A bee named Barry yearns to break out of his routine life in the hive, and ends up having a series of bizarre adventures in the world of humans. Family-oriented CGI adventure from DreamWorks Animation, the makers of Shrek It‘s official - the novelty of computer animated movies has definitely worn off.

What was once fresh, colourful and out of the ordinary is now routine and over-familiar, meaning any new all-CGI films have to try extra hard to stand out. In order to do this, they need something more than just another sassy talking animal (or insect) spouting pop culture gags, and Bee Movie has a massive advantage in the presence of comedian Jerry Seinfeld.

It‘s his first major project since he brought his hugely acclaimed self-titled sitcom to a close at the height of its popularity in 1999, and as well as voicing the main character, Seinfeld is also one of the film‘s writers and producers. Unfortunately, his presence hasn‘t given Bee Movie the lift it needs, and what we get is a movie that only rarely rises above mildly amusing.

It‘s the tale of Barry B Benson (Seinfeld), a bee who‘s just graduated from college, and is ready to take his place in the honey-gathering workforce of his hive. However, he‘s disturbed to find that he‘s now expected to work his whole life without so much as a day off, and can‘t help feeling he‘s destined for something better. The life of a ‘Pollen Jock‘, gathering the pollen to create the honey, sounds much more alluring - but when Barry talks his way into one group of Jocks and goes on a trip out of the hive, he gets separated from his team. Barry is on the verge of being killed when he‘s rescued by a kindly human florist named Vanessa (Zelwegger).

Barry breaks the law of the bees by talking to Vanessa in order to thank her, and the unlikely pair are soon firm friends. But he then discovers that humans are regularly consuming the honey that he and his kind have been slaving over. Convinced that he‘s got to stop this exploitation, Barry decides to sue the human race for honey theft... at which point the film suddenly lapses into an extended legal spoof, and the problems inherent in the story become painfully clear. Seinfeld and his co-writers have come up with plenty of charming ideas, but they haven‘t figured out a way of slotting them into a decent story. What starts out as a pleasingly offbeat take on 1960s classic The Graduate morphs clumsily into a courtroom satire, then spends the remainder of its time hammering in an overdone environmental message - especially ironic, considering Seinfeld‘s ‘no hugs, no learning‘ attitude on his show. There‘s certainly no organic progression, leaving the movie feeling more like four short films roughly stitched together, and many aspects of the plot are derivative - particularly the opening 20 minutes, which are highly reminiscent of previous DreamWorks movie Antz.

This sense of deja-vu wouldn‘t be so much of a problem if the humour was up to scratch, but what we get is a selection of entertaining (if groan-worthy) puns, some wryly enjoyable banter and only a handful of witty one-liners to remind us what Seinfeld is capable of. Most of the film is content to be gently amusing rather then hilarious (one exception being a fabulously odd cameo from Ray Liotta), and the shortage of serious belly laughs becomes more noticeable as the film goes on. Even when it comes to the visuals, the film rarely makes the leap into outstanding territory. The world of the bees is rendered in a bright, candy-colour scheme that echoes everything from Chicken Little to Robots, while the human characters are more than a little glassy-eyed and doll-like in their movements. The character animation on Barry is exceptional, and the flying sequences are accomplished (especially one scene, where Barry takes an unexpected journey through a car engine), but otherwise there‘s little to single the film out.

At the least, it‘s colourful enough to mean that younger children will still have plenty to enjoy, but the kids in the audience are likely to find themselves a little bored during the lengthy legal skit, while any grown-up fans of Seinfeld may be disappointed he‘s made such a lacklustre comeback. Bee Movie is definitely a step above some of DreamWorks‘ animation output (particularly the shocking Shark‘s Tale), and is rarely less than gently charming - but it‘s hard not to think that with the talent involved, the end result should have been a little more memorable.