We first came across Maya the Bee on the Tiny Pop TV channel and it fast became one of POD’s favourite programmes. She was thrilled when we were invited to the €17m Maya the Bee preview and had a great time beforehand.
She got to spend (probably a little too much!) time with a life size Maya, eat Maya biscuits and make a Maya mask. She even enjoyed a spot of colouring and whizzing down a slide into a ball pit before the film began.
Maya is a curious bee and continually on the lookout for adventure. She brings disorder to her well regimented hive by buzzing around everywhere, keeping her teacher Miss Cassandra on her toes. But one day there is uproar when the royal jelly – the Queen Bee’s elixir of life – is stolen from the hive.
Buzzlina, the royal advisor, accuses the hornets but Maya finds out by accident that the evil perpetrator is in fact Buzzlina herself! Before she can clear up the conspiracy, she is forced to leave the hive by the Queen’s domineering advisor.
The fascinating yet unfamiliar corn poppy meadow becomes Maya’s home. Together with her lazy best friend Willy, who also doesn’t fit into the community, the bees embark on a dangerous journey to find the royal jelly. With the bees and hornets old rivals, the brave duo discover enjoy lots of exciting experiences and meet many new friends including hornet boy Sting.
Back in the beehive, as the Queen Bee becomes weaker, Buzzlina announces to everyone the royal jelly has been stolen and the hornets have to be the culprits. Miss Cassandra secretly looks for Maya and Willy in the meadow asking an ant general for help. Arnie and Barney are set to work looking for the two, accidentally destroying the hornet buildings to collapse in their search. The hornets quickly suspect the bees have destroyed their camp.
With uproar on both sides, when Maya returns to the hive she quickly discovers the queen’s advisor wants to rule over the bee colony herself. She is locked up but is rescued by Willy, Sting and grasshopper Flip. They arrive back in the meadow just in time to stop the hostilities that had developed between the bees and the hornets. Buzzlina is identified as the real royal jelly thief and punished.
With the jelly returned to the recovering Queen Bee, she appoints Maya ‘bee ambassador’. From that day forth she gets to spend all her time with her friends in the corn poppy meadow showing that friendship is certainly thicker than honey!
We absolutely loved this film. Not only is it a wonderful story about friendship, it’s beautifully shot and the animation is just superb. At 88 minutes, it was also the perfect length to keep four-year-old POD suitably engaged. Maya the Bee buzzes into UK cinemas on 23rd October 2015, do go and see it – it’s just lovely.
