I must admit that 'Bee Movie' is one that I have ruled out many a time. But my partners obsession with Seinfeld meant that there it was, sitting in my DVD player.The fact that I had never paid much attention to this film before, does not mean that I didn't give it a fair chance. Quite the opposite actually, when I have low expectations of a film I am always pleasantly surprised. Well, that was until now.
Strike 1 - Putting the voice of aging comedian Jerry Seinfeld into a recently graduated bee in a child's movie. Don't get me wrong, I like Jerry, he excels at adult humour, his self titled show is brilliant. But the transfer to voice actor just doesn't meld. His character isn't convincing, lacking in any emotion bar Jerry emotion.
Strike 2 - Trying to fit a story that is to big into a child's length movie. There are maybe 3 stories in this film. But instead of taking one out to save or a sequel or leave on the editing room floor, they crammed them in, cutting out the joining intersections giving the film a jerky stop/start viewing experience. A film, without flow is difficult to watch, you loose your audience, and then they loose interest. I have no idea how that would've gone down with children.
Your outta here - Maybe due to the 'to much in a short amount of time' thing, we find that there is extreme lack of character development. Maybe the only characters we get to know are Barry and Ken, and to the same degree. Barry is the main character and we know him as well as any bit part, without knowing a character we cannot get tied up with them emotionally, in this case I did not feel pity or excitement or any other feeling one would normally feel for a lead character. Therefore Ken is the only character developed to where he should be, and he is that bit character.
On the upside, this film did make me laugh. Its portrayal of the stereotypical reaction that humans have to bees was spot on. Its good to laugh at yourself.
