'Bee Movie' a bust

What should have been a beautiful, witty film for adults and kids alike turns out to be another movie that will quickly be for sale in your local Blockbuster's $9.99 used-movie bin.

Jerry Seinfeld, who lends his voice, screen-writing and production skills to this movie, had all the equipment but didn't read the manual. A young bee named Barry (voiced by Seinfeld) graduates Bee School and is about to take a honey-making job with his best friend Adam (voiced by Matthew Broderick). But Barry wants more than to be another bee in the hive.

In a classic average-Joe-versus-the-jock moment, Barry flies off with the pollen jocks, a group of bees that goes into the dangerous human world in order to collect pollen for the hive. Thanks to a quick save by a florist named Vanessa (voiced by Renee Zellweger), Barry is not killed by a swat of a newspaper. Barry thanks Vanessa for saving his life and breaks the cardinal rule of not talking to humans. What would have been an interesting conversation quickly turns in to a flirtatious, unrealistic friendship. I had seen this story line before, but I was impressed by the idiotic pairing of a bee with a human.

What amazes me is that even though Seinfeld spent four years on this, the graphics were mediocre at best in comparison to previous DreamWorks Animation films such as "Shrek," "Shark Tale" and "Over the Hedge." I found myself asking where all the money went in making this film. It certainly didn't go into animation.

The film's scene-stealers are John Goodman, who plays hot-shot lawyer Layton T. Montgomery, and Chris Rock, who plays the blood-sucking mosquito Mooseblood. Rock delivers funny lawyer jokes and Goodman, as always, brings in the laughs. Besides that, I got nothing out of this movie. Barry, thinking he is solving a problem, ends up creating another and disturbs the natural order of things, ending back where he started.

After an hour and a half of obnoxious bees, I realized why I don't eat honey.