Bee Movie
Bee Movie is a great animated film which is a good choice for children and adults. The movie was written by and stars former Seinfeld star Jerry Seinfeld, who is apparently making his comeback from the place that former tv actors go to die-off. I really loved this movie and especially the environmentally crucial message the story conveys in a very effective fashion.
Basically the movie centers around a community of bees who live a very mundane existence, working assembly line jobs to make honey for their hive members. One bee "Barry the Bee, " played by Jerry Seinfeld, goes off and travels a bit before settling down with his job. On his travels he learns of the unfairness of the fact that humans eat honey and make basically put bees to work for them as slaves and bees get no compensation for their work. This realization causes Barry to begin a legal campaign where Bees can no longer be exploited by humans.
The environment angle comes into the movie as it explores how crucial bees are in the process of allowing nature and much of what humans eat to thrive and grow. The movie does a pretty good job of reminding the audience of the large significance of a single bee's job. (This was something obviously overlooked by many in the general public entirely until the mysterioous recent bee die-offs took place.)
I thought it was amazing that this animated film took on this message and conveyed it to children (and adults) around the world. And the movie is entertaining as well. There are enough laughs throughout to keep it fun, the animation is very good and all the voice acting was fine.
Yes there are elements and logic flaws in Bee Movie which I found slightly disturbing, but the rest of the movie makes up for it. For example, how can Barry the bee be contemplating a romantic relationship with the woman? (yes, the human woman) The part of Vanessa is well-played by Renee Zellwegger, but still this not only sounds painful but is confusing and frankly, disturbing to contemplate.
Also the whole worker bee system which basically forces menial labor assembly line jobs on all citizens in the bee colony disturbed me. Yes it may be true that bees work monotonous jobs like slaves, but it really didn't fit into the message of the movie that bees should do their job and love their jobs. This plot element was out of place and actually kind of depressing. In the beginning of the film, the prospective bee "workers" are given a tour of their workplace and told they will have to work there the rest of their lives until they die. They are told that once they choose their jobs, they must perform them for life. But then basically the rest of the movie goes on the explore how the bees live almost in an utopian society and are happy doing what they love. This was a very poorly thought through plot element.
Besides the above and other logic flaws you may find yourself laughing at on the drive home from the film, the movie was excellent. The animation was also top-notch with great colors, great aerial bee-flying scenes and really innovative looking designs.
Grading
Visuals: A-
Story: B+
Acting: B+
Originality/Innovation: A-
Enjoyability: B+
Overall: A-
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