Podcast 259: Bee Movie

Movie Title: Bee Movie
Release Date: November 2, 2007
Runtime: 91 minutes
Director: Simon J. Smith and Steve Hickner
Screenplay Written By: Jerry Seinfeld, Spike Feresten, Barry Marder, and Andy Robin
Based On: Original story; not based on prior source material.
Is it a remake?: No

Main Cast:

Jerry Seinfeld
Renée Zellweger
Matthew Broderick
John Goodman
Patrick Warburton
Chris Rock
Kathy Bates
Barry Levinson

Budget: Approximately $150 million

Box Office:

Domestic: $126,631,277
International: $166,883,059
Worldwide: $293,519,085

Awards:

Golden Globe nomination — Best Motion Picture, Animated
Critics’ Choice Movie Award nomination — Best Animated Feature
Producers Guild of America nomination — Best Animated Motion Picture
Annie Award nominations, including Best Animated Feature, Storyboarding, Voice Acting, and Music
IMDb lists 1 win and 15 nominations overall.

Core credits, runtime, budget, box office, and awards were cross-checked through IMDb, Box Office Mojo, The Numbers, Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes, and Golden Globes records.

Short Plot Summary:

Barry B. Benson, a newly graduated honey bee, is disappointed to learn that he is expected to choose one hive job for life. After leaving the hive and befriending New York florist Vanessa Bloome, Barry discovers humans sell and consume honey. He sues the human race for exploiting bees, wins, and accidentally disrupts the natural balance of pollination. The film follows Barry as he tries to undo the ecological damage caused by his own victory.

Key Quotes:

“Ya like jazz?” — Barry B. Benson
“According to all known laws of aviation, there is no way a bee should be able to fly.” — Narrator
“Thinking bee!” — Barry B. Benson
“This is over!” — Ken
“You have got to start thinking bee, my friend.” — Barry B. Benson

Quotes are widely circulated from the film; primary quote-page verification was limited in available sources, so treat non-tagline quote wording as transcript-level rather than awards/press-kit verified.

Trivia

Director:
- Bee Movie was co-directed by Simon J. Smith and Steve Hickner.
- The film was produced by DreamWorks Animation and Columbus 81 Productions, with Paramount Pictures handling the original U.S. theatrical distribution.
- Jerry Seinfeld served as star, co-writer, and producer, making the film unusually centered around a stand-up comedian’s voice and comic rhythm for a major studio animated feature.
- The premise reportedly began when Seinfeld casually mentioned the title Bee Movie during lunch at Steven Spielberg’s house; Spielberg liked the idea and helped move it toward development.
Cast / Casting:
- Jerry Seinfeld voices Barry B. Benson, the bee who challenges both hive conformity and human honey consumption.
- Renée Zellweger voices Vanessa Bloome, the New York florist who saves Barry and becomes his human ally.
- Patrick Warburton voices Ken, Vanessa’s jealous boyfriend; Warburton’s performance received an Annie Award nomination for Voice Acting in a Feature Production.
- The supporting voice cast includes several high-profile performers and public figures, including Matthew Broderick, John Goodman, Chris Rock, Kathy Bates, Barry Levinson, Oprah Winfrey, Sting, Ray Liotta, and Larry King.
Soundtrack / Score:
- Rupert Gregson-Williams composed the film’s score.
- The film received an Annie Award nomination related to music in an animated feature production.
- The soundtrack uses orchestral animation scoring alongside comic timing built around Seinfeld-style dialogue and bee-related wordplay.
- “Here Comes the Sun” by Sheryl Crow was associated with the film soundtrack and marketing; verify specific cue placement before using as a scene-specific fact.
Location:
- The story is set primarily in and around New York City, including Barry’s hive, Vanessa’s flower shop, Central Park-style urban spaces, grocery stores, courtrooms, and an airport climax.
- The film’s worldbuilding contrasts the highly organized bee society of the hive with the chaotic human world of New York.
- The production itself was a DreamWorks Animation computer-animated feature rather than a live-action location shoot.
- The film premiered in New York City on October 25, 2007, before its U.S. theatrical release.
Act 1:
- Barry graduates and learns that bees are expected to choose one job for life, setting up the film’s workplace-satire angle.
- Barry’s friendship with Adam Flayman establishes the contrast between Barry’s curiosity and the hive’s rule-following culture.
- Barry joins the Pollen Jocks outside the hive, giving him his first direct exposure to the human world.
- Vanessa saves Barry from Ken, and Barry breaks the sacred bee rule by speaking to a human.
Act 2:
- Barry discovers honey being sold in a grocery store and interprets human honey consumption as theft from bees.
- The plot shifts into a courtroom satire as Barry sues the human race over honey exploitation.
- John Goodman’s Layton T. Montgomery functions as the aggressive human-side legal opponent.
- Adam stings Montgomery during the trial, creating a comic legal and biological crisis because bees usually do not survive stinging.
Act 3:
- Barry wins the case, forcing humans to return honey to bees and stop commercial honey production.
- The victory backfires because bees stop working, pollination collapses, and flowers begin dying worldwide.
- Barry and Vanessa steal flower material from the Tournament of Roses Parade and help land a plane in the film’s large-scale climax.
- Barry ultimately helps restore pollination and later works with Vanessa through an “Insects at Law” practice.
Easter Eggs:
- The movie leans heavily on bee puns and legal-drama parody, including the basic absurdity of a bee filing a lawsuit against humanity.
- The celebrity cameos are part of the joke structure: Sting appears because of his name, Ray Liotta appears tied to branded honey, and Larry King appears in bee-world form.
- “Ya like jazz?” became one of the film’s most durable meme lines after the movie’s later internet afterlife.
- The film gained a major second life online through memes that lampooned its premise, dialogue, and unusual Barry/Vanessa dynamic.
Misc:
- Bee Movie opened against American Gangster and debuted in second place at the domestic box office.
- Box Office Mojo lists the domestic opening weekend at $38,021,044 from 3,928 theaters.
- The film grossed $293,519,085 worldwide against an estimated $150 million production budget.
- Jerry Seinfeld has publicly joked in later years about the film’s perceived romantic or “sexual undertones” between Barry and Vanessa, including comments in 2021 and again during a 2024 Duke commencement address.
- In 2025, Seinfeld jokingly teased the idea of a live-action sequel, but no verified production announcement was confirmed in the cited reporting.