The Bumblebee Flies Anyway

The Bumblebee Flies Anyway is a mysterious maze of a movie, twisting and turning throughout its hour and a half time span. What you see is what you believe, and what you believe is what becomes reality. This is mind over matter. Despite the laws of aerodynamics, bumblebees can fly. These concepts are the basis for an experiment involving Barney Snow.

Barney Snow (Elijah Wood) is a young man with amnesia. He cannot remember anything prior to his arrival at a small experimental hospital, and some days, he even has trouble remembering his own name. He is the only amnesia patient in a hospital for terminally ill children, so the doctor warns him to remain detached.

Such a warning is hard to heed when Barney's home (and all he remembers) is the hospital. Naturally, the other patients become friends, even family to him. His new friends include Billy (George Gore II), a boy with a kidney disorder inherited from deceased parents, and Mazzo (Joe Perrino), a young man with bone cancer. Mazzo's twin sister, Cassie (Rachael Leigh Cook), comes to visit her brother, and meets Barney.

Barney's relationships are truly beautiful. He is not rude or condescending to the others in the hospital-nor does he seem to pity them. He takes them for their personalities, looking beyond face value. Even though Mazzo is constantly angry about his disease and projects this at Barney, the two share an amazing bond. Barney won't stop trying with Mazzo. When Mazzo gets mad at Barney, Barney doesn't pity him-he exchanges tense banter. They are real characters; they have human traits, beliefs, and struggles. Billy, the boy with the kidney problem, is a stoic, sarcastic, and even humorous child with something to say about everyone and everything. He ignores his own disease, but he doesn't deny it. His sarcasm provides a way of dealing with his problems. Finally, there is the element of romance, coming into play with Cassie and Barney. This is a subtle, effective romance, one that makes sense and moves at the right pace. Both Cassie and Barney are at crossroads in their lives, and this is reflected in their time together.

The film itself is a pensive piece. The maze that it is must be solved before it makes sense, but then it does. Every twist and turn are accounted for finally. The last approximately twenty minutes are truly outstanding. It shows something about human nature and the reality of life.

The Bumblebee Flies Anyway was certainly a drama. People die, sad things happen, and the viewer is blown away by the stunning storytelling. That's what it's supposed to be, right? And was it, in this case? Sort of. Major plot points came and went without much surprise from me. But I still found it interesting and entertaining. The title comes from the fact that bumblebees are actually too big for their wings, and shouldn't be able to fly, but they do. The acting was fine, but it's funny to see that Elijah Wood did better than Janeane Garofolo. The script was similarly passable. Soundtrack: Pretty good, and sometimes quite effective.

On the plus side, some awesome questions are asked, and that's what makes this so powerful. I can't go into detail without giving away the plot. Overall, it's not a waste of time, but there are probably better movies out there. I'd recommend it for people who like to ponder philosophically.

I think some replies here were a little bit harsh on the movie. Mind you, this is a movie critic's haven, so I can understand. But let's try to level here.

First of all, I knew when starting this movie that it was going to be an indie, low-budget, sort of film, so I wasn't expecting some kind of Lord of The Rings or COlor Purple. I also knew not to expect anything too complex--in my experience with movies such as these, there is more there than just a simple, plausible plot that appeals to everybody. I knew going into it: Hey this is an Elijah Wood movie. Now everything I have seen him in, with the exception of Flipper, has been in some way great, and always told a great or complex story. Summing up all of those conclusions, I went into the movie knowing I shouldn't try to apply any other movie criticisms to it until I had seen it all the way through twice in order to fully catch the drift of the movie.

That being said, the movie was fair. I don't think it is the greatest thing he has ever done; it in no way compares to the Ice Storm or Lord of The Rings. However, I think the end of the movie sort of pulls everything together and helps me to see why Elijah might've chosen to do this movie.

Here is what I liked: The ending, the one that leaves everyone questioning a few things; the sarcastic kid, Billy, and his acerbic sence of humor; the thought processes of Barney Snow (Elijah Wood seems to have mastered the subtlety that is required for this role; Most people here complained that Barney was too apathetic for someone who knew nothing about his past or future, but I think it reflects some of Elijah's character in there too. At the end you see Elijah's happiness restored, when he is able to let go of everything (the very last scene), but throughout the movie it is quiet, subtle nuances; the introvert in Elijah shines through, and I think it is fantastic, and almsot mysterious.) I also liked Mazzo, I think he was a great actor in this movie, and the role worked well with him.

Here is what I disliked: The romantic scene with Rachel Leigh Cook when he finds out she is leaving for Europe...I think their chemistry is terrible, and I don't think the actors are to blame--I think the casting directors are to blame. EW and RLC can both be great, Elijah much more so than Rachel Leigh Cook, but I don't think they worked well together at all.

Suprisingly, I think he and Jordana Brewster from the Faculty had a better chemistry. Also, I think there was too little effort put into the love story. It was like...out of nowhere...they were in love...which is okay sometimes, as long as the characters' feelings are out in the open, but their feelings weren't out in the open. It made it seem strange that the cover of the video box was Elijah and RLC hugging; to me that wasn't the greater message of the movie. THe cover should have been Elijah as the central figure, and then, perhaps, the supporting characters behind him, sort of blended into the background.

Overall, I rate it an 10 for Elijah, Billy,and Mazzo. I rate it a 7 for Rachel Leigh Cook, and I rate a 5 for that silly romantic scene that just didn't flow well with the movie(though I rewound and rewound a few times there...). I give a 9 to the ending because I like enigmatic things but it didn't flow perfectly either. Overall, that's about an 8.

I found this film tedious and slow. A boy admits himself into a research facility for terminal patients. He isn't terminal, but is part of an experiment to conquer cancer by removing the brain's memory of the disease. He spends most of his time interacting with the other patients and trying to remember his past. This was just another dull and tepid film in a long line of flimsy tear jerkers.

I really tried to like this movie because I really like some of the actors in it. But - it had so many flaws that any thinking person should have found it unwatchable.

This film is so full of confusing and implausible scenes and especially reactions that it's hard to accept almost any following scene without wondering what the heck had just happened. Or why it happened. And the cinematography was uneven. Some of the shots were nice, where others were shot so badly that I wondered if they had handed the camera to Forrest Gump himself.

Okay, to start, the Elijah Wood character is supposed to be stricken with amnesia, which would be profoundly disturbing and worrisome for any real person. Elijah does stress over this, randomly, now and again, in brief and obvious shots. But it's amazingly understated. That's just one example of how all the players under-react (or badly act) to every situation in Bumblebee.

As much as it tried to be different and, I guess, 'artsy', this film is as chock full of obtuse emotional manipulation as any mainstream, big budget, Hollywood piece of crap: feel sorry for the dying kids, understand the detached but not-really-detached doctor, ache for the long-shot romance, laugh with and love the funny kid, but worry about his health. Please.

The worst things about this terrible piece of work were the dialogue and the acting. I honestly don't think the actors are to be entirely blamed for their bad performances. There's only so much one can do with a botched script and bad directing. There are many moments when you feel like you're watching a teeny-bop romp (albeit, a depressing one) or a watch-by-numbers after school special.

It's all very confusing how the movie slaps scenes together which don't fit, and barely explains things which clearly need more definition.

The idea wasn't bad. It could have been an okay film, at least. But they screwed it up all the way through.

Thumbs (and other ligaments) down.