Maya is a little bee with a big heart! Join her on an epic adventure.
Director: Alexs Stadermann
Writers : Fin Edquist, Fin Edquist,
Stars : Kodi Smit-McPhee, Noah Taylor, Richard Roxburgh
Freshly hatched bee Maya is a little whirlwind and won't follow the rules of the hive. One of these rules is not to trust the hornets that live beyond the meadow. When the Royal Jelly is stolen, the hornets are suspected and Maya is thought to be their accomplice. No one believes that she is the innocent victim and no one will stand by her except for her good-natured and best friend Willy. After a long and eventful journey to the hornets hive Maya and Willy soon discover the true culprit and the two friends finally bond with the other residents of the opulent meadow.
Reviews
I've caught snippets of the Maya TV show when my children were watching and thought it was rather sweet, but never paid much attention. Then along comes the movie. My perception of TV shows turned into feature length film's are less than stellar, often feeling like a padded out and an overly long TV episode. Maya the Bee movie firmly avoids this pitfall and feels like a stand alone tale anyone can enjoy. I frequently found myself mesmerized as though I was watching a top of their game Disney production, and I'm a 37 year old action movie loving dad!
Story: I won't dwell on it here, the IMDb covers it amply. Other than to say, though many of the topics have been covered before, it is refreshingly arranged and never feels rehashed or tiresome. There are also plenty of novel ideas making Maya a somewhat original tale.
Humour: The comedy in Maya is very slapstick and hilarious. I heard many younger and older kids in the theatre laughing over and over again (like myself) at many of the characters antics.
Violence: As another reviewer has stated there is absolutely no violence but there is threatened violence and a few mildly spooky scenes. But nothing feels out of place and any scariness is quickly exposed for what it is, misperception. The threatened violence equates to nothing more than a raised stern voice and dissatisfaction with another bug over a conflicting view or their prejudices.
Characterisation: The strong willed beautiful natured Maya. Her latently brave best friend Wily. Flip the Singing, wise, stand up comedian, Jiminy cricket channeling grass hopper. The portly fair Queen Bee. The dastardly treacherous Buzzlina Von Beena. And a slew of support cast some with prominent reoccurring roles.
Do yourself a favour, round up the kids and see this in the theatre. In a world full of violence it's great to see a movie being made which is able to tell a riveting tale of adventure, exploration,friendship, empathy, bullying, righteousness, misguided prejudice and tolerance. And still manages be absolutely riveting. It's utterly refreshing.
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