# Maya the Bee (film)

Maya the Bee (promoted theatrically as Maya the Bee Movie) is a 2014 animated adventure comedy film directed by Alexs Stadermann, loosely based on the 1975 anime Maya the Bee as well as indirectly on the German children's book The Adventures of Maya the Bee by Waldemar Bonsels. The first animated film in the Maya the Bee franchise, it was produced by Studio 100 Animation and Buzz Studios, and distributed by StudioCanal in Australia and by Universum Film in Germany. It features the voices of Coco Jack Gillies, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Noah Taylor, Richard Roxburgh, Jacki Weaver, Justine Clarke, The Umbilical Brothers, and Miriam Margolyes.
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 and Barney" scheduled for 2026.

## Plot

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's too late.

## Voice cast

* Coco Jack Gillies as Maya, a young bee girl.
* Kodi Smit-McPhee as Willy, a young bee boy, Maya's best friend.
* Joel Franco as Sting, a young hornet, Maya and Willy's best friend and sidekick.
* Richard Roxburgh as Flip, a grasshopper.
* Justine Clarke as Miss Cassandra, a bee teacher at the bee school and Maya's mother at heart.
* Jacki Weaver as Buzzlina Von Beena, the royal counselor of the beehive and Maya's arch-enemy.
* Andy McPhee as Hank, the leader of hornets, Sting's father, Bees friends, and former arch-rivals.
* Miriam Margolyes as The Queen, the mother of Bees.
* David Collins as Arnie, an ant soldier, Paul's right-hand.
* Shane Dundas as Barney, an ant soldier, Arnie's partner and Paul's right-hand.
* Jimmy James Eaton as Paul, an ant colonel, the leader of ants.
* Heather Mitchell as The Nurse, chief of the worker bees.
* Noah Taylor as Crawley, the hilariously bumbling of the beehive, The Queen's loyal assistant and Buzzlina's former henchman.
* Cameron Ralph as Momo, a moth.
* Glenn Fraser as Kurt, a dung beetle.
* Heather Mitchell as Thekla, an evil and stubborn bug-eating spider.
* Stavroula Mountzouris as Lara, a ladybug who is Willy's love interest.
* Sam Haft as Drago, a dragonfly.

## Production

Universum Film distributed the film in German-speaking territories, 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. The film was produced in association with Flying Bark Productions and the channel ZDF. This film was Coco Jack Gillies' film debut, voicing the role of Maya. Gillies was 9 years old at the time of production.

## Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 47% of 17 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.6/10. 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.
Frank Hatherley from Screen Daily stated that "this merry movie is for young children, mainly girls (note that this is an educated opinion): step aside, Dora the Explorer!" with vivid colours and plenty of unthreatening action. He also praised Coco Jack Gillies' performance as Maya. Peter Debruge of Variety felt that the film was "innocuous and uninspired as preschool animation gets" and criticised the film's character designs as "rudimentary at best". However, he considered the film 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 insects outside of her beehive home. Debruge would later note that as one of Shout! Factory's catalogue titles, "it should do far better bzzness [in the North American market]."
Charles Solomon of the Los Angeles Times also questioned the film's dialogue and ending scenes. He later said the film "embodies the kind of self-consciously uplifting treacle some adults insist kids want." In his review 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.

### Accolades

| Award | Category | Subject | Result |
| Asia Pacific Screen Award | Best Animated Feature Film | Barbara Stephen & Thorsten Wegener | Nominated |
| Bavarian Film Award | Best Animated Film | Patrick Elemendorff & Thorsten Wegener | Won |
| Screen Producers Australia Award | Best Feature Film Production | Barbara Stephen & Thorsten Wegener | Nominated |
| Seattle International Film Festival | Youth Jury Award | Alexs Stadermann | Nominated |
| Stockholm International Film Festival | Grand Jury Prize for Best Film | Alexs Stadermann | Nominated |