BEFORE: As I said last night, I don't care much for bees. Or honey, which is really bee spit. Never really saw the attraction. I got stung by a bee on my tongue once, when I was very young - it was sitting on my ham sandwich at a picnic, and no one had given me the memo about how bees were no good to eat, I guess. I spent the rest of my childhood trying to avoid them, mostly successfully.
Last night's film was produced by Tom Hanks, and tonight's film was produced by Jerry Seinfeld, making his first appearance in my countdown. The voice of Larry Miller carries over from "The Ant Bully", though.
THE PLOT: On a special trip outside the hive, a bee's life is saved by Vanessa, a florist. As their relationship blossoms, he discovers humans actually eat honey, and subsequently decides to sue us.
AFTER: As in "The Ant Bully", there's a number of great animated sequences here, taking advantage of the bug's size and P.O.V. Flying around, evading traffic, bouncing on a tennis ball - some very inventive visual stuff. To me this is what people should be doing with CGI, using it to look at life from otherwise unfilmable perspectives, not just creating fantastic other worlds like "Avatar" - but taking a look at our own world from other angles.
Lots of cleverly written stuff, too - some definitely have Seinfeld's take on the little eccentricities of human life. Since the main character is a bee and knows nothing about human society, it leads to a lot of questions. Why do some people prefer artificial sweeteners? Why do people list strange skills like "eating with chopsticks" on their resumés? What's up with balloon bouquets?
And most notably, what's life like inside a hive? (Hint: it looks a lot like it does in those Honey Nut Cheerios ads) Yes, it's a giant factory, and each bee has a job to do. From pollen collecting to cleaning up, each bee is a assigned a job, and will work that job until he dies. Which apparently isn't that long.
But Barry B. Benson (Seinfeld's voice) is more than a mindless drone, he wants to get out and see some of the world before he starts work, and so he starts up a conversation with a human, in violation of bee law. (As we know, all animals can speak English, they're all just careful not to do it around people.) And he gets to the bottom of the honey industry's dirty little secret. No, not that honey is bee spit, the other one.
If the hive is a factory, then the honey farm's artificial bee enclosure is more like a concentration camp - where the enslaved bees are not allowed to keep any of the fruits of their labors. Geez, did PETA bankroll this film? Because if you follow the logic, then what about fish farms, and chicken ranches? And cows and pigs? No, no, that way madness lies...
Barry's lawsuit against the honey farms has unexpected consequences - as you might expect. And he's got to rally the bees together to make things right again, as you might also expect. The ending gets a little fantastical (call Mythbusters - is that even possible? I doubt it.) so I've got to call shenanigans. Also, is all pollen chemically the same, or are there different kinds? I should look that up.
I did enjoy the in-jokes, especially the homage to "The Graduate", with Barry floating on a raft in a pool of honey, and his parents talking to him about his future. But the cameo by Sting was a non-starter.
Hey, they never found out why the number of honeybees in America was declining a few years back, right around the time this movie was released in fact. I just looked up "colony collapse disorder" on the Wikipedia, and it just highlights how much we don't really know about bees and how they work. I reluctantly acknowledge that if the bees all disappear, we humans are going to be in quite a bit of trouble, with no pollinated plants.
Also starring the voices of Renee Zellweger (last seen in "Chicago"), Matthew Broderick (last seen in "Family Business"), John Goodman (last seen in "King Ralph"), Kathy Bates (last seen in "Valentine's Day"), and Patrick Warburton (last heard in "The Emperor's New Groove 2"). Vocal cameos from Chris Rock (last seen in "Head of State"), Oprah Winfrey, Larry King, Ray Liotta (last seen in "John Q"), Rip Torn and Megan Mullally (last heard in "Teacher's Pet").
RATING: 7 out of 10 crash helmets
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