09, 2008 in Movie Reviews
Bee Movie really just has one thing against it: it’s not made by Pixar. It just doesn’t seem to have had the extra care it needed to become a classic. As it is, Bee Movie is visually stunning, unmistakably fun, but ultimately kind of empty. Barry B. Benson is a bee who’s just graduated from bee college. As soon as he graduates, he finds that he has to pick a job in the hive, which he’ll be doing for the rest of his life. Overwhelmed by having to make such an important choice, he goes out of the hive and explores the outside world for the first time. There, he discovers that humans are taking advantage of bees by taking their honey. He decides that to right this wrong, he has to sue the human race.
It’s a pretty crazy set of circumstances they have going on in this film, but it works. The trick here is that they really set up their world as a crazy place where almost anything can happen. The story, of course, could have been much tighter. The secret to Pixar’s success all these years is that they’ve always put story on the forefront. Dreamworks seems to be content with creating cutesy characters and delivering a whole ton of goofiness in the form of celebrity appearances.
That’s not bad in itself, but it does feel a little self-indulgent. Still, it does create for some pretty funny moments, although the kids probably won’t get it. Not a lot a kids are Ray Liotta fans, after all. For the adults, though, it can be a nice reprieve from all the kiddy bee puns. The film strives to have a little something for everyone, and audiences are almost guaranteed to be laughing at some point.
Technically, the film is gorgeous. The flying scenes are especially breathtaking, taking the audiences on a bee’s eye view of the world. This is a colorful world that they’ve painted, and it just springs to life on screen. All these visuals are accompanied by a Hans Zimmer score, which is almost never a bad thing.
Voicewise, it’s all pretty good. Barry B. Benson is really just Jerry Seinfeld in animated bee-form, and he manages to sound like he always does, which is kind of funny. Renee Zellweger doesn’t really get to do much except sound flaky, but she certainly does it with gusto. All in all, I’m still not completely convinced that celebrity voices are better for animated films, but they get the job done here.
Bee Movie is a pretty good choice for a parent looking to watch a film with their child. The fantastic visuals and quick, silly humor will keep kids entertained, while the strange pop culture references will keep the adults involved. And it’s short enough that it doesn’t overstay its welcome. If they had just tried harder to tell a coherent story, however, Bee Movie would have been an instant must-watch. As it is, though, it can be a fun time at the cinema.
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