The Cinema of the Four

Bee Movie

You may have heard that Mr. Jerry Seinfeld, upon retiring from network television, followed the same path as my illustrious great-grandfather, and undertook a study of bees and bee culture. But instead of springing his magnum opus on German spies about to pass out from chloroform fumes, Mr. Seinfeld released his work in theaters this weekend, under the title of “Bee Movie.”

After a long series of odd live-action teaser previews, the good Watson the Fourth was more than a bit dismayed that “Bee Movie” was entirely animated. I suspect that he was hoping to rest his eyes upon the odd charms of Miss Renee Zellwegger, whom he has always held resembles Mary Morstan Watson the Fourth to no small degree. I myself was merely curious to see how Mr. Seinfeld’s work stacked up to that of my great-grandfather, the well-known Practical Handbook of Bee Culture.

Mr. Seinfeld’s magnum opus holds some rather peculiar theories of its own on bee culture. Bees seem to use honey in lieu of every household product and drive cars to their jobs at the honey-making corporation. Bees also seem to be keeping the fact that they can talk a secret from us, until the central figure of the Seinfeld study strikes up a friendship with a human women and decides to sue humanity for stealing honey from bees.

While this study in bee culture clashing with human culture is all light and fluffy, vanilla confection designed for children, there are subtle, apocalyptic overtones that give it a dark side hidden not far beneath its sweet and smiling surface. When bees stop pollinating flowers, all vegetation on Earth starts to die. The central bee character, who led the revolt, learns that he must accept his place as a cog in the great bee machine branch of nature, or else the world basically ends. Something a bit disturbing about that.

While Dreamworks animation’s competitor, Pixar seems to have the knack for “can’t fail” animation, Dreamworks, which produced “Bee Movie” seems to tie its hopes to celebrities and concepts that often do. While “Bee Movie” is basically harmless pleasantness for taking the Irregulars on an outing, it probably won’t rise above that.

See it if you have to. If you don’t, don’t bother.

What Great-Grandfather Sherlock would have said:
“It is no wonder that it did not wake you.”