Bee Movie

Seinfeld, what happened? You've gone soft on us. It's as if marriage and fatherhood have taken the fangs out of Jerry's once-unique observational comedy. He's now decided to make his first major movie (post-series), an animated family piece about recent college graduate bee Barry B. Benson, who escapes the work regimen in the hive for a road trip to discover a different kind of life. Once he's out there in the real world, he learns humans have taken honey and turned it into an industry they clearly aren't entitled to run. Barry's journeys (in the sky and on the ground) become a sort of Into the Wild for the buzz set. Sure some of it is fun, but where's the sting? Even though Barry takes flight often, his bee movie rarely soars, seemingly content to occasionally just amuse. Along for the ride is his schlumpy best friend (Matthew Broderick), who lives vicariously through Barry's adventures, and Vanessa (Renée Zellweger), a married New York City florist who saves his life and strikes up an odd human-insect relationship that is pretty weird, even by 'toon standards. In fact, it's the film's insistence on having it's main character straddle these two worlds that makes this nothing more than A Bug's Life leftovers. Watching Barry B. interact with people just doesn't work very well. But when he's around his own kind things improve. Sadly underused is a jive-talking mosquito named Mooseblood, brought to hilarious life by Chris Rock. Whenever he's on screen the movie pops. There are some good jokes, usually involving celebrities like Ray Liotta, and of course, Sting; and the animation is bright and expertly done. Kids will love it, but for Seinfeld fans, it all adds up to, well…nothing much.