A remarkably well paced beautifully animated whimsical feature with superb story progression and impeccable comedy timing, perfect for youngsters and adults alike.

I've caught snippets of the Maya TV show when my children were watching and thought it was rather sweet, but never paid much attention. Then along comes the movie. My perception of TV shows turned into feature length film's are less than stellar, often feeling like a padded out and an overly long TV episode. Maya the Bee movie firmly avoids this pitfall and feels like a stand alone tale anyone can enjoy. I frequently found myself mesmerized as though I was watching a top of their game Disney production, and I'm a 37 year old action movie loving dad!

Story: I won't dwell on it here, the IMDb covers it amply. Other than to say, though many of the topics have been covered before, it is refreshingly arranged and never feels rehashed or tiresome. There are also plenty of novel ideas making Maya a somewhat original tale.

Humour: The comedy in Maya is very slapstick and hilarious. I heard many younger and older kids in the theatre laughing over and over again (like myself) at many of the characters antics.

Violence: As another reviewer has stated there is absolutely no violence but there is threatened violence and a few mildly spooky scenes. But nothing feels out of place and any scariness is quickly exposed for what it is, misperception. The threatened violence equates to nothing more than a raised stern voice and dissatisfaction with another bug over a conflicting view or their prejudices.

Characterisation: The strong willed beautiful natured Maya. Her latently brave best friend Wily. Flip the Singing, wise, stand up comedian, Jiminy cricket channeling grass hopper. The portly fair Queen Bee. The dastardly treacherous Buzzlina Von Beena. And a slew of support cast some with prominent reoccurring roles.

Do yourself a favour, round up the kids and see this in the theatre. In a world full of violence it's great to see a movie being made which is able to tell a riveting tale of adventure, exploration,friendship, empathy, bullying, righteousness, misguided prejudice and tolerance. And still manages be absolutely riveting. It's utterly refreshing.

I have to say I am a bit disappointed with the outcome of this new Bee Maya movie. As long as the character exists and children love her, she would have deserved a film that could also appeal to grown-ups today who appreciated the little bee when they were kids. However, this is a movie for small kids only I'd say who suck up the action and animation without asking too many questions. I watched the German version, so I cannot really comment on the English-language voice actors, but I was fairly unimpressed with the German voice actors. This looked a bit like a Hagen family project including Eva Maria (as the queen),her daughter rock singer Nina (as the villain, good villain voice, but always the same) and Nina's daughter Cosma Shiva. The only one I liked was rap musician Jan Delay whose voice seemed very fitting for Willi.

Director Alexs Stadermann has mostly worked on animated TV series and sequels to famous Disney movies (Jungle Book, Lion King, Cinderella, Tarzan). His work here unfortunately reflects his body of work. There is nothing really new or impactful about this film. Pure mediocrity and I cannot recommend it. I hope it will not be too long till the next Bee Maya film and this one will be better. Finally, I am not sure if the title was intended as a B-movie wordplay, but if it was, it has been done before and it was not particularly funny there, so stop with these please.

Maia the Bee is one of those characters that the overwhelming majority of people do not remember anymore. In my earliest childhood I still remember her but, for the new generations, drenched in Japanese cartoons with weird eyes like "Dragonball", "Pokemon" and others, it's like talking about Stone Age things.

I will not talk about the script. It's so simple that I'm afraid to end up revealing too much. What I can say is that the story is good, has its pretty side and will please the little ones a lot. I was afraid that it would be a movie so much for the younger that it would displease me, that I am no longer a child... but my fear proved to be unfounded. I liked the movie. It's full of clichés about finding your own place in the world, but that does not stop us from enjoying the movie for what it is: a children's movie.

Problems? The first is the danger of comparisons. It's a relatively low budget film, so it will always lose out compared to similar movies (and we can list many if we think about it) already made by US multi-million dollar studios. The CGI is much more humble, with no desire to appear real and the visuals can really displease those who value the graphic and visual part of the animation; everything is simpler, but it works quite well and, as I value the good quality of the script more than the technical issues, I accepted well the poor CGI used. Another problem with this film is its excessively fast pace. You do not have time to be afraid for that little bee, that is suddenly exposed to the dangers of the world outside the hive... everything happens very quickly and before you realize that she's in danger already she was able to overcome it.

Despite the weaknesses, such as the visual and the speed at which everything happens, this is a kid-friendly movie that is easy to swallow for adults.