When
Jerry Seinfeld's massively popular TV show wrapped, it signalled
the beginning of a creative hiatus for him (the odd writing
gig notwithstanding) that lasted until the release of Bee
Movie, his four-year labour of love. Sadly, like many films
seemingly aimed at children these days, the film falls between
appealing to kids and pandering to parents, with the result
that it satisfies neither.
In case you hadn't noticed, the publicity surrounding Bee
Movie on its theatrical release was relentless, with Seinfeld
appearing everywhere from the Croisette to Enough Rope
to plug the film. I guess that was only to be expected, but
the proof of the pudding is always in the eating, and I doubt
there will be too many feeling sated.
As its name suggests, Bee Movie is about bees; specifically
Barry B Benson (voiced by Seinfeld). He's a slightly non-conformist
bee, who doesn't quite fit into the framework of bee society
that sees each insect having to select a job in honey production
that will be theirs for life. Barry's father (Barry Levinson)
is a stirrer, and it's therefore expected that he will be too.
But Barry wants to break free and be a 'pollen jockey' –
one of the bees that roam outside the hive collecting nectar
and pollen. He sneaks into a pollen run, but through a series
of misadventures, finds himself in the apartment of Vanessa
Bloome (Renee Zellweger). Vanessa is a kindly florist, who saves
Barry from being squashed by her oafish boyfriend Ken (Patrick
Warburton). But when she discovers that Barry can talk to her,
it sets up a friendship that could prove dangerous for both
of them; especially as Barry decides he's going to sue the human
race for stealing the bees' honey.
Watching this film is a bit like watching several episodes
of Seinfeld back-to-back. There's a ribbon of story
running through it, but it's basically a series of self-contained
vignettes seemingly designed to allow Seinfeld to do his schtick.
A sure sign of trouble is that there are four credited screenwriters;
which usually means there will be double that number of uncredited
writers in the background. This explains the film's disjointed
feel and its lack of a clear direction.
The
themes are familiar ones – a character who's not satisfied
with the way others think things should be decides to rebel
and find freedom (a la the far superior Ratatouille,
to name one example).
The biggest question mark over Bee Movie however is
how its core audience – kids – will relate to concepts
like career choice and litigation as devices in a film. I suspect
the answer is: probably not that well. While the bees are cute
and all, the mish-mash of ideas, the persistence with adult
concepts and the wry Seinfeld-style humour is likely to alienate
children.
At the same time, the artificiality of talking bees and the
lurid paint-by-numbers style of the animation is unlikely to
endear it to adults; even (or perhaps especially) to Seinfeld
fans.
We've come to expect that actors voicing animated films will
do so competently, and Bee Movie is no exception. Although Patrick
Warburton (Puddy from the TV series) is perhaps becoming a little
too familiar in these types of films, he can still generate
laughs; while the tentpole names of Seinfeld and Renee Zellweger
are good too. Among other notables appearing in voice are Chris
Rock, Matthew Broderick, John Goodman and Rip Torn; but the
best moments come from hilarious cameos by Ray Liotta and Sting
as themselves.
For all its colourful appeal, Bee Movie ends up being
a disappointing medley of ideas, jokes and situations that never
really comes together. While I don't doubt it will do big business
at the video store, the film just doesn't connect either with
kids or with the adults who will undoubtedly be forced into
watching it with them. So while it will generate a lot of buzz,
in the end, there's not much honey to be had.
