Confession time: I never "got" Jerry Seinfeld. Maybe it was the air of barely-concealed smugness, the way his schtick got old fast, or even the whiny voice, but something about seeing him on television always made me reach for the remote.
So what does this have to do with animation? Well, Jerry is now writing, producing and starring in a CG film for DreamWorks Animation imaginatively called Bee Movie (Pixar probably objected to A Bee's Life). Seinfeld plays the titular bee (named Barry B. Benson) who, after getting separated from his colony, decides to sue humans for consuming the honey that all his fellow bees worked so hard to make.
Those who bought the Over the Hedge DVD got a sneak preview of Bee Movie, with Seinfeld promoting the hell out of this flick. To be fair, this picture features quite the all-star line-up, with Renée Zellweger, Alan Arkin, John Goodman, Kathy Bates, Matthew Broderick, Larry King, William H. Macy and Oprah Winfrey filling out the cast.
Keep in mind that star-power doesn't necessarily translate into animated box office success: The Ant Bully bombed at the box office, even though it had Nicolas Cage, Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep in the cast. And the combined talents of Brad Pitt, Michelle Pfeiffer and Catherine Zeta-Jones couldn't save 2003's Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas from floundering in theatres. It's not just getting the talent on board: it's what you do with them.
If Seinfeld's presence in this film underwhelms me, I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt: perhaps he can turn this concept into something that stands out from the usual CG-animated fare. You can check out more Bee Movie images over here. Bee Movie hits theatres in November of 2007.
