More Details

Studio:Dreamworks Home Entertainment

Director:Steve Hickner

Cast: Jerry Seinfeld, Renee Zellweger

Running Time:87 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review

There aren't a lot of choices in a bee's life: a bee attends a few days of school, 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 (Matthew Broderick) and all the other bees: he wants to see the world outside the hive and can't begin to contemplate doing the same job for his entire life. Naturally, the life of the "pollen jock" bees appeals to Barry because it's the only job that takes a bee outside the hive and into the larger human world. Once outside the hive, Barry breaks the most sacred bee law and speaks to a human named Vanessa (Renée Zellweger) in order to thank her for saving his life. A relationship quickly blossoms and leads Barry to the discovery that humans are stealing honey from the bees and selling it for their own profit. Vowing to hurt the humans the one place they'll feel it, Barry brings a legal suit against the honey industry and the courtroom drama begins. There are some hysterical moments in the film, as one would expect from a Seinfeld production, and an abundance of one-liners, double-meanings, slapstick humour, and innuendo-laden dialogue that will keep adults guffawing throughout the show. Still, the whole concept of seeing the life of a common pest through non-human eyes is getting repetitive thanks to films like Ratatouille, Flushed Away, Open Season, and Over the Hedge. It should be noted, though, that this first foray into animation by Jerry Seinfeld was four years in production due to its collaborative nature, so its theme may actually have well pre-dated all of the aforementioned films. More than just a comical film about the life of one very different honey bee, Bee Movie is a social commentary that pokes fun at human behaviour while stressing the importance of doing even the most menial job well and championing the power of working together toward a common goal. There's even a lesson to be learned from the bees about controlling one's temper. --Tami Horiuchi

Find out more on Amazon

Tags

Reviews

- Best Kids Movie Of The Year ?

Is the Bee Movie the best animated movie we've ever seen? No. But, defying the critics, I took my 11 year old daughter (who didn't really want to go) and my 5 year old son to see the movie and we all really enjoyed it. Most importantly, the story and humor of the movie operates at multiple levels, so it appealed to all of us at our individual age level.

What is beyond dispute is that the visual feel of the movie is incredible. Some of the bee hive interior and flight scenes were just breathtaking. My kids were spellbound.

To me the best judge of a movie is how fast it moves along. This one kept us all entertained throughout and its 90 minute running time felt like half that. So, ignore the critics, and take your kids. They'll have a great time, and even if you're not a Seinfeld fan, so will you.

- A great family film!

I saw Bee Movie at the cinema and really enjoyed it, so had no problems whatsoever watching it again. Not exactly a chore, is it? Anyway, this is another offering from Dreamworks Animation, the same people that created Shrek, and stars Renée Zellweger and Jerry Seinfeld as the voices of two of the major characters.

The story starts in a bee hive. Barry Benson (a bee, voiced by Seinfeld) is getting ready for his graduation ceremony. After three days at infant school, three days at junior school, and three days at high school, Barry is ready to hit the big time and get his first job. When bees choose their job, they have the same one for life. This doesn't seem to bother most bees, but Barry wants more. He's worried about having the same job for his entire life, so he slips out of the queue for jobs and decides to go exploring. He bumps into some pollen jocks who have just returned from collecting nectar and pollinating flowers. He's envious that they get to leave the hive and see the wide world - and he wants to give it a try, particularly when he sees how the female bees react to the pollen jocks.

So Barry goes on a mission with the pollen jocks, despite being told how dangerous it is. But he loves it in the wide world and goes exploring. Soon, though, he gets into trouble when it starts raining (and everyone knows bees can't fly in rain) and crash lands into a window box. Temporarily safe but very confused, he heads into the flat believing that the light hanging from the ceiling is the sun and immediately gets set upon by humans. His life is saved by a kind-hearted young woman called Vanessa (Zellweger). Barry is instantly in love.

From then, Barry thinks to hell with the rule that bees can't talk to humans, and embarks on a friendship with Vanessa. Then one day they're in a shop together and Barry spots the honey that is on sale. Outraged - Barry makes Vanessa realise how hard the bees work to make that honey, only for it to be stolen from them. Turning detective, Barry discovers exactly how it's being made, and with Vanessa's help files a law suit against humans for stealing the honey.

Predictably, all hell breaks loose, and the outcome isn't exactly what Barry expected. But still, all's well that ends well, as the saying goes.

This is a great film. It's one of those films that kids will adore because of the cute characters and the simplicity, but adults will love the 'in-jokes' which the kids wouldn't understand. And it's becoming increasingly the norm that these kinds of films are packed full of adult jokes. I'm not complaining because I thought it was a really funny film and I'd recommend it to anyone with a sense of humour like mine. This is definitely a film that will appeal to a wide variety of people, and it's got a cute moral to the story too - very fairy tale like!

- 9 Year Olds View

This film is funny. I really enjoy watching it over and over again it always makes me laugh. It is a great film for a family to watch or on your own. I watch a lot of dreamworks films and I think this is one of the best

- Good Film

DVD delivered fast and in perfect condition. Film was enjoyable and perfect for my grandsons. Kept their attention for hours during repeated plays. Another graphically excellent film from the Dreamworks team.

- Hilarious

This film is really funny, its not one I would think many kids would enjoy as much as an adult. Thats just because the story line is about a law-suit! I just loved it though, clever story, many laugh-out-loud moments and a happy feeling at the end :-)
I recommend this to anyone - even kids who would like the bright colours and some of the jokes.