Seinfeld is one of my all-time favourite television shows.  Creators Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld took ordinary situations and made them hilariously funny.  The final show (which aired in 1998) was the 3^rd most watched series finale in U.S. television history.

Considering his success, it’s strange that Jerry Seinfeld hasn’t featured in a movie or television series since Seinfeld wrapped up.  That nine year stretch has been broken with the arrival of Bee Movie – an animated film written by Jerry Seinfeld in which he also voices the leading character.

It tells the story of Barry B. Benson (Seinfeld), a bee who has just graduated from college and is about to start his first job.  His excitement turns to despair when he realises that once he picks a job, he must stick with it for the rest of his life.  It’s just the way things are in the bee world.  Everyone works hard and there’s no time for any leisure.

Determined to break the mould, Barry goes outside the hive in search of adventure.  He winds up on the window sill of a young florist named Vanessa (Zellweger).  After Vanessa saves him from a certain death, Barry thinks it appropriate to thank her.  He flies up to her in the kitchen and says just that.  As you’d expect, Vanessa is stunned.  Who’d have thought that bees could talk?

Barry soon realises that not everyone in the human race is so nice.  He learns that bees are being farmed by humans with the resulting honey sold in supermarkets.  Furious that they are stealing their only source of food, Barry decides to sue the human race.

Bee Movie was not as funny as I thought it might be.  The storyline is far-fetched (you should have gathered that already) and this limits the opportunities to slip in a good joke.  You can only take this “bee concept” so far.  It can’t compete with the superbly written Ratatouille, the best animated film of 2007.

Is it still worth a look?  I think it is.  There’s some fun celebrity cameos and a few moments to chuckle over.  You’ll have to wait until the very end of the film for the best joke – a scene in which a mosquito (voiced by Chris Rock) describes why he’s perfect to become a lawyer.  The animation is also top-notch – the characters look cute and will grab the attention of the younger audience.

My mixed feelings for Bee Movie make it the ideal film to award my passing grade… a B.