|
"Do I Make You
Honey, Baby?" |
 |
Directed by Steve
Hickner, Simon J. Smith
- Written by Jerry
Seinfeld & Others
Starring Jerry Seinfeld,
Renee Zellweger, Matthew
Broderick, Kathy Bates
Distributed by
DreamWorks -
2007 - 91mins - Rated PG |
|
Richard Propes'
Review
|
 |
C |
|
| |
|
Don't take your honey to this film! |
| |
After
months of Hollywood buzz, Jerry Seinfeld's "Bee Movie" hits theatres
this weekend with as much impact as a ladybug on steroids.
As the story goes, Seinfeld was having dinner over at Steven
Spielberg's place one evening when a pun about bees and Seinfeld's
offhanded comment about a "Bee" movie followed by Spielberg's
essential green light.
Hmmmm. Now if you've ever pitched a film idea (I have), you'll
immediately be horrified by the simplicity and lunacy of this
process.
Apparently, when money talks good ideas walk.
Fast forward to 2007 and, yes, "Bee Movie" has become a reality.
"Bee Movie" is co-written by Seinfeld and at least three other guys
and is being released by, you guessed it, Spielberg's DreamWorks.
What a tangled hive we weave.
Okay. Okay. I'm mixing metaphors. At least I'm trying to be creative
here, which is far more than one can say for "Bee Movie," a cute
idea that could have made an utterly darling short but falls
woefully short as a 91-minute full-length animated feature film.
"Bee Movie" tells the story of Barry B. Benson (Seinfeld), a recent
college graduate (with PERFECT B's!) facing the choosing of a career
that will be his job every single day for the rest of his life. All
bees, it seems, work in the honey industry for a Wonkish corporation
known as Honex. As we learn, in 3-B, every bee does a little job
that contributes greatly to the bigger picture. Well, Barry isn't
exactly thrilled with this idea of one job for the rest of his life
despite a best friend (Matthew Broderick) and parents (Barry
Levinson and Kathy Bates) who seem quite thrilled with the idea.
Barry wants more. One day, he tags along with the ace pollinating
crew (think "Top Gun" for bees), encounters freedom and, of course,
meets a girl, Vanessa (Renee Zellweger). A REAL GIRL.
It's a cardinal rule that bees never talk to humans, but Barry
simply must say something after Vanessa saves his life from her not
quite as compassionate boyfriend (Patrick Warburton).
Suddenly, the hills are live with the sounds of love...or, wait, is
that pollen?
Beyond the inherent creepiness of Vanessa's foray into bumblebee
love, directors Steve Hickner ("An American Tail: Fievel Goes West")
and Simon Smith ("Far Far Away Idol") simply do nothing with this
friendship/relationship or, for that matter, any other of the film's
awkwardly unfunny storylines. The directors and screenwriters
quickly make a beeline away from this potentially charming story and
further dilute "Bee Movie" into a courtroom drama after Barry
discovers that humans are harvesting honey (How this has never come
to light considering millions of years of ace pollinators who
venture daily into society is never explained). Barry, with
Vanessa's support, sues humanity and, while the story is rather
silly and illogical, Oprah Winfrey (as "The Judge") and John Goodman
(as the honey industry's lawyer) do add some life to the
festivities.
There's a huge difference, it seems, between building a 30-minute,
FREE, don't have to leave the house to see it television show that
is about NOTHING and creating a 90-minute, gonna have to leave the
house and pay to see it cinematic experience about nothing...what's
reasonably appealing, even funny, in 30-minutes is simply pointless
and irrelevant after 90-minutes.
The problem is that, unlike the recent "Simpsons Movie," Seinfeld
didn't adapt his approach despite approaching an entirely different
medium. The end result is that "Bee Movie" feels like "Animated
Seinfeld for Kids Except It's Too Verbal for Kids And Too Simple for
Adults."
Now then, "Bee Movie" is such a simple, easygoing and gentle film
that it's highly unlikely that anyone's going to actually hate the
film. I mean, seriously, unless you get stung by a bee while
watching "Bee Movie" there's not much to hate here. Even worse than
loving or hating "Bee Movie," you're likely to leave the theatre
thinking to yourself "That was cute!" or "Not bad."
It's hard to imagine that Seinfeld and Spielberg sat around at the
end of filming "Bee Movie" and thought to themselves "We've got
ourselves a winner here." Both men, known for intelligence and
talent in their respective fields, had to realize that "Bee Movie"
simply doesn't stand out in any way from contemporary animated
films.
The animation itself? Quite beautiful, actually, with the exception
of a remarkably ridiculous airplane sequence near the end of the
film that had me wanting to scream at the screen "STOP ALREADY!"
The storyline itself is stunningly simple, as one could expect from
such a trivial idea, but somehow manages to never get in focus. The
problem, again, is that Seinfeld doesn't adapt his trademark style
for this new medium and for a younger audience. The result is likely
to be a story too bland for adults and too wordy for the children
who would be enchanted by the film's animation.
Perhaps the film's biggest problem is in the casting of Seinfeld
himself as Barry B. Benson, a youthful, energetic, immature and yet
downright honey of a bee.
At what point in Seinfeld's career has he projected any of these
qualities? Seinfeld's humor and acting style is one of dry,
insightful, intelligent and observation.
At the risk of sounding like I'm blasting Seinfeld, he simply is
miscast here and his voicework constantly sounds like Seinfeld.
Barry needed more energy, more enthusiasm and more sincerity than
Seinfeld offers. His scenes with Zellweger's Vanessa play more like
Jerry's semi-flirty banter with Julia Louis-Dreyfus from "Seinfeld."
It's a shame, really. Zellweger's certainly up for the role of
Vanessa, adding to her a nice enthusiasm and sweetness. Likewise,
Matthew Broderick immerses himself into Adam, Barry's more
traditonal best friend, while Kathy Bates and Barry Levinson are
spot-on as Barry's parents.
Chris Rock shows up with a funny, yet too brief, shtick as a
mosquito, and both Winfrey and Goodman elicit laughs. Heck, even
Larry King, Ray Liotta and Sting show up to make fun of themselves.
It's not that "Bee Movie," Seinfeld's baby, should have been devoid
of Seinfeld. It's simply that such a unique, potentially
entertaining idea as "Bee Movie" should have had Seinfeld, the
creator, at the helm of the entire project. While Seinfeld's hand
was certainly on the script, Seinfeld would have been more effective
as the director rather than star of "Bee Movie."
As we learn in "Bee Movie," bees actually try not to sting humans.
Bee stings are often fatal to the bee, and a bad sting is a waste of
a bee's life.
Wouldn't it be interesting if the same were true for actors who make
bad movies? |
| |
|
© Written by Richard Propes -
Email Me! |
|
How We Rated This Film
|
TC Candler -
|
|
|
| Richard Propes
- |
 |
C |
|
Jacob Hall
- |
|
|
|
TC Candler's Comment
n/a
Jacob Hall's
Comment
n/a
|
