"The Bee Movie" Talkback (mild spoilers)

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usagirl_2348

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Didn't see a thread for this, and so...

I saw it yesterday. And I'm sorry to say that it's not worthy of the "buzz"...except for the "zzzzz" part.

I mean it's BORING. There is one scene in Central Park, and maybe the ending's okay, but it's surprisingly draggy. And don't let Jerry Seinfeld's involvement fool you like it fooled me. Most of the jokes aren't funny. I know. I'm surprised as you are. I expected more. Again, I was bored. The kids around me were bored. I was surrounded in the theatre by bored little kids. Which is no fun at all.

The best comparison I can make to this movie in terms of high expectations and terrible letdowns is...the Seinfeld finale. Yes, it's just that bad...

But it'll make money, at least in its first week.

Oh, how I long for a really really good animated feature. Like Lion King or Monsters Inc. I sure hope Enchanted is good. It's my last hope for 2007...
 
But thing with Enchanted is that it's like, what, 10% animated at the most? I definitely wouldn't consider it an animated film by any stretch. And on top of that the movie seems to be lampooning animated conventions somewhat in the way Shrek has.

Honestly, I don't have high hopes for it and I don't think it will do a thing to restart interest in 2-D animated films the way people are saying.
 
Forgot about a little film called Persepolis, have we? It has 100% on the Tomatometer, won the Jury Prize at Cannes, and France is already submitting it for the Best Foreign Film Oscar. The comic it's based on is great and the author is co-directing it. It has an interesting true story about tyranny in Iran and a really cute black-and-white animation style. There is really no way I can't see it being anything less than amazing.
 
It got a pretty rave review on NBC's Reel Talk this morning, but I don't think Jeffrey Lyons knows what he's talking about. He actually said something along the lines of "this computer technology really seems to allow for great comedy." Umm, that's not technology, that's WRITING.

I'm already dead-set against this movie because about six extra-long commercials for it aired during each hour-long episode of The Office, along with a seemingly endless parade of hype before then, very little of which showed any actual footage from the movie. Regardless, I have to say I am interested in finding out whether it's good or bad. The fact that it was actually written by Jerry Seinfeld instead of a nameless committee works in its favor, although it's entirely possible that he did not write it well. We'll see.
 
I have a review written that'll be coming soon to the TZ page. Cliff's notes version: I liked the visuals but the writing left something to be desired. Like judyindisguise, I didn't really laugh very much. Well, he didn't write it solo- he was helped by Barry Marder, Spike Feresten, and Andy Robin (the latter two of who worked on Seinfeld).
 
Well, if he was talking about physical comedy, then saying technology allows for it is accurate. The software for creating natural, hand-drawn style stretch-and-squash has gotten a lot better in recent years.
 
Now me, I liked it. I thought it was funny, because the humor was just so abstract and off the mark, like most of the episodes of his show were. The celebrity cameos during the trial and the scene introducing all the bee newscasters with bee puns in their names except the Asian one were the two points I did laugh for a good minute afterwards. The kids were kinda restless during the scenes where Barry wasn't attempting to escape getting killed by something, but it somewhat works on both of the levels.
 
Not exactly looking looking forward to seeing this, even though I'm a fan of Seinfeld.



Is this coming to limited U.S. theaters or straight to DVD?
 
Suprisingly good! I really enjoyed this. Definetly a step above Dreamworks usual stuff (outside of Shrek I and II). Seinfeld was really funny in it, and he's of course at best when saying dialouge that sounds the most like him talking. The voices were great, and I like that for once, Dreamworks didn't try to sell the movie on the WHOLE cast's star power. The animation was amazing, with some of THE funniest scenes Dreamworks has ever done. This is also their first really good"cartoony" movie (Madagascar' style seemed forced and a bit cheap). I like that this was jokes all the way through. It did have some "WTF" moments (mostly near the third act) but it thanlkfully didn't even take itself seriously. The beekeeper part was weird. I'm also glad they finally poked fun at Dreamworks's tendency to put in parodies of celebrities in a truly great moment. It also seems like the writers did their research and included a lot of little interesting facts. And John Goodman's character was laugh out loud hilarious. Even just the voice he did alone.

That said...yes, it did have parts that dragged on.
 
I was surprised at the amount of applause that the audience produced at the end of the movie, considering that there was very little laughter throughout it.

There was one joke -- ironically I don't remember it now -- which I thought was really good, but it fell completely flat. I think Jerry's reading just didn't work for it. Wish I could remember what it was now, though...

I laughed quite loudly at one point in the film, not counting the very last scene with one of Tress MacNeille's characters...

There were some fun credits at the end. Something like, "Favorite executive for lunch meetings: Steven Spielberg" and "Pizza Consultant" etc. I wasn't able to read all of them before they scrolled off the screen.
 
Meh, this was just so-so. It didn't really shift into high comedy gear like "Madagacar" or "Over the Hedge", and it's just kind of boring. I laughed at some parts of Barry's first trip into the human world, the court scene (Ray Liotta and Sting's cameos ruled), and that quick scene of a Winnie the Pooh knockoff getting tranquilized (and then the soldier reassures Piglet-knockoff: "Just leave him there for a few hours and he'll be all right"). Otherwise, aside from the bright, cheerful voicework, especially from Renee Zellweger, this was a misfire. While Enchanted looks fine, I'm really looking forward to Beowulf (it IS animated, people. Get over it) and Persepolis.
 
What did you think of those CG versions of Sting and Ray Liotta? They were good, but they did look creepier than usual...which I guess was the point.
 
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