Maya the Bee: The Honey Games at SFF

June 15, 2018

Bless this film. Directed by Noel Cleary and Sergio Delfino, Maya the Bee: The Honey Games is an animated kid’s movie that holds true to the sweet, simplistic story of an overly enthusiastic bee called Maya trying to prove herself by competing in The Honey Games: the bee version of the Olympic games.

Sitting in cinema with a crowd half my age I was swept away by the film’s bright colours, easy to follow plot, and stereotypical characters. There’s always something magical about animation and fortunately the suspension of disbelief remained despite the times I found Maya’s character to be slightly irritating due to her chirpiness (there’s always that overly-eager friend who is too enthusiastic when you’re tired and irritable).

We have our protagonist Maya (Coco Jack Gillies), her best friend Willi (Benson Jack Anthony), the Queen Bee (Justine Clarke), the villain of the film a rival bee from the big city Violet (Linda Ngo) and an assortment of other characters. The film has themes about friendship, teamwork, honesty, and believing in oneself, all topics important to teach our young audiences.

After a quick search online, I found that Maya the Bee is a franchise that started 1912 by a German writer named Waldemar Bonsels. A hundred years later and Maya the Bee is still a buzz. With the franchise spawning films, TV series, musicals, video games, and an opera the Maya the Bee franchise has sure been busy.

Despite its predictable storyline Maya the Bee: The Honey Games is a good choice to bring kids to these upcoming school holidays.

The film plays again at Sydney Film Festival on Sunday the 17th of June and will be released in Australia 26 July. Find out more here: https://www.sff.org.au/program/browse/maya-the-bee-the-honey-games