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While the previews for Bee Movie make it seem like a flick about goofy bee being hit by a tennis ball and the other large objects, apparently the central plot is really all about food law and food policy. After dodging tennis balls and meeting Renee Zellweger, Jerry Seinfeld’s bee discovers that honey is sold in grocery stores and sues the human race for stealing all of the bee’s honey. Now this is a movie I have to see!

Tossing aside the obvious jurisdictional and venue problems, and the concerns about someone without a law degree serving as counsel in a class action lawsuit, the really interesting thing will “bee” what message the movie conveys.

SPOILER ALERT: Based on the reviews, Jerry’s bee wins his lawsuit. But as a result the bee’s economy is decimated and every flower in America dies. The third act consists of Jerry’s bee and Renee’s human rescuing the last roses in America from the Rose Bowl celebration so they can be use the pollen to revive the world.

In terms of food policy, this is an extremely interesting premise for a kids movie. Most consumers still think of biotech foods as a debate that is on the horizon, not realizing the debate was over years ago when biotech foods were slipped into our food supply without our knowledge or consent. That’s right, the tortilla you ate last night and the soy milk you drank today probably come from biotech seeds. You may not have realized it because the labels that would inform you about the biotech seeds have been blocked by biotech companies, who convinced government regulators that consumers did not need to be worried about what they ate.

We know that Bt corn and other biotech grains effect butterflies and insects, but we are illogically assured that the effects stop there and expected to believe that seeds implanted with artificial insecticide have no ill effects on the ecosystem or human physiology. That pollen from these plants does not drift, and everything is contained in a nice tidy scientific box.

Our entire modern food system works on faith, and that faith only works if consumers do not think too hard about what they are eating and where it comes from. So a movie about how everything in the environment is connected at the source of our food is fairly radical. Once you start asking questions, the grocery story becomes a scary place to be … for humans and for crusading bees.

If you have seen Bee Movie, I would love to hear from you. Do they talk about food policy in the movie at all, and what is the final moral of the story? Don’t rock the boat? Don’t file big lawsuits? Don’t ask too many questions about where the money goes, or you will put your friends and family out of work? This seems rather worrisome, especially as a message to kids. On the other hand, the message could be … don’t jump to conclusions? Be sure to investigate and ask questions before you take a stand on an issue? That could be a positive message, especially as a message to kids.

So if you have seen Bee Movie tell us what you know and what you think!