After a nine year hiatus, comedy maestro Jerry Seinfeld (SEINFELD) returns to our screens with the sweet-natured comedy BEE MOVIE. In it, he voices Barry B. Benson, a young bee who refuses to accept his fate as just another faceless worker in a colony of millions. Despite being warned never to venture outside the hive, his curiosity gets the better of him and he goes off in search of adventure. What he finds, however, is nothing short of scandalous: human beings stealing honey for their own consumption! Outraged by this seeming injustice, he convinces a kindly florist (Renee Zellweger, BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY) to help him file a lawsuit against the entire human race for 'honey laundering' offences.
Helmed by directors Steve Hickner (THE PRINCE OF EGYPT) and Simon J. Smith (a member of the SHREK creative team), BEE MOVIE lightens Seinfeld's notoriously stinging humour for a family audience, while staying true to its inherent New York-bred quirkiness. This leaves room for the film to feature impressive (if anatomically incorrect) bug-oriented CGI animation and a solid supporting cast that includes Zellweger, Matthew Broderick, John Goodman, Chris Rock, and Ray Liotta (who plays a honey-peddling animated version of himself). Although it inhabits some of the same insect-populated territory as A BUG's LIFE and ANTZ, BEE MOVIE also nods to THE GRADUATE (admittedly a Seinfeld favourite) in its restless protagonist, resulting in a playful and thoroughly entertaining film that even manages to work an environmental message into its colourful palette.
