Fresh out of bee school, best buddies Barry B. Benson (Seinfeld) and Adam (Matthew Broderick) now have to enter the working world and choose a career within 'Honex', the bee hive-running corporation, where they will work for the rest of their lives.

But for Barry, this mundane life-plan fills him with dread as he longs to join the pollen-jocks, those bees charged with the duty of collecting honey beyond the walls of the hive.

And so, in a brilliantly realised scene, Barry realises his dream as he flies out of the hive through Central Park, ending up on the windowsill of florist, Vanessa Bloome (Zellweger), whom he talks to - despite the bee commandment; bees must never speak to humans.

The pair strike up an uncanny friendship despite their physical differences, and during a shopping trip at a local supermarket, Barry discovers that the humans are robbing the bees of all their honey.

With the help of his best pal Adam, Barry and Vanessa decide to bring a law-suit against the humans for its exploitation of Bees.

With the release of the beautifully animated Pixar movie Ratatouille this year, Bee Movie had a tough act to follow.

Alas, DreamWorks' animation pales in comparison to their rivals, which heaps more pressure on Seinfeld's script - his first since the retirement of his sitcom in 1998.

With far too many bee puns and a muddled plot, a decent cast - including cameos from Sting and Ray Liotta - isn’t enough to bring the film to life, or place it in the same league as other DreamWorks hits, such as Shrek or Madagascar.

"M'am, I was already a blood-sucking parasite," proclaims Chris Rock's hilarious but woefully under-used mosquito.

"...all I needed was a briefcase!"

Bee Movie has its moments but all in all there is very little sting in its tale.

Rebecca Garson