FROM the studio that brought you Shrek and Madagascar, and from the mind of Jerry Seinfeld, Bee Movie is an animated family adventure that’s designed to change everything you think you know about bees.

Having just graduated from college, a bee by the name of Barry B. Benson (voiced by Seinfeld) finds himself disillusioned with the prospect of having only one career choice – honey. As he ventures outside of the hive for the first time, he breaks one of the cardinal rules of the bee world and talks to a human, a New York City florist named Vanessa (Renée Zellweger).

He’s subsequently shocked to discover that the humans have been stealing and eating the bees’ honey for centuries, and ultimately realizes that his true calling in life is to set the world right by suing the human race for stealing their precious honey.

When promoting the film in Cannes earlier this year, Seinfeld revealed that he’d devoted the past four years to developing the film, writing the script and giving voice to its leading role.

He claimed the idea “popped randomly into his head” one day as he was eating candy – and then 24 hours later he found himself being invited to dinner with Steven Spielberg.

“For a Jewish boy growing up on Long Island, to have dinner with Steven Spielberg is like being bar mitzvahed twice,” Seinfeld joked. But he seized the opportunity to pitch Bee Movie during a lull in the conversation and the project subsequently ended up with Jeffrey Katzenberg, chief executive of DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc, who described Seinfeld’s creative process as “amazing”.

Katzenberg told the Cannes press: “My belief in the film and confidence is that Jerry is actually going to bring animation to a whole new audience of people who may have not thought of these as for them, and at the same time it will continue to work as a family film.”

The movie opened in second place in US cinemas a couple of weeks ago (behind American Gangster) and drew a mixed response from critics. Those in favour included the New York Times, which wrote: “The most genuinely apian aspect of Bee Movie is that it spends a lot of its running time buzzing happily around, sniffing out fresh jokes wherever they may bloom.”

And Rolling Stone, which added: “At its relaxed best, when it’s about, well, nothing, the slyly comic Bee Movie is truly beguiling.”

But those against included the Hollywood Reporter, which felt that “bees just aren’t that funny” and Variety, which concluded that it was “amiable but no more.”

UK audiences will have the opportunity to judge for themselves when the film opens on December 14. In the meantime, here’s a trailer, a 6-minute clip and some music to whet your appetite…

Watch the 6-minute clip:
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Bee Movie Music Video
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Watch the trailer
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