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Jerry Seinfeld's fans have been buzzing about their hero's triumphant return to pop culture with "Bee Movie." Seinfeld, who serves as the co-writer, co-producer, and star of the film, has been busy working with "Bee Movie" since 2003 and has been promoting the flick non-stop since November of last year. But I hate to be a buzz-kill, the new animated flick is not that great.

Like Seinfeld's successful TV show, the inception of "Bee Movie" started out as a film about nothing. Having dinner with Steven Spielberg in the Hamptons one evening, Seinfeld blurted out his idea of making a movie about bees that he would call "Bee Movie."

Spielberg liked the title that he immediately called his producing partner, Jeffrey Katzenberg. The next day, Katzenberg telephoned Seinfeld to say DreamWorks is moving forward with the project. Without script and plotline, Seinfeld's idea was given the green light based on a working title.

"Bee Movie" is a movie about bees, talking bees for that matter, and their precious possession honey. The film's tagline says, "honey just got funny," but I wish the movie spent more time being funny.

The first part of the film is inspired. We get to take a closer look at the world of the buzzing creatures through the eyes of one bee with a dream, Seinfeld's Barry B. Benson. He's a recent college graduate (who knew bees go to college to learn to make honey) who thinks that there's more to life than working for Honex, a honey-producing company.

Life in New Hive City is becoming a chore, so Barry jumps at the chance to venture out into the great wide open and encounters a world beyond his wildest dreams! In his big adventure out of the hive, he accidentally meets a strong-willed Manhattan florist named Vanessa (Renee Zelwegger). Barry breaks one of the cardinal rules of beedom he starts talking to her!

Now, here's the inevitable comparison. Last summer's "Ratatouille" had a similar concept animals communicating with humans. But in that Disney/Pixar flick, the rat was not actually talking. He was using non-verbal cues to effectively demonstrate his thoughts. With "Bee Movie," the filmmakers forego creativity for an easy way out.

To further test how far you'll believe this film's concept, our hero goes to court to sue mankind! Why? Because he discovers that people are stealing honey from the bees and making money from it. Suddenly, "Bee Movie" becomes "Erin Brockovich," one bee's fight against injustice. But the most unbelievable conceit is that none of the characters in the courtroom, including Judge Bumbleton (Miss Oprah herself), bats an eyelash about an eloquent, talking bee!

So here's the bottom-line, "Bee Movie" is funny in some parts but the hilarious scenes are few and far between. Chris Rock steals the show with his side-splitting turn as the mosquito, Mooseblood. I wished directors Steve Hickner ("The Prince of Egypt") and Simon J. Smith ("Shrek 4-D") used Rock's character more.

"Bee Movie" has some good animation scenes such as the fun bee-flight sequences but the film's plot is not cohesive. What started out as a bee with a dream movie becomes an ecological lesson about some mumbo-jumbo environmental awareness lecture.

Last year's "Happy Feet" was about a penguin with a dream that became an environmental public service announcement towards the end, but at least that film was consistent from start to finish.

"Bee Movie" fails to match the dazzling technical and storytelling qualities of "Ratatouille." Heck, Seinfeld's creation is not as good as "Shrek the Third" and that movie is not even the best of the franchise! Only die-hard Seinfeld fans and some kids may call this film the bee's knees! And for that, "Bee Movie" gets 2 buzzing kisses

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