When I settled in to watch Bee Movie I really wasn't expecting much. Seinfeld, that long-running show about nothing, had never really been a favorite of mine, so the presence of Jerry Seinfeld didn't really pique my curiosity. However, I've enjoyed the ingenuity of Dreamworks Animation in the past in such projects as the Shrek film series, Madagascar, and Antz, so I was curious to see what Bee Movie had to offer.

Written, produced by, and starring Jerry Seinfeld as the lead voice talent, Bee Movie turned out to be far more enjoyable than I expected. As the film begins, Barry B. Benson (Seinfeld) has graduated from bee high school. He and his best friend Adam Flayman (Matthew Broderick) are quickly thrust into the workforce. They are told to select one job that they will have for their entire lives. For whatever reason, Barry finds this idea troubling and longs to find out what life is like outside the hive before committing to the same job for life.

He decides to take a trip to the outside world with some 'Pollen Jocks' and gets separated from them during a rainstorm. After he flies into a dish of guacamole, he is nearly killed by a dumb jock named Ken (Patrick Warburton), but Ken's girlfriend Vanessa Bloome (Renee Zellweger) stops him from killing Benson. (After a predictable speech about how bees might have feelings, too.) Breaking the cardinal rule that bees must not talk to humans, Barry decides that he has to say thank you to Vanessa for saving his life. Needless to say, the woman is shocked at the insect's ability to talk.

The young woman (a florist) and the bee develop a fast friendship. Barry's growing friendship with Vanessa causes a lot of upheaval in the bee community. There is a funny send-up of the classic film The Graduate, where Barry, taking on the persona of Benjamin Braddock, is lazily floating around on a raft in a pool of honey while his parents are pestering him about his career choice. Not wanting to discuss it, Barry slides off the raft to the bottom of the pool of honey. One thing that surprised and delighted me was the double-entendres. While none of this should be offensive to children ready for PG-rated films, the mildly suggestive humor gives adults an extra laugh.

Barry discovers commercial hives and decides to take the world to court for all the 'stolen' honey and the mistreatment of bees. A long court battle ensues between Barry and Layton T. Montgomery (John Goodman). Oprah Winfrey even shows up as the voice of the judge. Eventually, Barry wins the case. Unfortunately, so much honey is returned to the bees that the hive no longer has to produce product, which causes nearly all trees and plants to die because bees aren't carrying pollen from plant to plant.

So Barry learns the hard way that bees do more than just produce honey. Vanessa has been forced to close her beloved flower shop because there just aren't enough flowers left to sell. So of course, the two work out a plan to revive the flower and tree population and set the eco-system right again.