Bee Movie: 5 Reasons We’d Love To See A Sequel (& 5 Why We Wouldn’t)

While having lunch at Steven Spielberg’s house in the Hamptons, Jerry Seinfeld jokingly suggested an idea for an animated movie about bees called Bee Movie. Before he knew it, the project was set up at DreamWorks Animation and Seinfeld was working on his first ever feature-length screenplay with Barry Marder and Seinfeld writers Andy Robin and Spike Feresten.

Although Bee Movie didn’t make a huge splash at the box office when it was first released, it’s since become a cult classic, especially in the form of Internet memes. Seinfeld has taken notice of this renewed interest in the movie and over the years, he’s teased the possibility of a sequel.

10 Love To See It: Its World Is Delightfully Weird

One of the reasons that Bee Movie has become a meme is that millennials who grew up with it have come to realize just how weird that seemingly harmless childhood favorite was. But that weirdness is a virtue, and it’s pure Seinfeld.

The movie’s final moments introducing a cow who wants to sue dairy farmers showed that Bee Movie had only scratched the surface of a world in which animals can fight for the things that they produce.

9 Wouldn’t Want It: Jerry Seinfeld Doesn’t Think It’s Necessary

The whole creative driving force behind Bee Movie was Jerry Seinfeld, and despite the fact that some fans have begged him for a sequel, he doesn’t think it’s necessary.

During a Reddit AMA in which he was asked about the possibility of a sequel, Seinfeld said, “I actually did consider it, but then I realized it would make Bee Movie 1 less iconic.”

8 Love To See It: Seinfeld’s Still Got It

In his recent Netflix special 23 Hours to Kill, Jerry Seinfeld proved he’s still at the top of his game. His bits about people’s obsession with their phones and the epidemic of taking photos at every social event are funny, relatable, and well-crafted.

For the first Bee Movie, Seinfeld assembled a team of writers– some of whom used to work on his eponymous sitcom– to write an absurdist animated gem. He can easily do it again.

7 Wouldn’t Want It: Seinfeld’s Talents Are Better Used Elsewhere

While Bee Movie is a work of pure Seinfeldian comedy, family-friendly animation is not the best medium for Jerry Seinfeld’s talents.

First and foremost, he’s a comic, and he should continue to focus his efforts on stand-up and on projects like Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee, which still has plenty of gas left in its tank.

6 Love To See It: The Voice Cast Is Incredible

The voice cast from the original Bee Movie was impressive. Aside from Jerry Seinfeld, the movie featured the vocal talents of Renée Zellweger, Matthew Broderick, Patrick Warburton, Kathy Bates, Chris Rock, Oprah Winfrey, and John Goodman.

Not only could a sequel reassemble this veritable Earth’s mightiest heroes of comic performers; it could add a few new legendary names to the roster.

5 Wouldn’t Want It: Barry B. Benson’s Story Has Been Told

The story of Barry B. Benson is Bee Movie, and it already featured a complete and satisfying arc for the character. He graduated, became disillusioned with the 9-to-5, fell in love with a human, fought for bees’ rights in court, screwed up nature, and eventually fixed his mistakes.

He got a happy ending in Bee Movie, so Bee Movie 2 would have to choose between having no conflict— which would make for an uninteresting story— or invalidating that happy ending and tarnishing the first movie.

4 Love To See It: It Could Have A Self-Aware Edge

On its initial release, Bee Movie didn’t make a huge splash. Its most notable contribution to the cultural zeitgeist is its bafflingly immense popularity on social media.

Going into a Bee Movie 2 aware of this Internet popularity, Jerry Seinfeld could give the sequel the same self-aware edge as Seinfeld episodes like “The Bizarro Jerry” and “The Betrayal.”

3 Wouldn’t Want It: A Sequel Would Detract From Bee Movie’s Uniqueness

There’s something pretty unique about Bee Movie. It wasn’t to every critic’s tastes– in fact, most critics panned it on its original release– but it has an identity of its own.

There’s no movie quite like Bee Movie, but if DreamWorks made a sequel to Bee Movie, then there would be— and it would detract from that uniqueness.

2 Love To See It: It’d Be The Closest Thing To Modern Seinfeld

Seinfeld co-creator Larry David’s HBO sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm is the closest thing that comedy fans have to a modern-day Seinfeld, but that show has David’s cynical wit and none of Jerry Seinfeld’s counteractive observational voice.

What Bee Movie offered was the absurdist delight of latter-day Seinfeld episodes in computer-animated form, complete with a number of cast members from the show. Bee Movie 2 would be a joy for Seinfeld fans who miss the sitcom about nothing.

1 Wouldn’t Want It: The First One Is Fine On Its Own

There aren’t many movies that actually need sequels, but directors like Francis Ford Coppola and Denis Villeneuve have been able to their existence with the likes of The Godfather Part II and Blade Runner 2049— but the originals didn’t feel incomplete before the sequels came along and would’ve been fine without them.

The first Bee Movie is fine on its own. It doesn’t need a sequel. Any sequel would surely fail to recapture the bizarre spirit of the original and would therefore only serve to take away from its legacy.

About The Author

Ben Sherlock
(3458 Articles Published)

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Ben Sherlock is a writer, comedian, independent filmmaker, and Burt Reynolds enthusiast. He writes lists for Screen Rant and features and reviews for Game Rant. He’s currently in pre-production on his first feature (and has been for a while, because filmmaking is expensive). You can catch him performing standup at odd pubs around the UK that will give him stage time. Previously, he wrote for Taste of Cinema, Comic Book Resources, and BabbleTop.

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