Reviews I'd read of this film suggested it was average at best but I thought I'd watch it anyway and while it is hardly a classic I'm glad that I watched it as it had a decent number of laughs and an entertaining if fairly light story. The film follows the life of Barry B. Benson, a newly qualified honey bee who is getting ready to pick the job he will do for the rest of his life. He is destined to work making honey in the hive but after a run in with the 'pollen jocks' he joins them for a flight out of the hive. When he gets caught in the rain he takes shelter in an apartment; here he is almost squashed by a man wielding a boot but Vanessa, the man's girlfriend, saves him. Being polite he decides to thank her even though talking to humans is against B law. After her initial shock the two of them become friends while his parents start to worry about why he hasn't decided on what job to do in the hive. One day he learns that people eat honey; he follows a supply lorry back to the farm and is horrified to see rows of hives where bees slave away to make honey that people take. Deciding to make a stand he takes humanity to caught; demanding that they stop taking honey and return what they have taken already. Inevitably he wins but there are consequences he didn't anticipate; without the need to make honey the bees stop pollinating flowers and soon they all start to die
something that will put florist Vanessa out of work and ultimately endanger much of the life on Earth!
This film was quite a bit better than I expected despite some obvious flaws and many jokes that will go right over the heads of younger viewers. I don't think the creators had much interest in making the bees anything like real bees; I can understand some changes such as giving them more human faces after all they are talking animated bees not real ones, however I'm not sure why they don't have six legs as that is both anatomically correct and could provide some humour! The characters were entertaining enough although it was very much a one man I mean one bee show; Barry is clearly the star of the film and unfortunately he wasn't that funny; he seemed to play the straight man while those he interacted with provided the jokes. The voice actors performed well however I could have done without the celebrities who appeared as themselves; they were all people who would probably not be recognised by younger viewers and the jokes required you to know who they were. I was impressed with most of the animation; the flying scenes look particularly good; giving the viewer the sensation of flying along side the bees. Overall it was better than I expected and worth watching if it is on television.
This film was quite a bit better than I expected despite some obvious flaws and many jokes that will go right over the heads of younger viewers. I don't think the creators had much interest in making the bees anything like real bees; I can understand some changes such as giving them more human faces after all they are talking animated bees not real ones, however I'm not sure why they don't have six legs as that is both anatomically correct and could provide some humour! The characters were entertaining enough although it was very much a one man I mean one bee show; Barry is clearly the star of the film and unfortunately he wasn't that funny; he seemed to play the straight man while those he interacted with provided the jokes. The voice actors performed well however I could have done without the celebrities who appeared as themselves; they were all people who would probably not be recognised by younger viewers and the jokes required you to know who they were. I was impressed with most of the animation; the flying scenes look particularly good; giving the viewer the sensation of flying along side the bees. Overall it was better than I expected and worth watching if it is on television.