Movie Review: ‘Bee Movie’

November 1, 2007, Epoch Times

Will it live up to the buzz?

Since Jerry Seinfeld’s sitcom went off the air in the late ’90s, there has existed an obvious void of hilarious observational humor, despite the efforts of comedians everywhere. Friday’s release of the animated flick Bee Movie has fans’ hopes up that the void will finally be filled, at least temporarily.

Seinfeld’s famous decision to go out on a high note has clearly paid off in syndication royalties (and DVD sales). Since exiting the television airwaves, the comedian has tickled audiences’ funny bones with relatively low-profile projects such as an HBO special, a documentary, and a children’s book. Now, as the curtain goes up on his major motion picture, one wonders what kind of pressure the comedian is under to deliver box office and critical success.

In interviews and promos, it has been said that Seinfeld has always had an interest in bees and the similarities between Manhattan living and life in the hive. The premise of Bee Movie, in which the star bee, Barry B. Benson, ventures outside the hive only to discover that humans are stealing honey from bees, certainly provides potential for an entertaining film.

Seinfeld has invested four years into the film, right down to the stunts dressed in a bee costume from this past year’s Cannes Film Festival. His primary guide in making the transition from the sitcom world was Dreamworks’ head of animation and mastermind behind the Shrek series Jeffrey Katzenberg.

On that transition, Seinfeld shared “I have used the analogy of a sandbox before, but animation is like creating in a big sandbox.” It’s like they say to you, ‘We are gonna give you a sandbox in which you can make anything you want. You can mold the sand into any shape, into any character, you can do it in any way, in any style, and create any universe you wish. But we’re gonna give you the sand one grain at a time, and it’s gonna take you four years.’ That was the little catch.”

We can only hope that the Seinfeld magic will shine through on the big screen and that theater goers will be buzzing with laughter.