Saturday, November 03, 2007

Bee Movie

This morning I saw Bee Movie, featuring the voices of Jerry Seinfeld and Renee Zellweger.

What a breath of fresh air!

Full disclosure: I'm not a huge animation fan. In fact, save for The Simpsons Movie, I don't think I've seen an animated film in the theater since the anniversary of Yellow Submarine, so seeing this today was somewhat out of the ordinary for me. I'm glad I followed my instinct and ignored my self-imposed snobbiness though, because I really would have missed out on something great if I'd passed it up.

The story begins with Barry (Seinfeld) graduating from beehood and preparing to enter the job force, which basically consists of making honey exclusively. Adventure-seeker that he is, before he finalizes his career choice, he takes a trip outside the hive to see what the human world is like. While he's there (in present-day New York City), he falls in love with a human, Vanessa (Zellweger), and discovers the travesty that is bee slavery as he flies past the honey aisle at the grocery store.

What commences is somewhat of an animated genius that includes all of the components of a live-action Hollywood film: a sweet romance, courtroom drama, suspenseful action sequences, surprising celebrity cameos and a wink of an ending.

The voices are distinct (who could miss Chris Rock as the cunning mosquito?) but not at all distracting. Particularly great is John Goodman as the fat human defense attorney. And what's more, there are just as many jokes for the adults to laugh at as there are for the kids.

Go see this one in the theater—the bright yellow hues of the 'sets' cast a sunny glow on the whole production, which is nothing short of charming.

1 comment:

Slimy said...

I liked Bee Movie also. I agree with you about that there were plenty of jokes for both kids and adults to laugh at. I know my friends and I enjoyed the movie. We laughed a lot and especially at Jerry Seinfeld.