Note: I spent the last few days in Syracuse, N.Y., with only a little access to Internet. These are the posts that were meant to run on the days in the timestamps.
Since the disappearance of Seinfeld from the network airwaves, fresh, funny, simply silly material has been in short supply (though a few shows have wisely stockpiled the precious jokes). That childish sense of humor has been largely taken over by movies; specifically, the semiannual offerings of Pixar and Dreamworks. Bee Movie, the latest offering by the latter, fully embraces the impish ethos. Not surprisingly, it comes from Seinfeld himself. And while it can’t soar to Pixar’s heights, Bee Movie hovers along rather nicely.
Because writing the movie and being its sole promotional device isn’t enough, Seinfeld also stars in the picture, voicing Barry B. Benson, a young would be worker bee who, upon graduating college, realizes he doesn’t want to live out his days doing the same job over and over. So he surprises his best friend (Matthew Broderick) and parents (Kathy Bates and Barry Levinson) by flying out with the “pollen jocks” to explore Manhattan. There, he befriends a cute florist named Vanessa (Renée Zellweger) who doesn’t seem phased by the whole talking bee thing. When Barry finds out that people have been co-opting the bees for their honey, Vanessa helps him sue the human race.
The movie certainly doesn’t suffer from a lack of plot, as you can see. The trial is even executed far better than the one that closed out Seinfeld: Barry appears on talk shows with Bee Larry King (voiced by human Larry King), defends himself against a pudgy Southern lawyer (John Goodman) and prosecutes Ray Liotta (himself), who has a Paul Newman-like line of select honey. The jokes strike that familiar Seinfeldian chord, buoyed by Jerry’s unique delivery and the appearance of a show favorite in Patrick Warburton (Puddy!), who plays Vanessa’s high-strung boyfriend in a story that probably could have been dropped were it not for Warburton’s connection to the character.
Unfortunately, from the eco-friendly, be yourself plot to the animation that sometimes sparkles but is often flat, it’s often the same old Dreamworks song. The high points are quite high in Bee Movie, but the average level can’t reach the bar set so far up by Pixar. It’s certainly enough to entertain the kiddies, but the tireless marketing campaign suggests an older audience, and I’m not sure the film can live up to that hype. But it delivers enough entertainment to make it a worthy time investment.
Rating: * * * 1/2 of 5