The Bee Movie

Rating: PG, primarily because PG movies attract larger audiences than G movies. There is very little distressing content -- some very mildly suggestive humor and the occasional squished bug.

Starring: Jerry Seinfeld, Renee Zellwegger, Matthew Broderick

Seen: at the Cinemark Tinseltown Theater Sunday, November 4, at the 1:45 show

Recommend It? Yes, for families with children under ten

Summary and Review

The Bee Movie tweaks everyone yet is likely to offend no one. It is a feather-light, stress-free way to spend an afternoon with your children, ages ten or younger. The movie lauds both initiative and collaboration in gently encouraging ways. The most suspenseful moment for me was before the show even started, when the boy sitting directly behind me loudly whispered to his mother, "I need to spit," and I warily braced for an unwanted shower from behind, which luckily never transpired.

The movie itself was entertaining and pleasant, offering several laugh-out-loud moments. Those who penalize it for factual inaccuracies are missing the point. (They're probably the purists who post continuity goofs on IMDB.com and watch Toy Story to fact-check how accurately Mr. Potato Head was presented.) It's a children's movie, people - lighten up.

The plot involves a bee named Barry B. Benson. It seems that Barry, after seven long days of education (including a one day sabbatical when he just hiked around the hive), has finally graduated from college. His parents are keenly interested in his joining the rat race...err...the highly structured bee career world...and starting to making honey as soon as possible, preferably as a stirrer like his father.

Unlike his unimaginative friend Adam, played by Matthew Broderick, Barry is horrified by the idea of choosing just one career, then working in that same role until he dies. He wangles a trip outside the hive with the "pollen jocks," the studly bees who bring nectar back to the hive to aid in the manufacture of honey. Barry consoles himself with the idea that he can at least see the outside world before he settles down and makes his career choice.

On Barry's flight with the jocks, he is immediately overwhelmed by the colors and the complexity of the outside world. He marvels at the lushly multi-hued scenery, gorgeously rendered by the Dreamworks animation team.

Barry gets separated from the pollen jocks in a funny bit involving a game of tennis. He has a brief encounter with a mosquito, voiced by Chris Rock (who arguably gets the best lines of the movie). Barry then meets a florist named Vanessa, played by Renee Zellwegger, who is involved with a self-important oaf named Ken, vocalized by the wonderfully pompous-sounding Patrick Warburger. Look, too, for highly entertaining cameos by actor Ray Liotta and Sting.

Vanessa discovers bees can talk and Barry discovers people eat honey. Vanessa, as the more evolved species, gets over her shock. Barry, however, sues. The results of the lawsuit are predictable. The plot then skips quickly to what would happen throughout the world if bees suddenly ceased to produce honey, and speedily and illogically builds to a neat, humorous ending that absolutely delighted the two nine-year-old boys with me.

There are very few puns too low for this movie to stoop to pick them up. Any wordplay you might think of related to bumblebees, honey, hives, the letter B - will B in the movie. (Hint - look for the drag queen. As in queen bee. Again, few puns too low.)

My son and his friend rated this movie a nine out of ten at first, where a score of one means horrible and a ten means fantastic. They initially withheld a point because it had flowers - not macho enough for the average nine-year-old male. After discussing it on the way home, though, they upgraded it to a ten. I'd rate it as a seven for adults - definitely not a bad way to spend an afternoon, but not quite a movie I'd have been happy to go to even if I did not have a nine year old boy with whom I could share. Overall? RECOMMEND.