Story

Barry B. Benson (voiced by Jerry Seinfeld) wants to be no ordinary bee. The thought of working himself to death doesn’t appeal to him much and so he goes beyond the bounds of his hive and out into the world where he encounters Vanessa (Renee Zellweger), a florist, who saves him from being swatted by her angry boyfriend, Ken (Patrick Warburton). Barry breaks a cardinal rule of bees, talks to Vanessa and the two become firm friends.

Barry’s life takes on a new dimension however, when he discovers that humans steal bee honey and enslave bees to produce honey for them. He takes his righteous anger to the high court but when he wins his case, Barry is unprepared for the disaster it unleashes.

Themes

None of concern

Violence

There is some violence in this movie including:

  • Bees are swatted and sprayed at with insect repellent.
  • A boss bee hits a worker bee.
  • Barry slaps his friend Adam (Mathew Broderick) across the face.
  • The Pollen Jock bees behave in a bullying and aggressive fashion.
  • Barry gets hit with a tennis ball. He attaches himself to it, and then gets hit from player to player.
  • Barry lands on a windscreen and gets into the car engine, is hit by the fan blades, attacked by a dog and causes cars to crash.
  • Barry flies repeatedly into a window, into a light globe, is nearly swallowed and attacked by humans.

Sexual references

There are some mild sexual references in this movie, including:

  • Adam tells Barry’s parents that Barry and Vanessa are ‘making out’.
  • Montgomery asks Barry if he’s Vanessa’s ‘bed bug’.
  • Barry’s uncle talks about when he made out with a cricket.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

  • Bees are drugged by smoke
  • Barry chokes on someone’s cigarette smoke

Nudity and sexual activity

None of concern

Product placement

None of concern

Coarse language

None of concern

Ideas to discuss with your children

Bee Movie is an animated comedy, which will appeal to older children and adolescents. Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include community spirit and co-operation. Parents could discuss with their children the way that upsetting the balance of nature can have catastrophic results.

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Raising Children Network is supported by the Australian Government. Member organisations are the Parenting Research Centre and the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute with The Royal Children’s Hospital Centre for Community Child Health.

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