| Created 007.11.16; Updated 2007.11.16 |
This article originally appeared in Hollywood Today.
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Seinfeld Sweet, but Bee Movie Lacks Sting HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 11/02/07 — Jerry Seinfeld was having dinner with Steven Spielberg when Seinfeld jokingly said, wouldn't it be funny to have a movie about bees called 'Bee Movie'? You know, B-movie, 'Bee Movie'. The result four years later is DreamWorks Animation's latest film. The message of 'Bee Movie' is the importance of doing small jobs well. "It's my own personal thing that there are no menial jobs", says creator Jerry Seinfeld. "The quality of work that every person brings to any job that they do actually makes a big difference in the world." More... |
Photos Copyright DreamWorks Animation
'Shrek 3' had already raised the bar of what DreamWorks Animation delivers visually. A whole new animation system was created to handle the extreme perspective of having tiny insects and humans in the same frame for 'Bee Movie'. "The bees are so close to the lens and moving at 200mph," says director Simon J. Smith. "The Central Park sequence with the kites took nine months." Smith says their biggest worry was the female characters, that they watched reference footage of Zellweger to get that right. "Renee came prepared with notes all over her script", says Smith. "Jerry was involved every day."
'Bee Movie' looks as good as Pixar's 'Ratatouille', maybe better. And, 'Bee Movie' is funny. But, what about the story? 'Bee Movie' is the story of a bee named Barry who dreams of greater things than life than working in the hive. With help from his friends, an outspoken mosquito named Mooseblood and a bee-friendly florist named Vanessa, Barry sets out to right a great wrong. It's bee law that bees don't talk to humans, but Seinfeld has so much to say he can't help it. He also needs his voice in court, when he challenges the humans for stealing bee honey on a massive scale.
Chris Rock gives a great performance as Mooseblood. "When Jerry called, I was glad to be able to work with him", says Rock. "He's like, one of the eight great comedians in the world, and we've never really worked together on anything. The original Mooseblood was a smaller part. Luckily for me, I read with Jerry. I don't think the part would have gotten any bigger if Jerry wasn't there that day, because the fact that he was there, well, it makes you want to show off a little bit. It's that comedic thing, like 'Ah, a funny guy - I want to show my funny friend that I'm funny, too.' So they definitely got more out of me with him being there than they would have gotten without him being there."
A big courtroom scene is the climax of act two. The third act has more drama at the expense of being funny. The third act doesn't show as much bee teamwork and endearing camaraderie. There are a couple ways the third act could have worked better. The story could have put the courtroom scene to the end and given us more time to relish the relationships up to that point, including the rivalry between Barry and Vanessa's he-man boyfriend. Or, the story could have had another ending such as Barry being abducted and rescued. The story logic is stretched past its limit a couple times. A swarm of trans-sonic bees overtake a jetliner flying at 500mph. Dead trees get resuscitated by pollination.
I watched 'Bee Movie' ready to love it. The first half is simply stunning. Very funny, beautiful visually, and a good story. I loved the relationship between scrawny Barry and the tough guy pollen jocks who fly in formation like military pilots outside the hive. I also loved the relationship between Barry and florist hottie Vanessa. I wish there was more of that in the last half-hour of the film.
Worth seeing.
Bee Movie opens on November 2, 2007.