Athena Magazine
for girls
for girls
| Can I have some more honey please? A review of "Bee Movie" |
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| by Mai Eldib |
| After endless tease trailers and promotional stunts, Bee Movie was one of the most anticipated animated movies of the year. After nine years out of the limelight, Jerry Seinfeld returned to the big screen with a semi bang. With stellar names part of the cast, such as: Matthew Broderick , Renee Zellweger and Chris Rock the |
| expectations were high. Add to that DreamWorks Productions, which brought us Shrek and the great Hollywood genius Steven Spielberg; this movie should have broken box office records. The Bee Movie is simply funny, not hysterical and definitely not memorable. One of the promotional slogans for the movie says: “Honey Just Got Funny,” I left the theatre thinking maybe five more ounces of honey were needed. With cameo appearances by CNN journalist Larry King as a Bee Larry King and famous rock star Sting, I would’ve seen a sold out movie theatre, instead of sparsely occupied seats. Bee Movie chronicles the life of Barry Benson, voiced by Jerry Seinfeld, who just graduated from college within the short span of 3 days. We get a glimpse of the interior of the hive, which is a mirror of a monotonous factory situated in a suburban area. Puns add flavor to this semi-sweet movie, many of them though are targeted for a more adult audience, with a reference to a particular movie from the late 60’s and the different power dynamics of race and religion in a society. However, Seinfeld’s character Barry Benson is a role model of some sort, evoking a feeling that anything can be done if you put your mind to it. Barry rejects partaking in the corporate industry of the honey world, known as Honex and ventures into the real world. Barry’s first trip to Manhattan is with the Pollen Jocks – who bring back the nectar to the hives and help with the process of pollination. Barry, fortunately, loses himself and buzzes around the Manhattan street grids through Central Park and ends up breaking the first and most important Bee Law – thou shall not talk to humans. In his whirlwind trip, Benson meets Vanessa, a human female voiced by Renee Zellweger, who owns a flower shop. |
| Barry, as you can imagine, is not your normal busy buzzing bee. Alongside his human “love interest” Vanessa, Barry and his best friend Adman voiced by Matthew Broderick sue the human race for using the Bees’ honey freely while the Bees tirelessly risk their lives to make honey. With a humorous court scene with Judge Bumbleden, which is voiced by Oprah where she orders humans to cease the consumption of honey. The court case ends with a Hollywood-esque victory where the |
| verdict going in favor of the Bee population, hence resulting with an excessive surplus in honey, the Bees stop working and pollinating! An important message is later seen, with no Bees and no pollination, no flowers will live, and with a missing link the magical circle of life can’t function properly. Barry realizes the catastrophe he caused with his shortsightedness, and remedies the situation with his partner in crime Vanessa the florist, by hijacking a flower float from the last Tournament of Roses and the Bees begin the re-pollination process. A syrupy ending where the circle of life is revived to its former glory; and Barry and Vanessa open a flower, legal advice and honey shop. The audience is left pining for Barry and Vanessa to end up together, a fictional reality seeing that he is after all a Bee and Vanessa a mortal human. Overall the movie is cute and funny, but nothing exceptional. The Bee Movie has an interesting plot and story line that leaves the audience with an incomplete smile on their faces, funny but not as funny as we expected. With beyond high expectations, the movie tries too hard to be funny. Despite it’s significant amount of puns on real-life and tribulations faced by people transitioning into a new phase of their lives, the movie lacks a sort of pizzazz or zing that would have made me leave the famous Ziegfeld Theatre in Manhattan with a aura of ease and gratification for a couple of hours well spent. The movie lastly promotes a male dominated world, where they are the providers, in contrast to the reality of Bee Society, where the female bees are the ones who collect the nectar and pollinate. If you don’t get a chance to see it at the theatre, it’s one of those movies, that you won’t lament missing on the big screen. Comments: PG 3.5/5 Entertaining but not memorable. Contains some adult jokes. |
November 2007