Bee Movie
Bee Movie is smarter than it is funny. That’s not to say there isn’t funny stuff in there, it just means that Jerry Seinfeld and his writers probably had very little intention of dumbing down their writing for animation purposes. And thank heavens for that! There is plenty of kid-movie slumming in the form of short cuts (most egregious: rampant acceptance of extraordinary events with not a lot of processing time needed) and “that was lucky” plot hiccups. Of course, being ostensibly a kid movie, there are also the requisite over-fantastical moments that make children squeal with delight and adults go, “oh man, they had me until they did that.” [New Cinerina readers: reference all my favorite movies for my willingness and joy in suspending disbelief to draw a waterline for this commentary] By and large, however, this is a movie about grown-up problems and grown-up humor.
Barry the bee (voiced by Jerry the W/P) is at the crossroads of the only existential crisis a bee can have: choosing the hive job which will be his until he drops dead. It’s pretty nihilistic, actually, this cheery community of enthusiastic, benumbed workers and Barry yearning to do some exploring before he succumbs. I don’t know a lot of seven year olds who can identify with this crisis, but they are growing up faster and faster these days, so who knows?
Despite Bee Movie’s ubiquitous advertising mania, the awesome design of the film is held back to be a ticket-buyer’s exclusive pleasure. Barry’s hive is a groovy, bubbly-shaped organic metropolis of terrific depth and three-dimensionality. It puts to mind the 1950’s interpretations of what the future would look like, with a dash of Dr. Seuss, robbed of some of his chaos, for character. It’s a feast to look at straight on, but the camera work gives the sets tons of extra volume and depth and interest. I remarked to myself several times about the interesting cinematography, as the movie moved between the confines of the hive and beyond. It feels like a ride, and a fun one too. Several of the action sequences are visually very exciting - one flight in particular is left me almost breathless with glee, a result attempted in many films and successful in few.
Much of the entomological stuff was pretty good too, though the gender mix and the cheapness of having only 4 limbs annoyed me. (Dreamworks, that’s strike 2 on too few legs on insects!) But the importance of bees and the immense communal interdependence of their lives within the hive and our lives on earth was well-communicated, so perhaps my entomologist friends won’t forgive, but I will.
So, if you can forgive the fish-not-as-out-of-water-as-he-should-seem vibe as well as the quick-paced simplicity of obstacles and resolutions, if you can handle a movie with few laughs but lots of charm and smiley moments, then check out Bee Movie for its design and execution, and for not being just a stupid, insulting kids movie.
Note: with the recent, mysterious bee die-offs in Pennsylvania all the way east to Transylvania due to Colony Collapse Disorder, I hope Bee Movie achieves a new level of bee appreciation and attention.
MPAA Rating PG
Release date 11/2/07
Time in minutes 100
Director Stephen Hickner, Simon J. Smith
Studio Dreamworks / Paramount
