My Opinion right after watching movie
What I think right after watching Bee Movie is that it is a mess. The plot is all over the place and it is like they start over every 20 minutes, the celebrities are distracting, and it is not engaging in the slightest.
Production
Apparently the production for this movie started when Jerry Seinfeld was having lunch at Steven Spielberg’s house, he mentioned a movie with bees as a joke and Spielberg loved it so much that he told him that he should do it. Katzenberg loved the idea, and used Seinfeld to his advantage.
And by that, I mean promote the movie off of him, design the main character Berry off him, and he made some trailers like this
I know this was not much for production details, but like earlier DreamWorks films, the less popular the film is, the less facts about the production there is available.
Story
So we start the movie with Seinfeld (yes, I am doing the calling the characters celebrities I did with Timberlake again), who is preparing for his college graduation with his friend Adam (Matthew Broderick) and they say a bunch of bad puns on the way. They are taken to their workplace, and goes through orientation.
We learn that Seinfeld is not happy about the idea of picking a career you’ll be in or the rest of your life, and not having a break though he said earlier that bees never get a break (these are only minor things that do not make sense). He sees the Pollen Jocks, and thinks they are cool because they get to leave the nest and adventure, and decides to join them the next day.
After his parents don’t get him about his dissatisfaction, he goes and flies with the Pollen Jocks the next day. He gets stuck on a tennis ball and gets thrown around by Zelwegger and Warburton.
It ended up raining and because bees cannot fly in rain, he gets stuck in the couple’s home. Warburton and his kids try to kill him, but Zellweger puts a stop to it. He sees her and he is in love.
He sneaks back into her home the next morning and decides to talk to her and she understands (Alright, in a lot of movies, the animals and humans can talk, so they will get off JUST this time). She freaks out and they eventually get along and talk about how they want to do things their way and a bunch of other things I can give two shits about. The worlds of realism and anthropomorphism clashes in this movie and it is confusing.
He gets back to his hive and goes on and on to Alex about his dumb love for Zellweger, and wants to visit her.
They go to the groceries and he finds out that they are “stealing their honey” to sell it, and decides to sue the companies.
SO he goes to a bee farm to find out even more about this, and takes pictures (no sense). He goes back to his hive to explain to his family and Alex, and they do not believe him.
Zellweger joins him to sue the companies and Warburton freaks out when seeing that Seinfeld is back at the place, and she is having an emotional affair with him. He goes to kill Seinfeld, but Zellweger dumps him.
The court case goes on and he sues a bunch of humans for having a stage name, marketing honey in bear containers, and for acting (I am not making this shit up), and Broderick looses it when Layton Montgomery (voiced very well by John Goodman) insults bees, and is taken to the hospital to get treated.
Since I am tired of watching this shit movie, I am going to sum this up quick enough. They win the case and the bees get all of their honey back. They do not feel like they need to work, so they do not. In the process, all the vegetables and stuff are dead in the world and Zellweger tells him she is going to the flower thingy before it ends for good. He has an idea about getting the flowers from the flower thingy she was going to so the bees can pollinate and regrow the world. I’ll show yall how this goes down with a few pictures.
In the epilogue, he becomes a Pollen Jock and a lawyer in a human world. He is with Zellweger, and he has the best of both worlds.
Characters
I will sum up all of the characters in this movie, one note. And it is hard to see them as characters.
Animation
The animation in this film is awkward to pretty good. The awful comes from the human characters as they look weird, and the backgrounds of the city look extremely blocky, but the good is the hive, bees, the motion, and honey.
Music
The music gets the job done. It is light, and in charge by regular Harry Gregson-Williams.
Reception at Release
When this film was released on November 2nd, 2007, it opened at #2 behind American Gangster, and moved up to #1 the following week. Altogether, it was a moderate success and closed on February 14, 2008 grossing $126,631,277 domestically along with an additional $160,963,300 overseas for a worldwide total of $287,594,577. DreamWorks Animation was very disappointing with this.
Critically, it was mixed at best and the comments said that it was average at best. Some people said that the humor is good, but everything else kind of sucks down to the story and animation, and a lot did not even like the humor. It’s biggest crime according to critics is that it is forgettable.
When it comes to awards, IT WON NONE. It got a few nominations, like 5 Annies (including Best Animated Feature) a Golden Globe, and a bunch of others that were for Jerry Seinfield.
Reception Today
This film is now known as one of DreamWork’s worst with its dumb story, bad pop-culture references, and celebrity characters. When it is not being dissed by everyone, it is forgotten, and DreamWorks themselves forgot this film and buried it. This is the final film of the 4 year Dark Age for DreamWorks Animaiton.
Final Score
Story = 3/10
Characters = 4/10
Music = 6/10
Animation = 6.5/10
=19.5/40= 49%
Next Time……
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animatedkid 
Even though a bad unfocused story is one of my pet peeves, I find myself to really have enjoyed this movie; I don’t know why. Yes, I agree that the plot is a mess and goes everywhere, but…I dunno…the film kept me entertained…and I’d actually like to see a bee sue people in court…that’s awesome!
And even though there were celebrities in this, it didn’t bother me much because they weren’t what I’d consider to be “A-List popular at the time” celebrities. I mean Jerry Seinfeld and Renee Zellweger aren’t really in everyone’s mind then, much less now. It’s not like Rihanna (Ugh…”Home”…that’s gonna hurt).
Good review though!
Thank you for commenting. When I watched this, it was mindblowing as how bad it was, I just had to rip it apart. I see as to how it cam be entertaining to some, but it did not do it for me. The concept was interested but with the direction they went in…..ugh.
Rihanna in Home is gonna be hard to swallow for em too.