Bee Movie

This computer-animated film created by Jerry Seinfeld explores the secret life of bees.

The Plot (spoilers):

Young honeybee Barry B. Benson (Jerry Seinfeld) and his friend Adam (Matthew Broderick) are graduating from college after three days of grade school, three days of high school, three days of college and a day off that Barry spent hitchhiking around the hive.

Barry B. Benson and his parents

After graduation, the bees are given a tour of the Honex Corporation, where they are expected to work as part of the honeymaking process, selecting a single job that they will do for the rest of their lives without a single day off. None of the bees have a problem with this idea, except for Barry, who is dismayed at the prospect of doing the same thing every day until he dies. Adam doesn’t understand.

Adam and Barry on the Honex tour

Barry and Adam see the specially-bred pollen jocks return from collecting nectar, and they accidently get sprinkled with pollen, which they use to impress female bees by claiming to be pollen jocks themselves. The real pollen jocks see this and intervene, challenging Adam and Barry to join them for a trip to a sunflower patch at 0900 in the morning.

The Pollen Jocks

The next day, Adam and Barry go to select their jobs, but Barry slips off to take the pollen jocks up on their offer so he can see outside the hive just once before picking his one job. Barry enjoys his flight outside the hive around New York City watching the pollen jocks collect nectar for honey and spread pollen to make more flowers.

Barry flies with the Pollen Jocks

When the pollen jocks mistake tennis balls for flowers, Barry gets stuck to one of the balls, which in the course of a game between a man and woman gets knocked out of the court. Barry ends up getting sucked inside a vehicle and terrorizing some humans before escaping through the sunroof. While he reflects on the excitement, it starts raining. Since bees can’t fly in the rain, Barry takes refuge in an apartment, and coincidentally the tennis players come in.

Barry gets stuck to a Tennis Ball

When the window is closed, Barry is trapped inside the apartment and the man, Ken (Patrick Warburton), tries to smash him, but the woman, a florist named Vanessa (Renée Zellweger), stops him, traps Barry under a glass and kindly puts him back outside.

Ken, Vanessa and Barry

Barry is impressed. He feels like he has to thank her for saving his life, so he breaks the bee law about not talking to humans and introduces himself, and after she gets over the shock of a talking bee, they hit it off and chat over coffee.

Barry introduces himself to Vanessa

Back in the hive, Barry tells Adam about his experience, and Adam tells Barry to “Think Bee.” Barry’s parents (Barry Levinson & Kathy Bates) don’t understand why Barry hasn’t picked a job yet. Barry fantasizes about Vanessa, and he goes to see her again. They hang out together and in a grocery store, Barry discovers honey for sale. It turns out bees have no idea humans use honey, and Barry considers it stealing.

Barry is upset when he finds honey in supermarkets

Barry investigates and hitches a ride on a truck to Honey Farms, where he meets a mosquito names Mooseblood (Chris Rock), who leaves when he sees a bloodmobile.

Barry and Mooseblood

At the farm, Barry sees bees in hundreds of artificial hives being pacified with nicotine smoke and having their honey harvested for humans.

Barry sees the full extent of Honey Farms

Barry goes on Bee Larry King (Larry King) to expose the honey farms to the bees and decides to sue the human race on behalf of the bees, with the help of Vanessa and Adam.

Barry on Bee Larry King

In the trial, the honey companies are represented by southern lawyer Layton T. Montgomery (John Goodman), who counters Barry’s cross-examination of Sting and Ray Liotta (as themselves) by using character assassination to discredit the bees and goads Adam into stinging him. Adam is seriously injured, and Montgomery plays up the pain of the sting to turn the jury against the bees.

Barry, Adam and Vanessa in court

Barry visits Adam in the hospital and sees humans smoking outside, which inspires him. Barry shows the jury the smoker gun the beekeepers use to pacify the bees, and Judge Bumbleton (Oprah Winfrey) rules in favor of the bees. Montgomery warns Barry that he’s gone against nature and will regret what he’s done.

Montgomery warns Barry about what he's done

All honey on Earth is returned to the bees, who now have so much honey none of them have to work and they just lay around doing nothing. Adam tells Barry that he was looking forward to making honey but now can’t. Even worse, Vanessa shows Barry that all the plants on Earth are dying because the bees aren’t working and spreading pollen anymore, and she’s had to close her flower shop. She’s leaving to go to the last Tournament of Roses in Pasadena, but Barry realizes they could use flowers from the tournament to pollinate the rest of the flowers.

Barry sees the results of his efforts

Vanessa and Barry steal a float and bring the flowers back to New York City on an airline flight, but bad weather en route causes a delay that the flowers won’t survive. Barry goes to talk to the pilots to convince them to hurry, but they panic when they see him and end up knocking themselves out. Barry and Vanessa try to land the plane themselves. The humans on the ground (including a flight controller voiced by Michael Richards) aren’t much help, but Barry gets help from his fellow bees: the pollen jocks, led by their commander (Rip Torn), carry the plane and the rest of the bees form a target for Barry to follow.

The bees land a plane

The bees land the plane safely, Barry is made a pollen jock and he and the pollen jocks take the pollen from the cut flowers to pollinate the city’s plants.

Barry becomes a pollen jock

Barry and the bees realize how important they are and go back to work. Barry works as both a pollen jock and as a legal advisor for other exploited animals in Vanessa’s shop, with his friend Mooseblood as a colleague.

Barry & Mooseblood; All he needed was the briefcase

My Review:

Bee Movie is a fun movie that is easily the equal of other computer-animated movies, and its unique creative talent gives it a distinctive tone. There have been other animated films about insects, but I think this one is the best. The voice cast is excellent and features some voices fans of Jerry Seinfeld’s TV-Series will recognize. The visuals are very good. The views of the city are impressive and the tennis balls in particular look very real. The movement of Vanessa’s hair is also quite good. There are details that aren’t quite up to the level of some competing computer-animated films, particularly the automobiles and plants, and everything looks too clean. The film’s plot is quite good. The plant die and recover very quickly, and the climax with bees carrying an airliner is a little ridiculous, but seeing as how this is a computer-animated film about bees that can talk to humans, the suspension of disbelief is already quite high. It is also nice that there is a little bit of educational value showing that bees pollinate flowers, though not all plants require bees for pollination as the movie suggests.

Bee Movie is an enjoyable film for the whole family.