Gina Prince-Bythewood's adaptation of Sue Monk Kidd's novel The Secret Life of Bees stars Dakota Fanning as Lily, a 14-year-old growing up in a small Southern town in 1964. She is haunted by memories of shooting her mother when she was a young girl. Lily lives with her emotionally distant father, and her best friend is their African-American housekeeper Rosaleen (Jennifer Hudson). After locals beat Rosaleen for attempting to register as a voter, and Lily's dad goes one step too far during an
argument with his daughter, Lily and Rosaleen set out to find the place where the only picture Lily has of her mother was taken. That place turns out to be the home of the independent Boatwright sisters, a trio -- Queen Latifah, Sophie Okonedo, and Alicia Keys -- who make a very successful living producing honey. Lily and her friend move in with them, and soon the girl learns about both beekeeping and life. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
The filmmakers give Latifah and Fanning room to create characters that breathe in the sweet smell of clover and breathe out the contented sigh of independence.
Sweat and good intentions, however, will take you only so far. And they take Bees right up to the threshold of entertaining%u2014but not one step further.
All the pieces are there for a good movie but there's an undeniable sense of reluctance to put them into play. Every time it seems like the film might be taking a chance it retreats to safe ground.
Once again, Dakota Fanning demonstrates that, even as a teenager, she already has the acting skills and range equal to -- if not better than -- her A-list contemporaries.
On most levels the film, which has a surprising number of unconvincing details, takes the sugary option; it shies away from the harsher realities whenever possible.
The source material remains affecting and the cast work hard to add dimension to a lacklustre screenplay. But sadly, it adds up to less than the sum of its parts.
Good movie, sad, but not totally depressing. The whole cast are excellent, particularly Dakota Fanning, Jennifer Hudson and Queen Latifah. I am not sure I would have wanted to go to the movies and see this one, but as a DVD movie, no complaints.
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