Maya the Bee was released theatrically on 4 September 2014. The film received mixed reviews from critics, but grossed $29.6 million worldwide. Two sequels to Maya the Bee were released: The Honey Games in 2018, The Golden Orb in 2021, and an upcoming spin-off titled Arnie & Barney scheduled for 2026.
Plot
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Maya is born in a world of rules, but when she discovers villainous Buzzlina Von Beena's plot to steal the Queen's royal jelly, Maya is banished from the hive and into the meadow. With her best friend Willy tagging along, Maya meets a young hornet named Sting. Together they have to stop the plot and the fight between bees and hornets before it is too late.
Universum Film distributed the film in German-speaking territories through Buena Vista International,[a] while StudioCanal handled the distribution in Australasia. The film is directed by Alexs Stadermann, and produced by Patrick Elmendorff and Thorsten Wegener from Studio 100 Animation in Munich; and Jim Ballantine and Barbara Stephen from Buzz Studios in Sydney.[12][5] The film was produced in association with Flying Bark Productions and the channel ZDF.[13][14] This film was Coco Jack Gillies' film debut, voicing the role of Maya. Gillies was 9 years old at the time of production.[5][10]
Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 47% of 17 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.6/10.[15]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 49 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[16]
Frank Hatherley of Screen Daily positively assessed the visuals and action scenes, along with Coco Jack Gillies' performance as Maya.[5] In one of his articles for Variety, Peter Debruge felt the plot was "innocuous and uninspired as preschool animation gets" and criticised the character designs as "rudimentary at best", but he considered it a "relief to parents exhausted by the overly antic quality of all those other bug stories" and praised the target audience's interest in Maya's interaction with the other Poppy Meadow insects.[17] Although Michael Rechtstaffen of The Hollywood Reporter thought the film wouldn't generate "much of a buzz beyond female preschoolers", he praised its story as well as the cast's performances.[18]
Charles Solomon of the Los Angeles Times questioned the film's dialogue and ending scenes, and later called it a "self-consciously uplifting treacle some adults insist kids want".[19] Writing for The Sydney Morning Herald, Jake Wilson called the film's plot a "wearyingly familiar story", but praised the animation as well as Maya's characterisation.[20]
A sequel, Maya the Bee: The Honey Games, was released on 26 July 2018. having the same cast but having a somewhat different crew and production companies. Another sequel, Maya the Bee: The Golden Orb, was released on 7 January 2021. It was scheduled to be released in Australia on 17 June 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the film was pushed back. An upcoming spin-off film focusing on Arnie and Barney is scheduled for release in Q1 2026.
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