Jerry Seinfeld was in Detroit!

Jerry Seinfeld was in Detroit on October first to promote his new animated film Bee Movie. Bee Movie is a promising film about Barry B. Benson (Jerry Seinfeld), a bee that is not happy with his career, who goes out into the world and discovers that humans are stealing honey without compensating the bees. So with the help of Vanessa (Renee Zellweger), Barry sues the Honey company and it's affiliates. Little do they know the ramifications of their victory.

Seinfeld is very passionate about this film. For him to come to Detroit and do a presentation like this with little to no fanfare is proof of that. He has spent the last four years writing, acting and just dipping his fingers into every aspect of the making of this film. Along with directors Spike Feresten and Barry Marder, they have created an interesting take on bee life in general and the production of honey. As ludicrous as the plot sounds, it does have a point. We steal the bee's honey, plain and simple. Most other natural resources are either the resource themselves or byproducts, while honey is actually made by bees. We just take it without a thought. Now I know that in real life bee's don't really have feelings but since we are talking about an animated film, we can stretch our sensibilities a little and ask, “How would you like it if it happened to you?” I'd sue too.

Seinfeld came out and entertained us with some stand up like banter before getting to the honey, such as where has Seinfeld been for almost nine years? Well, this movie explains four of those years, two on the script alone! The other five saw a return to stand up as well as spending time with his family. Can't blame a man for that can we? After his short presentation he introduced us to the directors, Spike Feresten and Barry Marter, who proceeded to walk us through the clips they had brought. A courtroom scene in which Ray Liotta, playing a caricature of himself, was hilarious. And, it looked just like him! Gotta give a guy credit for being able to make fun of himself, right? Another showed the first meeting between Barry and Vanessa which showcased Seinfelds specific brand of humor as well as some close up shots of everyday objects with amazing detail. Water drops, blades of grass, even the texture of Vanessa's was realistic. Yet another showed a group of bees flying around, swooping around things, it almost made me dizzy. Ok, not really but it was a fun ride.

So that is my take based on the clips that we saw. With an all-star cast including Jerry Seinfeld, Renee Zellweger, Matthew Broderick, John Goodman, Ray Liotta, Patrick Warburton, Oprah and more, Bee movie will be sure to entertain the whole family.

Bee Movie buzzes into theaters Nov. 6^th. In the meantime , visit the official site at http://www.beemovie.com/ and watch out for “Bee Movie TV Juniors” on NBC. TV Juniors are short little comical spots by Jerry about his experience making the film. We had the pleasure of viewing two of these and I must say they are just as entertaining as the film clips we saw.

I hope to see you at the theater!

Mitch Emerson
mitchemerson@hotmail.com