Bee Movie

PHILADELPHIA -- Jerry Seinfeld strides to the front of the Ritz Five art-plex in Philadelphia's Old Town with the eyes-wide-open awareness and relaxed confidence that became his trademarks as a stand-up comic and sitcom creator. In a casual version of his performing uniform - dark jacket, designer jeans, sports shirt, no tie - he jokes about the Mets vs. the Phillies and puts over an antique regional gag about the manner in which rain pours off the statue of William Penn atop City Hall.

It all started because Meaghan Ross wanted to dance. Last summer, Meaghan's mother, Marianne Ross, took her to see the movie Hairspray. Because Meaghan has autism, and Marianne knows she can get excited during movies, she chose an early-in-the-day showing, when the theater would be nearly empty. During the show, the Elkridge 8-year-old was so enchanted by the upbeat music and energetic dancing that she began to move her body. She wanted to dance in the aisles, but instead she was asked to leave the theater, her mother said.

Genuine silliness is so rare a quality these days that it shouldn't go undervalued, even in a sweet little nothing of a picture like Bee Movie. Jerry Seinfeld's foray into feature animation will delight young kids and leave their elders alternately amused and bemused. I usually resent the way studios pack advance screenings with members of a picture's target audience, but I was thankful to see Bee Movie with a bunch of kids out on a school night. It's one film that gains in entertainment value from the audible enjoyment of the first-graders sitting around you. Bee Movie (DreamWorks)

Capsules by Michael Sragow unless noted. Full reviews are at baltimoresun.com/movies. American Gangster -- plays like a deluxe network-TV miniseries, but with all the nudity, profanity and gore the networks would cut out. (M.S.) R 160 minutes C+ Beowulf -- Geats champion Beowulf (Ray Winstone) conquers the monster Grendel (Crispin Glover) and goes on to confront Grendel's mother (Angelina Jolie) and, later, a dragon. Robert Zemeckis' garishly digitalized version of the medieval epic owes more to the sword-and-sex-play fantasies of 12-year-olds than the traditions of Old English poetry.

Next Friday AMERICAN GANGSTER -- (Universal Studios) Denzel Washington's a Harlem drug lord, and Russell Crowe's a cop out to take him down. Ridley Scott directs. BEE MOVIE -- (Paramount Pictures) Jerry Seinfeld leads the voice cast in the animated tale of a bee who sues humanity for stealing honey. With Renee Zellweger. BLADE RUNNER: THE FINAL CUT -- (Warner Bros.) Director Ridley Scott releases another version of the classic science fiction film. Starring Harrison Ford and Daryl Hannah.

Everyone knows him as "Jerry." But when asked what a critic should call him, he doesn't miss a beat. "Sir Seinfeld. Even though I have not been knighted, it is what I prefer," he says like a true master of his domain, be it stand-up or sitcom or, now, animated movie. Jerry Seinfeld in conversation is an easy, playful ironist. When celebrated by Chris Rock, Garry Shandling and Robert Klein before accepting HBO's first Comedian Award this year, he expressed shock that Shandling had prepared some notes for the occasion.

This is one of those days when both the best and worst that TV has to offer are staggeringly clear. The best is "Nova," with an episode that, with real life microphotography, X-rays, computer animation and other techniques, makes "The Fantastic Voyage" look even more like a cheesy sci-fi film than it did before. The worst, coincidentally, is a brand new cheesy sci-fi film presented by the Fox network: a "killer bee" drama that's a bee movie in more ways than one.* "Deadly Invasion: The Killer Bee Nightmare" (8-10 p.m., Channel 45)

It all started because Meaghan Ross wanted to dance. Last summer, Meaghan's mother, Marianne Ross, took her to see the movie Hairspray. Because Meaghan has autism, and Marianne knows she can get excited during movies, she chose an early-in-the-day showing, when the theater would be nearly empty. During the show, the Elkridge 8-year-old was so enchanted by the upbeat music and energetic dancing that she began to move her body. She wanted to dance in the aisles, but instead she was asked to leave the theater, her mother said.

Capsules by Michael Sragow and Chris Kaltenbach unless noted. Full reviews are at baltimore sun.com/movies. American Gangster -- A Harlem, N.Y., criminal mastermind puts together a heroin operation with drugs smuggled out of Vietnam in soldiers' coffins and a wholesome army of outlaws. It plays like a deluxe network-TV miniseries, but with all the nudity, profanity and gore the networks would cut out. (M.S.) R 160 minutes C+ Bee Movie -- Jerry Seinfeld's Barry B. Benson, a squat, big-eyed buzzer, attempts to break out of a job stirring honey in the hive and ends up falling for a human florist (Renee Zellweger)

Genuine silliness is so rare a quality these days that it shouldn't go undervalued, even in a sweet little nothing of a picture like Bee Movie. Jerry Seinfeld's foray into feature animation will delight young kids and leave their elders alternately amused and bemused. I usually resent the way studios pack advance screenings with members of a picture's target audience, but I was thankful to see Bee Movie with a bunch of kids out on a school night. It's one film that gains in entertainment value from the audible enjoyment of the first-graders sitting around you. Bee Movie (DreamWorks)

PHILADELPHIA -- Jerry Seinfeld strides to the front of the Ritz Five art-plex in Philadelphia's Old Town with the eyes-wide-open awareness and relaxed confidence that became his trademarks as a stand-up comic and sitcom creator. In a casual version of his performing uniform - dark jacket, designer jeans, sports shirt, no tie - he jokes about the Mets vs. the Phillies and puts over an antique regional gag about the manner in which rain pours off the statue of William Penn atop City Hall.

Next Friday AMERICAN GANGSTER -- (Universal Studios) Denzel Washington's a Harlem drug lord, and Russell Crowe's a cop out to take him down. Ridley Scott directs. BEE MOVIE -- (Paramount Pictures) Jerry Seinfeld leads the voice cast in the animated tale of a bee who sues humanity for stealing honey. With Renee Zellweger. BLADE RUNNER: THE FINAL CUT -- (Warner Bros.) Director Ridley Scott releases another version of the classic science fiction film. Starring Harrison Ford and Daryl Hannah.

Everyone knows him as "Jerry." But when asked what a critic should call him, he doesn't miss a beat. "Sir Seinfeld. Even though I have not been knighted, it is what I prefer," he says like a true master of his domain, be it stand-up or sitcom or, now, animated movie. Jerry Seinfeld in conversation is an easy, playful ironist. When celebrated by Chris Rock, Garry Shandling and Robert Klein before accepting HBO's first Comedian Award this year, he expressed shock that Shandling had prepared some notes for the occasion.

This is one of those days when both the best and worst that TV has to offer are staggeringly clear. The best is "Nova," with an episode that, with real life microphotography, X-rays, computer animation and other techniques, makes "The Fantastic Voyage" look even more like a cheesy sci-fi film than it did before. The worst, coincidentally, is a brand new cheesy sci-fi film presented by the Fox network: a "killer bee" drama that's a bee movie in more ways than one.* "Deadly Invasion: The Killer Bee Nightmare" (8-10 p.m., Channel 45)