Western Oregon Journal

Issue date: 11/16/07 Section: Culture

Jerry Seinfeld is a bee. That must have been the only proposed premise for this computer-generated, lazy November movie. All one really has to know about the movie is that Barry B. Benson, a honey bee with issues, leaves his home and explores the human world. The paper-thin plot, lackadaisical jokes and passable visuals made for a typical animated flick: not memorable in any way, but it'll make a few BEE-ucks.

I'll admit, the voice-acting was pretty good. Seinfeld has a very expressive voice, and he uses it to penetrate the semi-expressive animation. Renèe Zellweger plays up her character well too. The kudos for voices must go to Family Guy regular Patrick Warburton as a pompous he-man (as usual) and John Goodman as the paunchy, crotchety old country lawyer who opposes Barry's lawsuit against honey distributors.

DreamWorks does some pretty good animation normally, this time however there was nothing stunning. Barry's fuzzy hair looked pretty fuzzy, yes. The honey that is debated over so much looks like real honey. Beyond that, there isn't much graphical improvement from the first Shrek movie.

This movie was meant to be lighthearted and not serious, I understand as much. It still rubbed me the wrong way. Just like an episode of Seinfeld's television series, it was a set of jokes looking for a plot. That's fine, but the difference is that Seinfeld had good jokes that were tailor-made for their audience; this cutesy movie (and the jokes made to carry it) doesn't cater to a specific audience. None of it is catchy and visually gag-filled enough for kids, and the little puns and one-liners aren't sharp enough for the bored parents to enjoy either.

The plot, centering around a neurotic insect who wants to be different from the always-working masses of his peers, is a little too familiar. You all may remember the same exact plot, with several recycled scenes, from the last DreamWorks-makes-a-bug-flick, Antz. Both star a New York comedian as the pseudo-whiny protagonist. At least Antz passed us by without the relentless advertising campaign that Bee Movie has had.

I still like computer-animated movies. I even like the ones that are almost exclusively for kids. But the duplication of ideas between DreamWorks and Pixar has bored me for years. Pixar makes a bug movie, DreamWorks makes a bug movie. Pixar makes a fish movie, DreamWorks makes a fish movie. Pixar makes a movie about a pest interacting with humans (Ratatouille), and here's DreamWorks to follow suit again.

Is it too much to ask that these companies just find separate ideas and make quality pictures? Bee Movie may keep younger audiences busy as a bee, but anyone over the age of seven will surely swat this to the bargain rack at Blockbuster. I give it two swollen bee-stings out of five. •

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