"What is the deal with all this honey?"
While Jerry Seinfeld doesn't necessarily utter that line in Bee Movie, the funnyman's distinct comedic imprint can be felt throughout his first foray into the world of feature animation. Seinfeld produced, co-wrote and stars in the flick as the voice of Barry B. Benson, a bright young bee disillusioned with the life laid out for him as a recent college graduate in the bustling metropolis of New Hive City.
Longing for a career more adventurous than the one afforded him at Honex, the massive honey manufacturing conglomerate and New Hive City's chief employer, Barry chooses to venture out into the strange and perilous world outside the hive, where he befriends a quirky New York City florist named Vanessa (Renee Zellweger). While accompanying Vanessa on a trip to the supermarket, Barry inadvertently stumbles upon a stunning revelation: humans have been taking bees' honey and packaging it for sale without their permission. Justifiably enraged, Barry exacts revenge against the devious humans in an appropriately Seinfeldian fashion: he sues them, winning a massive judgment and barring all future honey sales. He soon learns, however, that there are unintended consequences to altering the longtime bee-human relationship.
While it may not be on par with the works of Pixar -- or even the first two installments of Dreamworks' own Shrek franchise, for that matter -- Bee Movie is still a breezy, affable, family-friendly romp. The fish-out-of water storyline provides a perfect vehicle for Seinfeld's trademark observational humor that, while somewhat stale and dated, still possesses a certain charm. (Seinfeld's schtick has clearly lost much of its bite since the comedian transitioned to domestic life, which ironically makes his material perfect for the highly sanitized world of animated features.) Zellweger, Matthew Broderick, Patrick Warburton and Chris Rock are solid in supporting roles, and the computer animation is customarily dazzling, especially during the sequences in which Barry and pals zip through New York's Central Park, dodging kites, bikers and tree limbs.
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