Overview: Freshly hatched bee Maya is a little whirlwind and won't follow the rules of the hive. One of these rules is not to trust the hornets that live beyond the meadow. When the Royal Jelly is stolen, the hornets are suspected and Maya is thought to be their accomplice. No one believes that she is the innocent victim and no one will stand by her except for her good-natured and best friend Willy.

Blu ray Verdict: OMG! Maya is one of the most delightful and sparkling characters to come out of a kids film in a long time. In a way reminiscent of Miyazaki's youngest heroine's this little bee stands up to authority and keeps just asking questions.

The movie is spectacularly beautiful. There is a rich meadow world that comes alive. My two girls were spellbound for the whole film. The 4 year old can get scared easily in films (the poster of 'The Boxtrolls' was enough to scare her) but she was happily cheering Maya on. The whole bug world comes alive in song and dance that is so charming - the girls were singing all afternoon.

There was enough humor for grown ups too. There are a couple of ants (voiced by the Umbilical Bros) that really steal the show. Jacki Weaver as evil Buzzlina had just the right amount of scare and fun in her portrayal. The other voices, Richard Roxburgh and Noah Taylor, etc. did such a great job.

My little ones were fully captivated for 80 minutes straight (shock horror) and talked about their favorite scenes and characters in the car on the way home. The filmmakers did a superb job making the film colorful and appealing with gorgeous CG animation, and the story is really something special that everyone can relate to.

Funnily enough, the first version of 'Maya The Bee' was actually made way back in 1925 with its writer, Waldemar Bonsels assisting the production. Produced in Germany and released under the title, 'Die Biene Maja und ihre Abenteuer' and released in Britain as 'The Adventures of Maya'. It used micro-photography of real insects to tell the story. The last remaining nitrate 35mm print of the British version is owned by a Scottish archive who made a super 8mm reprint in 2000! This is a Widescreen Presentation (1.85:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs and comes with the Special Features of:

An Interview with Maya
"Dancing With Bees" - An Exclusive Episode Of The Maya The Bee TV Series
Blooper Reel
Trailers

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