Barry B. Benson (Jerry Seinfeld), a bee fresh out of college, becomes increasingly unsure about a future enveloped wholly in making honey. He embraces a chance to examine life outside the hive and, once he seizes the chance, runs headlong into the shocking discovery that bees are being exploited, en masse, for their full-time honey creation. With help from college buddy Adam Flayman (Matthew Broderick) and human florist Vanessa Bloome (Renee Zellweger), he takes the human race to court in an attempt to win back what belongs to the bees.
A fun notion, one someone would expect from Seinfeld in truth, proves not to be quite enough, coming across as rather a children's book splashed with clever celebrity cameos. This is the sort of formula that I had hoped Dreamworks would stray from. The placement of plot points seems somewhat out of order as well, with not quite enough time spent on Vanessa's jealous boyfriend Ken (hilarious Patrick Warburton), and too much time on rushing toward a difficult-to-accept resolution. The film really asks you to entertain many stretches of logic and physics, a few more than the typical animated movie would, while attempting to be cerebral at the same time. That's a tricky order to say the least, and I'm led to think it was a little too much for this particular crew.
It's not a total downer, though. The aforementioned cameos are fun and appropriate, and the voice acting is top-notch, with a cast wisely stocked with veterans in the voice-over game. The actual court case is probably the best part of the film. The stunning visuals that come with Barry and company's flights around the city and through traffic are a sight to behold, and design and rendering are nice and tight. Even the honey itself is golden and gorgeous, although you may cut down your intake of it after seeing this one.
A fun diversion, it is, but perhaps not worth a first-run viewing.
A fun notion, one someone would expect from Seinfeld in truth, proves not to be quite enough, coming across as rather a children's book splashed with clever celebrity cameos. This is the sort of formula that I had hoped Dreamworks would stray from. The placement of plot points seems somewhat out of order as well, with not quite enough time spent on Vanessa's jealous boyfriend Ken (hilarious Patrick Warburton), and too much time on rushing toward a difficult-to-accept resolution. The film really asks you to entertain many stretches of logic and physics, a few more than the typical animated movie would, while attempting to be cerebral at the same time. That's a tricky order to say the least, and I'm led to think it was a little too much for this particular crew.
It's not a total downer, though. The aforementioned cameos are fun and appropriate, and the voice acting is top-notch, with a cast wisely stocked with veterans in the voice-over game. The actual court case is probably the best part of the film. The stunning visuals that come with Barry and company's flights around the city and through traffic are a sight to behold, and design and rendering are nice and tight. Even the honey itself is golden and gorgeous, although you may cut down your intake of it after seeing this one.
A fun diversion, it is, but perhaps not worth a first-run viewing.