B minus for the Bee Movie

Oh dear God, what was I thinking?  I volunteered to go as a chaperone on an excursion for Angel’s last day of school today and we went off to see the new Dreamwork’s flick – Bee Movie.  Eighty sugared up (and probably no small portion of them also doped up on ADHD drugs) screaming children and me there without my earplugs or a flogger to keep the little buggers in line.

The movie was a bit of a let down… no where near as good as Ratatouille (which I absolutely loved and have already watched at least half a doz times).  It seemed a little patchy.. you know didn’t seem to flow so good for some reason.  The humour was full of bad puns which naturally leads me to think that there must have been at least one dodgy Canadian on the writing staff, and the story line was just not engaging for kids.  Bees suing the human race?  The whole lawsuit concept is something that little kids just don’t get, so the kids eventually got bored. 

There was also a really awful moment where Barry the Bee makes a joke about suicide.  Yes, suicide… I wasn’t aware that suicide is a big funny area for under 10s and it certainly had a few of us adults exchanging glances.  The joke was slotted in just after they’ve realised that they’ve cocked up the delicate balance of nature in Central Park and Barry says to Vanessa that they could always make a suicide pact, and then they discuss how they could do it.  What were they thinking?  Was looking around to see what the reviews were saying, and found this website of Christan Analysis of American Culture… monster raving loonies, but here’s their review.

Still, the animation was great and there was a fantastic scene when Barry is leaving the hive for the first time flying with the Pollen Jocks, where they burst out of the hive and emerge from the trees to be flying over central park and dodging in and around some kites which looks really gorgeous… lots of bright colours and flying motions.

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Tell me what you think