Another CGI movie, this time by Dreamworks SKG, makers of Shrek and Madagascar. Yes there are lots of them and they do seem quite repetitive, this one however is actually pretty good, and plays of more like one long joke than anything else, and deservedly so as it is conceived and penned by the comedic genius that is Jerry Seinfeld.
Seinfeld plays Barry B Benson, a Bee in a hard working Bee society (which is typically unoriginal, yet again being American working life/suburbia in animal form, in this case Bees) who breaks free from his own world and ventures into the human world, only to discover his species' hard work at making honey is being exploited at the hands of greedy corporations. Befriending a kooky florist called Vanessa (voiced by René Zellwegger) they join forces to try and overcome the total disregard against nature and sue the corporations of their infringement which Barry calls "stealing", as well as to teach the world more about bees and get rid of common misconceptions (bees are friendly insects and will not hurt anyone, it's the wasps that are the evil ones that give them a bad name)! Part satire, part social commentary on the legal system as well as just being plain silly, zany and always consistently funny, this is essentially Seinfeld playing himself in his own show in animated form.
Visuals and animation here are grand (Dreamworks explains in the making-of documentary that there are more things going on here than all the Shrek films), dialogue is funny for the most part as is the voice acting as Zellwegger and Seinfeld are essentially playing themselves, as is Mathew Broderick who plays Barry's law-abiding Bee buddy. The stand out voice talent here, for me at least, is Patrick Warburton who plays Vanessa's almost psychotic friend- everything he said (or rather yelled, as that's all he does) just made me laugh out loud. An extra special mention must go to Chris Rock who is a brief but worthy addition and has some choice hilarious lines. Other honourable voice talents in this movie worthy of a mention are Sting, Kathy Bates, Megan Mullaly and Ray Liotta in an almost insane role playing himself- but still really funny.
A simple yet very entertaining story where young kids can also learn a whole lot from- there's stuff in here for literally everybody. Whilst not as polished or exquisite as a Disney Pixar movie, this is still good clean honest fun for the whole family. I may have rated Ratatouille low too but that movie is actually better than this, I just found this one to be less heavy on the deep morals and just straight to the point fun light entertainment. It's not original in any way but it is good at what it does. Funny, silly, even intelligent and informative- it's Seinfeld the animated movie and that's not a bad thing whatsoever.
Verdict: Good, zany, satirical fun. 6/10
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