Bee S!

If you are living in North America and have not heard about Jerry Seinfeld's Bee Movie then I encourage you to get out from under that rock where you apparently live.

Jerry has blitzed us from every corner with promotions about this movie, and hey, I have no problem with that. I was a big Seinfeld fan back in the day, and despite the ridiculous racist behavior from the dude who played Kramer (sadly, I can't look at Kramer the same anymore - Michael, why did you have to ruin it for me?!), I still rank the sitcom as one of the top comedic shows of all time. But, I digress...back to Jerry and the Bees.

The premise of the movie seems unique. The main character, the bee Barry B. Benson, goes to war against humans for exploiting his species - we eat their honey, have created a lucrative industry based on their output, but they get no benefits from the sales. Also, the film boasts well known names, Jerry Seinfeld as Barry, Renee Zellweger as a florist that Barry falls in love with, and other greats such as Chris Rock, Matthew Broderick and John Goodman. So, given the huge investment in marketing, the unique premise and the talented cast, did this movie live up to expectations?

If your expectations were very low, then this movie passed with flying colours. I haven't seen the movie yet, and given the scathing - but funny - review by Joe Morgenstern in the Wall Street Journal, I probably won't - well at least I will wait for the DVD.

Here are excerpts from Joe's review in the 11/02/07 WSJ :

• 'Bee Movie' isn't a B movie, it's a Z movie, as in dizmal


• This animated feature might have been tolerable, though for what demographic I'm not sure, if it's hyper vocal star, Jerry Seinfeld, had chosen to drone. Instead, he delivers every line - every stupid bee joke that he and his cronies could cook up - with a pounding, punishing triumphalism that recalls not the Seinfeld of "Seinfeld" but Milton Berle on a really bad night


• As you may have gleaned from a publicity campaign that's been slightly less invasive than the influenza pandemic of 1918...


• It's just that the movie aims so low, and still manages to miss all distinction


• At one point in Barry's honey trial, an exasperated defense lawyer asks, "How do we know this talking bee isn't some kind of Hollywood wizardry?" Would that wizards had left their mark. This is Hollywood hackery

One of my colleagues recently mentioned to me that he took his 8-year old son to see the movie and that his son then had another opportunity to see the film as part of a play date. His son refused to watch the film again. From the mouth of babes...

Better luck next time, Jerry! Seinfeld still rocks (except for Michael Richards).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bee_Movie

http://www.beemovie.com/