The Onion MovieThe Onion Movie
This just in…The Onion invades DVD! Based on the wildly popular newspaper hailed by The New Yorker as â??the funniest publication in the United States,â? The Onion Movie brings you uncensored, uninhibited, UNRATED news and views from around the world. In a stunning development, when Onion News anchorman Norm Archer (Len Cariou) is asked to compromise his journalistic integrity to please a new corporate sponsor, he doesnâ??t just get mad, he gets…angry. Taking aim at pop stars, prisoners
Rating:  List Price: $ 14.98 Price: $ 6.14 Bee Movie (Widescreen Edition)
“Bee Movie” is a comedy that will change everything you think you know about bees. Having just graduated from college, a bee by the name of Barry B. Benson (Jerry Seinfeld) finds himself disillusioned with the prospect of having only one career choice—honey. As he ventures outside of the hive for the first time, he breaks one of the cardinal rules of the bee world and talks to a human, a New York City florist named Vanessa (Renee Zellweger). He is shocked to discover that the humans have been
Rating: List Price: $ 14.99 Price: $ 3.66 Find More Movie Products |
(out of 54 reviews)
(out of 160 reviews)
Review by nihil for The Onion Movie
Rating:
This movie is really really funny. It’s not “the greatest thing ever made” but it’s still pretty damned hilarious. It’s a great parody. I rented it hoping it was exactly what it was: a variety of parodies with a plot mixed in. No, it’s not the paper………it’s a movie based on the Onion style of viewing the world. If you have ever seen Kentucky Fried movie this will seem like an updated companion piece. You really need to go into watching this movie with these things in mind. It’s just a good ride. The movie isn’t high-brow humour that’s meant to be the best in the world but you’ll get a chuckle out of it. I’ve been waiting for this for a while since I saw a preview on another DVD I rented. I know all my friends who are ZAZ (Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker) fans will love this and I am going to buy it so we can all watch it.
Review by AMP for The Onion Movie
Rating:
The Good Things
*A great, varied assortment of comedic sketches that makes fun of many different aspects of modern-day society, culture, and politics. Topics include such issues as terrorism, sexuality in pop music, corporate greed, and so on.
*A few good parodies (most prominently, Steven Segal parodying himself!).
*Also a good number of original sketches.
*A few funny pieces of self-parody (ie, the scenes where film critics gather around and rate the movie).
*There is a very slight story arc that ties in many of the sktis together into a bizzare finale, and ultimately presents some major themes about journalistic ethics and corporate greed (although these themes are not very strongly developed).
The Bad Things
*No characters to develop, no story to tell (but hey, it’s sketch comedy, so who cares?).
The Questionable Things
*A fair amount of perversity. Expect a lot of swear words and a little bit of graphicness. Some may find it too crude, but I think it’s just right.
*Quite a bit of racey humor.
This eighty-minute collection of skits is probably the funniest thing I have seen in a while. The comedy is great, and presents enough satire to make it somewhat thoughtful. There is some sickness to some of it, but it’s nowhere near as bad as some other comedies out there (like “Meet the Spartans” or the “Scary Movie” series). It may not be as funny as the Onion website, but I would say that this is comparable to “Saturday Night Live,” “Robot Chicken,” or Monty Python’s “Meaning of Life.”
The disc has okay video and sound quality. It has ten minutes of deleted scenes (which are really good) and outtakes.
Review by Sam Clemens for The Onion Movie
Rating:
As a more thorough review has already been posted here, I’ll keep it brief when I say that I was fully disappointed by this film. I’m a huge fan of the Onion newspaper and the Onion online, especially when I rushed out to rent this movie the first day it was available (good thing I didn’t buy it). The trailer that has been circulating the internet for some time is hilarious, but captures the only good scenes from the entire feature. Most segments are long, redundant, and unfunny, and although they are tied together in the end, the movie is missing the charm that I have come to expect from the Onion’s caliber of work. Overall, rent this DVD if you have to, but it’s something that should remain on the shelves.
Review by Kristofer J. Stamp for The Onion Movie
Rating:
…Kentucky Fried Movie and Monty Python. A great movie, without a traditional plot line. It makes fun of popular culture in the way that will have you rolling in the ailes.
Review by Jason C. Wilkerson for The Onion Movie
Rating:
A lot of people are familiar with The Onion News. The Onion News is a news service that parodies modern news right down to the Horoscopes. Spoofing modern news with spoof news filled with humor and scatological references, The Onion News has been offering a scathing satire on the modern news experience for years. In 2003, they opted to make a movie filled with the same satire of the modern world you’d find in the newspapers. Apparently, though, due to poor test screenings the movie was shelved and finally released on DVD in 2008 rather than theatrically. So how does it stack up?
The Onion Movie is mainly a group of skits, working as news stories, commercials, movie spots, etc. Behind the skits there’s a working TV news report: The Onion News “The World’s Greatest News Source”. The Onion News has just been bought out by a global conglomerate who requires the news to plug their movies on the air. News anchor, Norm Archer, thinks this compromises the integrity of the news, and this leads to an interesting, and funny, confrontation at the end of the movie.
The Onion Movie is a really funny movie with a few unfortunate down spots. It does a fairly good job of mixing the politically incorrect (Little Known Racial Stereotypes, Terrorist Training Video, etc.), with satire of celebrities (Melissa Cherry, a Britney Spears knock off who sings songs like: “Take Me From Behind,” and lyrics like, “So, let me give you some affection – just below your waist” which are apparently just about friendship because she’s a virgin), and satire of society (News report: “The internet went down for three hours this morning, plunging the nation into productivity. The outage, which caused major work startages from New York to California, prevented an estimated 120 million American employees from messing around on the web at work”). Also, there are some funny cameos including a spoof commercial hosted by Michael Bolton for a children’s charity organization, but the best is Steven Segal as the Cockpuncher.
While those skits work very well, and the majority of the rest do, some skits fall flat on their face. Skits like the Dean Martin Celebrity Roast spoof and the majority of a skit dealing with teenagers playing D&D are just not funny. Also the plot, while inherently harmless and flimsy, adds quite a few deadspots to the movie taking away from the fun of many of the skits.
The Onion Movie is definitely worth a watch though. While not as funny as I hoped it was funnier than I expected. Naturally, for those of you who know of The Onion, know to expect nudity and cursing, so this is not a movie to watch with your kids. Check it out, and hope you enjoy!
3/5
Review by R. Christenson for Bee Movie (Widescreen Edition)
Rating:
I’ve seen all of the animated features since Toy Story, and liked this one better than most. It’s not as funny as Shrek, and overall not as good as Monsters Inc or Finding Nemo, but certainly in the better half, comparable to Cars, Ice Age, and Over The Hedge. During the first twenty minutes or so it seemed like it might offer nothing better than a series of Bee jokes, which I see has resulted in some negative reviews here. But the story develops as an allegory for frivolous lawsuits, but it’s the bee who brings the frivolous lawsuit here, so it doesn’t jump on the Hollywood blame-humans-first bandwagon, which is refreshing. Some of the results are predictable, some funny, but not preachy or trite. There’s at least one lawyer joke that had the audience in stitches, along with several other funny jokes.
Review by thejoelmeister for Bee Movie (Widescreen Edition)
Rating:
Jerry Seinfeld has been away from the spotlight for some time now and 2007 marks the year of his return – but only as a voice in a computer animated film. While the premise is unique, the approach is generic, and the excellently animated, poorly executed family film will have difficulty avoiding the already popular classification that Bee Movie is indeed a B-movie.
Barry B. Benson (Jerry Seinfeld) is an average bee approaching adulthood, who must decide upon a job in the hive. The catch is that once he chooses his job, he must keep it for the rest of his life. Unsatisfied with the monotony of working in the hive, he ventures outside where he meets a human woman, Vanessa (Renée Zellweger), who saves his life. Indebted, he breaks the Cardinal bee rule: never talk to humans. At first Vanessa has difficulty accepting the talking bee, but the two soon spend quite a bit of time together and Barry gets overly comfortable as she reveals that she is a florist. Enamored with Vanessa, despite the interspecies barrier, Barry learns that humans have been stealing honey from bees and selling and eating it. Infuriated, he sets out to sue the honey company, with the help of Vanessa and his bee pals.
Apparently bees drive cars, they are all cousins, and they can use their antennas as cell phones. The comical world the creators have devised for the bees is perhaps the most creative aspect of the film. Many parallels reside with Barry’s rebellious teen years and human childhood, as specifically referenced by a sensationally hysterical homage to The Graduate. From voting the queen bee into monarchy, to pollination, to insects on windshields and their attraction to lights, many of the typical insect behaviors are addressed and translated into humorous gags – supposedly their thinking is shockingly similar to humans.
The animation (from Dreamworks, the studio that brought us Shrek) as always continues to excel in its realism, from the cartoon movements and facial expressions of the characters, to the nearly flawless reflections and refractions of the inanimate objects and background environments. Barry gets stuck to a tennis ball and batted around in slow motion, and sucked into the engine of a car: both scenes and many more are executed with amazing editing and stunning camera movement that can only be achieved in computer animation.
Hysterical character designs and voice acting also add to the fun, with jocose performances by John Goodman, Patrick Warburton, Chris Rock and even voice cameos by Michael Richards (who many joked would play the role of an Africanized bee) and Larry King as Bee Larry King. What doesn’t work as well is the execution of the story. The film often contradicts itself with the reactions of the humans to talking bees, and with what Barry is capable of realistically doing as nothing more than a heavily personified insect. Some of the jokes elicit laughter, but most are on an unexpectedly low intelligence level, and ultimately the many entertaining bits are specifically aimed at younger audiences. As is often with computer animated films, visual perfection oftentimes overshadows the time spent trying to devise an enticing story, and Bee Movie falls in with the too-kid-friendly films that are quickly forgotten.
- Mike Massie
Review by Terri for Bee Movie (Widescreen Edition)
Rating:
We took our kids to see this movie and they all loved it. I liked it because they didn’t include sexual innuendos like the Shrek movies I’ve seen. That always makes me angry that this type (sexual innuendos) of writing has to be included in what is supposed to be a children’s movie. Anyway, this movie is great for small children as well as bigger kids. The jokes are funny, and my kids thoroughly enjoyed it. Although at one point it seemed rather weird that a bee can sue humans, it all fell into place in the end. We all have to realize that this is animation, not real life, so no real life acting should be portrayed. They all did a wonderful jobs doing their parts, especially Jerry Seinfeld. Well done! I will be buying this when it comes out.
Review by Matthew Kunka for Bee Movie (Widescreen Edition)
Rating:
I didn’t care that this movie came out as Jerry Seinfeld is sometimes overhyped as being funny, when in reality, most the time he isn’t. I decided to rent this because a few other new releases were sold out at the video store. I get home, watch it and within minutes, am floored laughing. With a good message and superb humor, I went out today and bought this movie. I love it and if you appreciate cartoons with a good message, get this!
Review by J. Lomprey for Bee Movie (Widescreen Edition)
Rating:
My husband and I really enjoyed watching this with our 4 year old daughter and almost 2 year old son. The picture quality is excellent (very vivid and bright) which kept my son’s attention. There were funny parts throughout the entire film. I thought the overall concept of the movie was great. I thought the voices were great and loved Renee Zellwegers character the best. I can’t wait to buy it on DVD. Both of my kids really enjoyed it and now I will have something other than Curious George that my 2 year old can watch without getting bored. Can’t wait to watch this movie again and again. Great for the whole family!