Bee Movie

This movie was pretty fun- at least it started out that way. About midway it just started getting a little odd. It starts out sounding like an extended Jerry Seinfeld routine- with all the jokes about bees. It's one pun after another, some of them funny, some of them make you roll your eyes, and none of them last longer than a one-liner. Despite this, it's still pretty fun

The crux of the movie follows Barry B. Benson (Seinfeld), who is not content finding one job to do the rest of his life. One day he ventures out of the hive and meets Vanessa Bloome (Renee Zellweger), a human. Yes, bees can talk with humans. The plot thickens, and gets even more absurd when Barry finds out about bee farms, and tries to sue the honey companies. At that point, the movie lost me.

The actual plot developments are handled fairly clumsily. The evils of the bee farm are revealed by two bee keepers essentially narrating what they're doing. These flaws didn't really bother me, however. After all, it is an animated movie about bees. It also includes isseus about smoking, money ("honey changes people"), and greed. It actually does a good job showing the extreme consequences of little actions, and how things may not always turn out as you want.

The cast was great. Seinfeld, Zellweger, Matthew Broderick, John Goodman, Kathy Bates, Chris Rock, and even delightful cameos by Ray Liotta, and Sting. By far the person who stole that show was Patrick Wharburton, who plays Bloome's bee hating boyfriend. I laughed at literally everything he said. He really is one of my favorite comedic actors today.

Despite the absurdity of the plot, and scenes such as a group of bees carrying an airplane, I still enjoyed the movie. It was by no means a wonderful movie, and was certainly no Ratatouille, but it was still fun. It is a movie all ages can enjoy, and you even laugh while groaning at the endless barrage of bee puns. Bee Movie is essentially a kid friendly Seinfeld sketch.

3/5