Back in 2015 I was one of the few people to praise Maya the Bee. It is an adaptation of the 80s animated TV show, and I thought they did a good job making a sweet, adorable film for little children. Now 3 years later we have a sequel, Maya the Bee: The Honey Games, and I once again found it charming and adorable.

In this adventure cute little Maya gets in over her head when she challenges a neighboring bully queen to a series of games called the Honey Games (the hint at Hunger Games is merely coincidental). Maya must then gather a group of lazy bugs together, motivate them to practice and deal with a mean girl bee named Violet. If they lose than Maya’s hive will have to give up all their Winter pollen which would be disastrous.

If you are looking for something new and exciting this is not your movie. It is completely predictable in every way. It is honestly about the same story as Aardman’s recent film Early Man. The difference is my expectations are higher for an Aardman film and the character designs here are much cuter than the weird pig noses in Early Man. Maybe it’s just me but I really find the character designs in this series to be super cute and well done.

It’s also a series which should appeal equally to little girls and boys and that is always nice for parents. Maya’s best friend Willi is a sweet character who learns to deal with his jealousy and be a loyal friend. They are very cute together.

The cast of professional voice actors does a nice job and they even have a decent score with some nice violin playing from the grosshopper character Flip. It makes Maya the Bee: The Honey Games a pleasant-enough watch for parents watching with their kids.

Maya the Bee: The Honey Games does not reinvent the wheel but for little kids it is cute, positive and a brief 85 minutes. If you can find it on blu-ray and you have kids, give it a purchase. I think you will like it.