Blu-ray Review: Bee Movie

By Jeff Swindoll Jun 2, 2008, 15:06 GMT

Bee Movie is a comedy that will change everything you think you know about bees. Having just graduated from college a bee by the name of Barry B. Benson (Jerry Seinfeld) 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 ...more

Bee Movie finally buzzes onto Blu-ray as it was one of the last films to buzz onto HD DVD before its demise.  Join Jerry Seinfeld as he makes a movie about nothing… but bees.  

Barry B. Benson (Jerry Seinfeld) and his cousin bee Adam Flayman (Matthew Broderick) have just graduated and are about to find out what sort of jobs they’ll be assigned to in the hive.  Adam is happy to join the dedicated bees in producing honey, but Barry longs for something more.  He and Adam masquerade as “pollen jockeys” (the elite flyers that go outside the hive to collect pollen) and the jocks decide to take Barry on one of their outings. 

He gets away from the group and gets caught in the rain.  Since bees can’t fly in the rain he seeks shelter at the flower window box of Vanessa’s (Renee Zellweger) apartment.   Once inside her boyfriend Ken (Patrick Warburton) tries to kill him since he’s allergic to bees but the kind Vanessa stops him from squishing the little guy.  Barry decides to break the first rule of bee-dom and speaks to Vanessa to thank her for saving his life. 

At first Vanessa thinks that she’s gone bonkers but eventually she and Barry become friends.  As she shows Barry around the human world she takes him to the local market and Barry wonders where all the honey comes from.  He finds out about bee farms and decides to sue the human race for enslaving his kind.  This will upset the balance of nature in both the human and bee communities.  

When it was announced that Warner Brothers was going Blu-ray exclusive that put the final nail in HD DVD’s coffin.  There were two releases that I recall were made before HD DVD was no more completely.  They were Into the Wild and Bee Movie. 

Now that the high-def war is over and HD DVD sadly lies in smoldering ruins Bee Movie buzzes onto Blu-ray.  It adds some high-def goodies that were not found on the two disc “Very Jerry” DVD edition.

Bee Movie continues the vibe that Jerry had on Seinfeld but this time sets it in the buzzing world of bees (and minus any of his Seinfeld alums).  The film is family fun, but I can imagine that the kiddies might be lost or bored when it comes to the trial part of the film. 

I appreciated the irony that by making the world a better place for bees that Barry ends up screwing things up (I’m thinking about all the global warming hoopla here, that means you Al).  It’s still odd that there’s a love triangle with an insect, but the film is funny and the whole family can sit down and enjoy it.  More so if you’re a Jerry fan.  

Bee Movie is presented in 1080p anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions.  All of the special features are in high-definition.  The Blu-ray exclusive special features include a picture-in-picture feature called “Animator’s Corner” which plays the storyboards while you watch the film.  There’s also the “World of Bees” which gives you info about the film and voice actors in special boxes while the movie unfolds.  The next exclusives are a trivia track and customizable character menus. 

The Dreamworks Kid’s section (see below) adds an exclusive Blu-ray feature to let the kids build a bee avatar.  The rest of the special features are from the “Very Jerry” DVD and include a commentary by Seinfeld, co-writer Barry Marder, directors Simon J. Smith and Steven Hickner, producer Christina Steinberg, and editor Nick Fletcher.  Next are 5 minutes of lost scenes in incomplete form, with introductions by Seinfeld.  There are also 14 minutes of alternate endings with Seinfeld introductions. 

Next are 16 Bee Movie TV Juniors, which are some very funny commercials that ran on television during a special Bee Movie themed night.  The two live action trailers (4 minutes) follow.  “Jerry’s Flight Over Cannes” is a 3-minute look at a stunt pulled at the film festival to promote the film.  The 14-minute “Inside the Hive” is both a look at the cast as well as the making of the film.  Disc two is divided into “special features” and “Dreamworks kids.”  Next is the 7-minute “Tech of Bee Movie” which examines the technology used to animate the film?  Next is “Meet Barry B. Benson” which is a Q&A with the bee and the 2 minute “We Got the Bee” music video. 

The Dreamworks kids section starts off with the 7-minute “Buzz about Bees” which is an informational program about the insects.  The “Ow! Meter” is about how much it hurts a bee to get swatted, a human to get stung, and gives you tips about how to avoid being stung.  “That’s Un-Bee-Lievable” has a series of trivia questions.  

A fun time for the whole family, whatever insect kingdom they may come from.  It’s finally on Blu-ray and there are some nice exclusives for the format to entertain you (though to be fair, they appear to be from the HD DVD).  

Bee Movie [Blu-ray] is now available at Amazon. Visit the DVD database for more information.