Why did the bee go to college?

“So he could make more honey.”

It isn’t that funny, but it’s precisely the synopsis of Jerry Seinfeld’s first movie, “Bee Movie,” which hits theaters today.

Most noted for his self-titled TV show, Seinfeld works primarily as a standup comedian, and has little experience in filmmaking. While the comedy remains the same, delivering it through animation is new to him.

“It really wasn’t a transition for me in terms of the comedy, but it was more (about) learning the technology and how that works and learning to speak the language of animation and having people explain to you how these movies are made,” Seinfeld said.

“Bee Movie” is a movie about a college graduate bee, Barry Bee Benson (Seinfeld), who finds himself disillusioned that having went through college, he only has one career choice – to make honey.

“One of the things I’m most excited about in how this all came together in the end, is there doesn’t seem to be any specific target audience for it,” Seinfeld said. “We were really just writing for us and friends of ours and at this point, I find that the show appeals to different age groups and even different nationalities around the world and I think that’s because funny is funny and, in the end, people really just want to see something funny.”

Benson takes a break and ventures out of the hive, breaking one of the strictest bee rules, and talks to a human.

He “bee-friends” a florist, Vanessa, voiced by Renee Zellweger.

Through Vanessa, Benson finds out that humans have been stealing all of the bees’ honey, so he decides to sue the entire human race.

As consistent as he says his comedy is something new he found was that the time spent on “Bee Movie” added up to a lot more than making Seinfeld episodes ever did.

“It was probably the equivalent of a season or maybe even two seasons of doing the sitcom, which is about 40 episodes, in terms of figuring this out even though it’s just one story and the sitcom is a different story every week,” Seinfeld said.

In the movie, Seinfeld touches on being Jewish.

“There are a couple of references where his parents are concerned that he’s seeing a girl and that she might not be ‘beeish,’ that she might be a wasp,” he said.

Just like other animated films, “Bee Movie” has an underlying message.

“It’s really a small message, and the message is the importance of doing your job, even if it’s a small job, that it should be done well and when it is done well, it makes a big difference in the world,” Seinfeld said. “So that was the message I tried to put in there but I don’t think anyone will get it. That’s what I see in the bee society is that each individual in the bee world does their job no matter how little it is. And because they do it right, they’re able to make this amazing product and survive.”

Seinfeld didn’t just write “Bee Movie” though; he contributed in almost all areas of its production.

“I don’t think there’s anything in the movie that I wasn’t involved with, from the script to the character design to the editing to the music to the props to the lighting, the city, the cars, the sound of the cars,” Seinfeld said. “Someone’s got to do it.”

Seinfeld continued to compare making a movie to being a captain of a ship.

“It’s like a ship and somebody has to be the captain and even if you’re wrong, you’ve got to go, ‘Okay, we’re going that way, men!’ and everybody goes, ‘Okay, that’s the way!’ and even if it’s wrong, someone’s got to be the one who cranks the wheel, so that was me,” Seinfeld said.

Seinfeld does not know if he will continue to make animated movies.

“The audience hasn’t seen the movie yet, so as a comedian, I don’t feel like I’m done until I hear the audience reaction,” Seinfeld said. “That kind of gives me a sense of which way to go. All the time, I like to try new things, so I don’t know. I never make plans.”