POD always enjoys Maya the Bee on the Tiny Pop channel so she was thrilled when she caught the film premier last year. It tells the story of Maya, a fun and inquisitive little bee with a big personality who is keen to leave her hive and live in the meadow. With dreams of discovery, adventure and freedom, she soon discovers the hornets that reside beyond the meadow are not to be trusted. But Maya is faced with a bigger challenge when the Queen’s Royal Jelly is stolen by the greedy advisor. Accompanied by her shy friend Willy, and a host of other creatures, it’s up to Maya to save the hive and end the hostility between the bees and the hornets.
Maya the Bee is a wonderful film with friendship at the core of a really lovely story. It’s beautifully animated and one of those movies that just makes you smile when it finishes. It’s certainly a feel good film but it will keep you on the edge of the sofa at times and it’s funny too. Here’s the trailer from last year so you can get a feel for what it’s like. The DVD is out from Monday 8th February.
POD loved Maya the Bee when she saw it last year so she was almost beside herself when the DVD arrived. With the POD Father out watching 6 Nations most of the afternoon, we decided our home viewing party was to be a girls only affair. We were well catered for too as the screening pack included a copy of the DVD, Maya merchandise, some dressing up accessories, activity sheets and Tiny Pop goodies. Not forgetting of course a great sized bag of Metcalfe’s sweet ‘n salt Skinny Popcorn. You can probably tell by the look on POD’s face she was made up. The deely boppers were put in place straight away with Maya and Willy getting the biggest of cuddles. 
POD had gymnastics and Stagecoach Performing Arts on Saturday so we decided we’d transform the living room into a cinema later that day. The screening pack came with a Maya the Bee mask and several colouring sheets so once home we set to work with the latter. POD loves colouring so they went down a treat. Deely boppers back where they belonged as you’d expect. After that we set to work preparing the room for our screening party. This mostly consisted of POD making the room as dark as possible! 
It was great timing for a movie as she was a little tired after the morning’s activities. Along with Maya and Willy, she brought down an array of other characters to watch the movie with us plus we had popcorn and refreshments. Having not seen the film myself since last year, I’d forgotten how good it is. The story really is lovely and the animation just superb. POD wants to watch it again already and I suspect we will be several times over! 
Maya the Bee (Cert U) is an unBEElievable adventure that buzzes on to DVD and digital download from Monday 8th February 2016 priced £7.99. Directed by Alexs Stadermann, it features the voices of Coco Jack Gillies (Mad Max: Fury Road), Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Road, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes), Jacki Weaver (Silver Lining Playbooks, Animal Kingdom), Miriam Margolyes (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2) and Richard Roxburgh (Moulin Rouge, Van Helsing, Mission Impossible 2). Maya the Bee was produced by Studio 100 Media and Buzz Studios, and is distributed in the UK by Enchanted Animation.
For further information and to order your copy of Maya the Bee, head over to the website.
Disclaimer: We received a Maya the Bee screening pack for the purpose of this review. Opinions are as always our own.
