Maya 2: The Honey Games – Maya the Bee: The Honey Games (2018)

Directed by: Noel Cleary, Sergio Delfino, Alexs Stadermann | 85 minutes | animation, adventure | Dutch voice cast: Ilse Warringa, Olcay Gulsen

Maya the bee is an enthusiastic and competitive bee girl, who acts first and then thinks. As a result, she often gets into trouble. In ‘Maya 2: The Honey Games’ she learns that her hive, the Flower Meadow, has not been invited to the Honey Games in Zoomtropolis, but is expected to sacrifice half of the already meager honey harvest for the Empire. That goes against her sense of justice. However, because the Queen indicates that the Empress is her sister, Maya sees her chance and decides that a good conversation will solve this problem. Nothing turns out to be less true.

Against the Queen’s wishes, Maya travels with her loyal, clumsy sidekick Willy to Zoomtropolis to speak with the Empress. But in her innocence, she makes the situation even worse. The Flower Meadow may now provide a team for the Honey Games, but if they lose, it will cost them the total honey harvest. Maya is confident, even when she sees what the Bloemenmeadow team consists of – strangely enough, the bee community cannot decide for itself who is delegated to participate. A cockroach with a fear of contamination, an emo vegetarian spider, and a biting beetle and two ant soldiers. And of course Willy and Maya themselves. That’s not all: the popular team from the capital itself, Team Tropolis, is led by the evil bee girl Violet, who also has an advantage because her father is the game master.

Like part 1, ‘Maya 2: The Honey Games’ originated from a German-Australian collaboration. The animation film has high production values ​​and therefore looks neat. The predictable story has momentum and humor, although the ‘bee’ puns do start to stand out at some point. However, it is questionable whether the young target group pays attention to this. What they see is an exciting adventure, with appealing characters. In the meantime, they learn something about cooperation, honesty and friendship. Excellent time use for children aged 4 to 8.