Plot: What’s it about?
Barry B. Benson (Jerry Seinfeld) is about to embark on adulthood, as he has graduated from college. He and his friend Adam (Matthew Broderick) now have to look to the future and that means a job, but the choice is a tough one. After all, whichever job they choose is the one they’ll have for life, so they need to be wise with their decision. But Barry doesn’t agree with this one job scenario, so he wants to experience life and by life, he means life outside the hive. So he joins a squadron of pollen jocks and takes a trek into the outside world. There he finds danger, excitement, and yes, even romance. He is smitten with a beautiful woman, but she is a human and bees aren’t supposed to talk with humans. This is all pushed aside when Barry discovers that humans take honey from the bees, but can one bee make a difference in such a big world?
After an extended absence from prominent roles in movies and television, Jerry Seinfeld returned for Bee Movie, involved as an actor, producer, and writer. The project seems like an odd one for Seinfeld, but Bee Movie has a lot of Seinfeld’s trademark style. I enjoyed the movie for the most part, but I do think it could have been much better. The scope of Bee Movie expands from the world just outside the hive to the entire planet, which I think is a mistake. Once the movie moves to that epic level, it loses a lot of its charm and momentum. There is so much potential to be explored just within the hive, let alone the park area just outside, that it seems unnecessary to widen the scope so much. Even so, Bee Movie provides solid entertainment and up until the scale change, is quite effective. Seinfeld performs well and injects some of his clever wit into the character, while the visuals shine and really pull you into the bee world. This two disc Special Edition isn’t loaded, but it has some worthwhile inclusions, so if you’re going to grab Bee Movie, make it this Special Edition.
Video: How does it look?
“Bee Movie” looks simply glorious in a dazzling 1.85:1 HD transfer. Naturally any computer animated movie like this (or of Disney’s Pixar films) will look astounding and this is no exception. The bright yellow of the bees jump off the screen and I felt a real sense of depth while watching. There are absolutely no signs of a blemish or anything I could really find fault with (and I was looking). Essentially anything done purely in the digital domain will look amaizng on Blu-ray and this certainly lives up to the lofty standards that the previous animated titles have set. A perfect transfer here, no doubt about it.
Audio: How does it sound?
The only other existing soundtrack for this movie was a Dolby Digital 5.1 track on the standard DVD. This Blu-ray disc comes equipped with a Dolby TrueHD track that really surprised me. You wouldn’t think a movie about bees would have me buzzing (sorry, couldn’t resist) but there are some truly great moments in the film where I was taken back. The uncompressed soundtrack really brings out the best in the score and as we might expect, dialogue is very crisp and clean. Surrounds are used to an extreme to provide some atmosphere and though the front stage is a bit heavy, it’s still one of the more diverse and interesting tracks I’ve heard in a while.
Supplements: What are the extras?
All of the supplements are carried over from the two disc standard DVD and owners of this Blu-ray version will find a few more exclusives when they pick this up. First off we get “The Animators Corner” which is your not-so-typical picture-in-picture commentary that runs the length of the film. It’s interesting, but I find that it detracts from the movie at times (not that this movie requires a lot of brain power). There’s also a pop up trivia track as well as the ability to customize the menu based on your favorite character. Additionally, there’s the ability to build an avatar and a digital coloring book. The remanider of the supplements start out with an audio commentary with Seinfeld and several crew members. The discussion is laid back and brisk, so there is a nice mix of humor and information included. The group talks about the project’s evolution, the voice talent, the bee problems in real life, and numerous other topics. One of the better tracks I’ve heard of late, this one is worth a listen. Also of note are three deleted scenes and six alternate end sequences, all of which are shown on storyboards. A group of television promo spots prove to be fun, as does footage of Seinfeld dressed as a bee at the Cannes Film Festival. You can also check out brief featurettes about the cast involved and the animation process. The rest of the extras are kid oriented, with a trivia game, music video, and several interactive games.
