dir Simon J. Smith & Steve Hickner, scrpl Jerry Seinfeld, Andy Robin, Barry Marder & Spike Feresten, ed Nick Fletcher
“It's just…what? This is our whole life, and you’re taking it without permission! This is stealing! You're taking our homes, our schools, our hospitals…It’s all we have! And it’s on sale? I’m gonna get to the bottom of this. I’m gonna get to the bottom of all of it!” – Barry B. Benson (Jerry Seinfeld)
After his break-up with Mia Farrow and the tabloid circus that followed, Woody Allen’s professional reputation was tarnished, perhaps irrevocably. Throughout the 1990s Allen did a number of things to shift public opinion, including a rare acting performance in the computer-animated Dreamworks film Antz (1998).
Antz is the story of Z-4195, or Z for short, a non-conformist ant. And hiring Allen for the role was a casting coup. He’s perfect as the neurotic complainer, unhappy with his role in the colony, a drone destined for a live of drudgery. Z is desperate for some way to break free, to express his individualism.
Considering the length of time it took to develop Bee Movie, it’s surprising that, like Antz, the film focuses on a non-conformist insect, unhappy with his role in the colony and desperate to escape the drudgery of life as a drone. The only real difference is that Seinfeld’s Barry is a bee.
All of which made it a bit disappointing that, for his first project after retiring his wildly successful sitcom, Jerry Seinfeld spend the better part of a decade developing this highly derivative movie. In fairness, I suppose, once things get going the two stories diverge.
While both Antz and Bee Movie evolve into romantic comedy, Barry’s is a bizarre inter-special relationship, with human florist Vanessa Bloome. Their chemistry has an uncomfortable romantic undertone, but is key to the film’s machinations. It is Vanessa who leads Barry to the discovery that humans have been stealing the bees’ honey, transforming the film into a courtroom drama. The plot shifts a third time, in the dramatic climax, forcing the humans and bees to work together to re-pollinate the planet.
Bee Movie is amusing enough, but considering the talent and effort that went into making it, I expected something a bit more original. A largely disappointing and forgettable movie.