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Bee Movie
DreamWorks Animation

Bee Movie reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 54 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
5.1 out of 10
based on 34 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 91 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: PG for mild suggestive humor, and a brief depiction of smoking

Starring Jerry Seinfeld, Renée Zellweger, Matthew Broderick, John Goodman, Chris Rock, Patrick Warburton, Kathy Bates, and Rip Torn

Having just graduated from college, a bee by the name of Barry B. Benson 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. He is 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 the bees' precious honey. (Dreamworks)


GENRE(S): Animation  |  Comedy  
WRITTEN BY: Andy Robin
Barry Marder
Spike Feresten
Jerry Seinfeld
 
DIRECTED BY: Steve Hickner
Simon J. Smith
 
RELEASE DATE: DVD: March 11, 2008 
Theatrical: November 2, 2007 
RUNNING TIME: 90 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

91
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
Agreeably skewed fun.
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75
Rolling Stone Peter Travers
At its relaxed best, when it's about, well, nothing, the slyly comic Bee Movie is truly beguiling.
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75
New York Daily News Jack Mathews
Kids are going to adore looking at this movie, living in it, flying through and above its brilliant landscape. It's an animated joyride over a relief map of Manhattan. I just wish the script was as good as the paint.
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75
New York Post Kyle Smith
Dazzling fun. Jerry is master of a new domain.
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75
Boston Globe Ty Burr
The movie's not even close to Pixar standards - the animation is slapdash and the story construction's a mess - but the vibe is loose-limbed and fluky, and the gags have an extra snap that's recognizably Seinfeldian.
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75
Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
It has enough buzzing wit and eye-popping animation to win over the kids - and probably more than a few parents, too.
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70
Newsweek David Ansen
I'm not sure what kids are going to make of Bee Movie. The shiny, vivid computer-animated images pop off the screen with the vibrancy of the Pixar movies, but the understated, throwaway humor is pure Seinfeld: adult, observational, feasting on the small ironies of human (make that "beeish") behavior.
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70
The New York Times A.O. Scott
The real fun is the insect shtick.
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67
Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
Jerry Seinfeld's foray into feature animation will delight young kids and leave their elders alternately amused and bemused.
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67
The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin
It's good to have Seinfeld back, even in this watered-down form.
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67
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Andy Spletzer
The riskiest move Seinfeld made was to create an unlikable protagonist who is wrong every step of the way, but treat him like a hero.
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63
TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
This candy-colored animated fable is an awkward mix of corny bee puns, clever sight gags, kid-friendly action, adult-centric workplace angst and Seinfeld's distinctive navel-gazing wit. And what's up with those four-legged bees?
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63
Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
Much of this wordplay is clever, though there’s something off with the plotting.
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63
ReelViews James Berardinelli
On the whole, this is another disappointing animated effort and it resides considerably lower on the totem pole than this year's current non-live action champion, "Ratatouille."
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60
Empire Sam Toy
The depth of talent in the cast and gag writing shines through, but it’s only just enough to take your mind off of the flat animation.
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60
Slate Dana Stevens
The movie's more than cute, funny, and (at 81 minutes) brisk enough to move families in and out of the multiplex in mass quantities, like the social insects we are.
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58
Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
If an animated movie isn't competing with Pixar to dazzle the eye, it had darn well better hit the heart or the funny bone. With its wee little stinger, Bee Movie misses both.
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50
Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
Feels so slight and trivial, like a cute but small idea blown up to proportions it does not merit. A surprisingly unfunny, belabored and unimaginative comedy, Bee Movie is a huge disappointment considering the extent of Seinfeld's participation.
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50
Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
Just another ambitious, lavish animated adventure, pretty enough to look at, but ultimately foundering on the weakness of its script.
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50
Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
The whole thing's pretty cute and breezy, but don't expect logic or coherence.
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50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
Maybe Bee Movie is another ground-breaking show about nothing – a hornet's nest of hype for a fat hive of nothing. If so, pay up and get stung.
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50
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
All of this material, written by Seinfeld and writers associated with his television series, tries hard, but never really takes off.
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50
Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano
There's no real jeopardy. The stakes are low. It's a bee movie about nothing.
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50
San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub
Has a few charming moments and a scene or two with legitimate hilarity, but mostly it's just mediocre.
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50
Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
No nectar of the gods this, but we can still be thankful that Bee Movie is a sweet morsel that's devoid of any jokes about bee farts and poop.
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50
LA Weekly Robert Wilonsky
For all the muscle and money behind Bee Movie, it still feels unfocused and unfinished.
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50
Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
Best viewed as an oddball career move rather than as a successful movie.
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50
The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
Unfortunately, bees just aren't that funny...Nor is the odd story Seinfeld and his collaborators dreamed up very inspired.
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50
Variety Todd McCarthy
Amiable but no more, Bee Movie puts a hiveful of potent talent at the service of a zig-zigging, back-of-an-envelope story that's short on surprise and originality.
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50
Premiere Glenn Kenny
The result is oddly schizoid, but also so insubstantial that to call it oddly schizoid suggests a weight it doesn't have.
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40
Washington Post Desson Thomson
The more the movie progresses, the more you realize how much Seinfeld's voice sounds like a droning bee -- the kind you want to swat away.
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40
New York Magazine David Edelstein
The film will be huge. It’s busy. It’s kinetic. It’s a treat for kids. But like much of Seinfeld’s work outside his TV show, it’s impersonal. It doesn’t come from anywhere interesting.
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38
USA Today Claudia Puig
It's so unfunny it almost stings.
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20
Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
Bee Movie isn't a B movie, it's a Z movie, as in dizmal.
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What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 5.1 (out of 10) based on 91 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Hunter W. gave it a4:
While it had few funny moments the premise of the movie is annoyingly and totally unrealistic, movies like Bug's Life and Ant Z handled the idea of a bugs community way better than Bee movie. In Bee movie everything collapsed for me ( including my suspension of disbelief ) the moment the bees started suing the humans, it is just a ridiculous and weird situation and isn't helped by the fact that all the world suddenly accepted that the Bees can talk to humans, why only Bees and why only now ... it just feels so forced. If you want to watch a good animated movie about bugs i recommend Bug's life or Ant Z, both handled the idea of a bugs community way better and kept it separate from the human world which made more sense.

Hyper S gave it a6:
It seems the common census here is, to take a line from the movie, "Why doesn't someone just step on this little creep so we can all go home?" For me however, I thought the movie was fine. Sure there were moments of disbelief, but its not that big of a deal. Just turn off the brain and stop trying to over analyze the movie to death with prison camps and slavery references. The animation was fine, the ending was upbeat, the cast of characters was respectably interesting, and the acting was fine. A solid 6.

[Anonymous] gave it a0:
This movie sux!! I thought I was gonna die of boredom!! Seriously all the other movies this year were soooo much better than this!!

Mona A. gave it a10:
This movie was great! It had a really interesting and unique plot, one that you haven't seen before and one you won't see again any time soon. It had pretty good humor as well. Overall, it was very creative and offered good family fun.

Kara M. gave it a2:
This plot to this movie was inacurate enough to destroy children's fundamental understandings of pollination, plant survival, insect behavior, and lawsuits. It was less than entertaining, it was a poorly executed series of lame quips done by poorly educated writers.

Leah gave it an8:
What's with the low scores? I guess Jerry Seinfeld's humor is a love it or hate it type of thing. Bee Movie is light, clever fare. Not too many laugh-out-loud moments, but it did keep a constant smirk on my face. I found the casual way the movie deals with surreal situations quite refreshing--no strained attempts at credibility to bog it down. The CG is pretty good, slick yet not painstakingly detailed. A lot of memorable snarky bits (Ray Liotta and Sting cameos in particular). Worth seeing if you enjoy subtle, sardonic humor.

Penelope B. gave it a0:
This was a waste of money. I am glad i didnt pay to see it in theaters. It was incredibly dumb and dissapionting.

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