In the Bee Movie, Jerry Seinfeld is the voice of Barry B. Benson, a bee who just graduated from college and is feeling a little trapped by his only career options; making honey in the hive. While trying to make a decision on exactly what job he wants, Barry makes a trip outside the hive where he meets Vanessa Bloome [Renee Zellweger], a human florist who saves his life. Barry’s so grateful he breaks a cardinal bee rule and talks to Vanessa and they become friends. As they are hanging out, Barry discovers human eat honey and keep bees in cages to make honey so he decides to sue.

I was a little disappointed in this movie. I think we’ve been spoiled by movies like Toy Story and Shrek. Now we have such high expectations for these animated kid’s movies.

That being said, Bee Movie is cute. There were some pretty funny jokes for kids and some good ones for adults. There was even a lesson. Kids learn why bees are important in or ecosystem. So I give it an A for effort.

But there were some parts where I felt like it was lagging. My kids said they liked it, but I think there were definitely points where they were a little bored.

So I give Bee Movie three out of five beans.

I should preface this by saying I’m a huge John Cusack fan. Being a child of the 80s, I practically grew up with John. [See? We're even on a first name basis.] And he didn’t disappoint me in this movie.

Martian Child is about a recently widowed Fantasy writer, David [John Cusack], who adopts a boy, Dennis [played by Bobby Coleman], that believes he is from Mars. Dennis has been placed with several families who he has seen come and go and now has some trust issues. His coping mechanism is to pretend he is a Martian. David was a loner as a child, which helped him become a great writer in adulthood, and can see a bit of himself in Dennis.

John Cusack’s performance was awesome as usual. I could really feel his sadness over the loss of his wife, mixed with his desire to help this child he could totally relate to along with his frustration of trying to bond with an apprehensive Dennis.

And Bobby Coleman did a great job portraying a boy who just wanted to be loved, but wasn’t sure he could trust anybody. If you ever felt even a little bit of loneliness as a child [and who didn't] then you can definitely feel Dennis’ pain.

The movie didn’t get great reviews, but I really enjoyed it. [Although it was kind of a sappy, pull-at-the-heart-strings kind of movie so I doubt my husband --who prefers action flicks-- would have liked it.] I thought the acting was very good. Not only were Cusack and Coleman great, but Amanda Peete [as David's long time friend] and Joan Cusack [as David's sister] were fabulous as well. Although there weren’t a lot of surprises, I felt like the plot moved along nicely, keeping us entertained all the way to the end. Even though I didn’t cry, the movie was a very emotional ride…which is exactly how I like my dramas. I’m giving it a four out of five beans.