Cynical Cinema

Mike Myers is a comic genius. His ability to create memorable characters is limitless, and every movie franchise he touches turns to gold. The Scottish dad in So I Married an Axe Murderer. The big fat Scottish guy in Austin Powers. The fun, green, fat Scottish ogre in Shrek. OK…maybe he can only create memorable Scottish characters. And Wayne from Wayne’s World…and Dr. Evil.

Remember the second Austin Powers movie? How it was virtually scene-for-scene the same movie as the first? And the third one was just a lame follow-up, where it was one long recycled “British people have bad teeth” joke? With Shrek 3, Mike Myers proved once again that while his ideas start out great, they have very little staying power. Shrek 3 is one big long ogres like farting and they smell bad joke. We get it. He’s an ogre. It’s what they do. Justin Timberlake makes an appearance in the film as a would-be king whose relevance to the movie is questionable at best. Shrek is no longer the most interesting character, the donkey and the cat are now tiresome, and I started to wish I could watch the spinoff movie starring the gingerbread man. THAT guy is still funny.

Shrek 3 is not a case of too much of a good thing, it’s a case of too much of the same thing. Much like that Shrek song, All-Star, by that band Smashmouth, it gets pretty irritating the third time around. Although I will say this. The film looks absolutely amazing on Blu-Ray. The Blu-Ray edition is being released September 23rd, Tuesday, by Paramount Home Entertainment.

I have heard many people complaining about Bee Movie. How it was too adult for kids and too kiddy for adults and so forth. But I disagree. Bee Movie is a Seinfeld movie. Jerry Seinfeld was having dinner with Steven Spielberg, and he said “wouldn’t it be funny if someone made a movie called Bee Movie, and it was all about bees?” And there you have it. Seinfeld is about the only guy in Hollywood not named Spielberg who has that kind of clout. Hey, wouldn’t it be neat - and it’s done. And I’m glad it was done. This movie is good. It’s funny, it’s smart, and kids will like it whether they understand it or not. I watched it today with the two kids. One is thirteen and one is eight, and both had a lot of fun watching it. In fact, the 13-year-old is watching it again, a couple of hours later, with his mom upstairs right now.

The fact is, it is not too adult for kids. For four-year-olds, maybe. But even if you’re eight, you will get it. My younger step-son pestered me with questions through the entire movie. What’s a writ? What’s litigation? What’s a class action? And you know, although he did not understand those terms while watching the movie, he does now. And that’s a good thing. The premise of the story is that bees can talk. They have always been able to talk, but they are prohibited from talking to human beings because it’s a bee rule never to do so. But when Barry B. Benson (I think that’s his name) decides he does not want to work for the honey plant for the rest of his life, and talks to a human being, it sets off a chain of events that leads to him suing humankind over honey. There are some hilarious laugh-out-loud moments in the film. The Larry King piece is hilarious, the Winne the Pooh bit as well, and the scene where he first talks to the woman is one of the funniest I’ve seen in an animated movie.

The real stroke of awesomeness in Bee Movie is this - it is, actually, a B-Movie. It has all the earmarks of a B-Movie. The big dramatic but obvious finish, the campy dialogue, and Ray Liotta. Casting Ray Liotta as himself in this movie was a stroke of genius. The ultimate B-Movie actor in a B-Movie called Bee Movie. Get it? If only Bruce Campbell had showed up as well. Some serious voice talent does appear, however. Sting plays himself, as does Larry King. Oprah plays a judge, and John Goodman, Chris Rock, Renee Zellweger, Matthew Broderick, Rip Torn and Kathy Bates all make appearances. Of course, however, the real star is Jerry Seinfeld, who does the voice of Barry. It gives the whole movie this absurdist feel, as though you’re watching a Seinfeld episode re-enacted by bees. Even Michael Richards appears, to give more Seinfeld flavour to the experience. And this movie also has the best use of the Beatles’ song Here Comes The Sun that you are likely to hear in a film. It’s done by Sheryl Crow, and it doesn’t quite compare to some other covers. (I personally love the version done by Alison Moorer, as well as a reggae classic cover by Peter Tosh.) But it fits so well with this movie. This is a great movie.