Bee Movie

2007 cartoon

Rating: 12/20 (Dylan: 4/20; Emma: 13/20; Abbey: 19/20; Jen: zzzzz)

Plot: Benny has just graduated from bee high school or bee university, apparently majoring in lame puns. He's all set to get a honey of a job (ha ha!), a job that, he is dismayed to hear, he will be stuck with for the rest of his life. He decides to investigate the world outside the hive, develops a crush on a big-bootied woman named Vanessa after she saves his life when David Puddy tries to kill him, and then, after finding out that human beings use honey, decides to sue the human race.

If Benny's stinger ain't a phallic symbol, I don't know what is! Bee Movie starts disastrously, but it does build some momentum and contains some cleverly funny moments here and there. Maybe the nicest thing I can say about this is that it's occasionally cute. The parts meant to appeal to children didn't appeal to me, a child, and I didn't once like the main character. Or really any of the characters. Ray Liotta has a very funny cameo, but other cameos (Sting, Larry King) reminded me why I don't like Dreamworks movies very much. I could have sworn there was a Larry King character in another Dreamworks movie. Shark Tale? It also the Dreamworks' trademark 1960's pop song remade needlessly by some current hip artist except this time somebody thought Sheryl Crow was hip enough for that sort of thing. Because really, why would you want to hear the Beatles when you can hear Sheryl Crow singing the Beatles? I did like some of the voice talent (Jen was waiting for Patrick Warburton but fell asleep before his character's introduction since it was after the first ten minutes of the movie; John Goodman seems to be doing a lot of these things), but Jerry Seinfeld's voice really annoyed me. Nobody wants to listen to a bee screaming for nearly an hour and a half. Also, the animation was a little rubbery, looking more like a Toy Story contemporary than something released in 2007, and the action sequences (of which there were far too many) had too much going on and gave me vertigo which probably means I will no longer be able to walk on stilts to impress big-bootied women. Way to go, Bee Movie! You've ruined my love life.