Bee Movie on DVD (2007)

the first movie i wanted to walk out of in a long time...

A customer from Bishop's Stortford , 19/12/2007

i know it's a kids movie, but normally i love kids movies! this film was just terrible, so ridiculous in every way that it stopped being funny and just provoked feelings of hatred towards the creators... the scene that really did it for me was when lots of bees managed to carry a jumbo jet so that it landed safely, then the bees miraculously pollinate all of new york- which is great - but what about the rest of the world?? They tried to mix tongue in cheek adult comedy with children's comedy, and where that has worked in the past (like Shrek), this one completely failed.

It had the potential to be quite a good film, but in comparison to films like Shrek and Finding Nemo it doesn't stand a chance

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Quirky laughs keep a downright peculiar mixture palatable.

JJTimothy from Chilton, County Durham [Highly rated reviewer] , 18/01/2008

Barry B. Benson, a bee who breaks all the rules of bee society by talking to and befriending Vanessa (a florist appropriately), is appalled to discover the honey industry and takes the human race to court.

What would a bee think of bee keeping? OK- there's probably a joke there but a film? Come to that this film got its start when Jerry Seinfeld joked to Steven Spielberg that someone could make a film about bees and call it Bee Movie. No I didn't exactly fall about laughing either but Seinfeld's sitcom was famously a show about nothing so, if anyone can develop a feature from a couple of so-so jokes, he's your man and he does. Just.

It's a film that doesn't seem sure who it's aimed at. References to The Graduate and Jewish families (“is she bee-ish?”) will go straight past most kids but the anthropomorphic bees, simple shapes, bright colours and potentially twee premise scream children's film. The style is surely a choice- PDI Dreamworks might not be able to match Pixar for visual splendour but it's clear from the Shrek series that they can detail and prettify well beyond the level shown here. Some of the film's humour derives from the contrast between the toy-like characters and setting and the wise-cracking that goes on in it and there is much to amuse in Bee Movie starting with the initial vandalism committed on Dreamworks emblem (which children certainly will appreciate). Observational humour skewed from a bee's point of view and a stream of funny details (my favourite: a character who considers eating with chopsticks a skill worthy of inclusion on his C.V.) help to keep one distracted from the thin and confused story.

Voice work is never less than adequate with Seinfeld setting the breezy pace as Barry though animation (and Seinfeld) veteran Patrick Warburton, so excellent in Family Guy and The Tick, kind of 'phones in the shouty boyfriend. John Goodman is great as the Southern legal shark defending Big Honey and Renée Zellweger, as Vanessa, brings charm and heart and nails the bantering tone crucial to a film that would be horribly flawed if it took itself at all seriously. Spotting who's voicing which supporting character is part of the fun and there are a couple of amusingly self-deprecating cameos.

A bizarre mish-mash of styles and a premise that, frankly, isn't developed much beyond that initial joke to Spielberg is held together by a light-hearted attitude and sharp humour. Worth seeing but I'm sure it will suit the small screen just as well if not better.

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Nice graphics - shame about script

rubbishreview from Northwich [Highly rated reviewer] , 22/08/2008

I was looking forward to this film but how i finished watching this film is beyond me.

I was very surprised to learn that this is a kids films with U rating even though the humour is quite adultish and there is a brief talk of a suicide pact, hardly kiddie stuff.

This film seems typical of the dreamworks company who overly focus on adult scripts because they somehow seem to forget that this is meant to be a kids cartoons with nice bright colours and talking animals. Instead we get clones of shrek and poor copies of bugs life/antz

And this is the reason why dreamworks will never be as good as pixar - maybe they should try and copy their equation for friendlier reviews.

Not a bad movie but not an A movie either - definitely a B movie. boom boom!

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This will definately give you a Buzz...

PaulaWestwood from Ashton-Under-Lyne [Highly rated reviewer] , 09/12/2007

In our viewing this had the whole audience kids and adults alike rapt, the CGI, the humour the pace are just about spot on. I have seen reviewers call this bland and boring, were they watching the same movie...? After his graduation 'Teen Bee' Barry B Benson finds the thought of a monotonous and glamour free life as a worker bee rather less than he expected, and decides, as adolescents do, to liven things up a bit. He befriends a human flower seller (nice touch) and embarks on a venture to get the honey back humans have stolen. I mean O.K. Hive seen better, but for some great one liners and just plain old family fun, this movie would take quite some beating, and if anyone tells you otherwise they can just buzz off... trust me its excellent and well worth a watch.

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Bee Movie

moosie from Kingsbridge , 04/09/2008

a few witty lines but mostly just for the kids.....

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Bee-rific

Graham from York [Highly rated reviewer] , 08/03/2008

Lots of cheesy bee gags make up this amusing tale written by and starring Jerry Seinfeld. Loads of great cameos especially Chris Rock who gets the best gag of the movie. There's a big moral message near the end, similar to Happy Feet and a fabulously silly end sequence.

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