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.
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10/23/08
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The Secret Life of Bees (2008)
64
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:25
Fresh:16
Rotten:9
Average Rating:6.3/10
Consensus: The Secret Life of Bees has moments of charm, but is largely too maudlin and sticky-sweet.
Theatrical Release:Oct 17, 2008 Wide
Box Office: $37,665,012
Synopsis: THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES, based on the New York Times best selling novel and set in South Carolina in 1964, is the moving tale of Lily Owens (Fanning) a 14 year-old girl who is haunted by the memory... [More]
Starring: Queen Latifah, Dakota Fanning, Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys
Director: Gina Prince-Bythewood
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Reviews for The Secret Life of Bees
Top CriticSweat 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.
10/20/08
Top CriticThe film is full of sweet, subtle touches.
10/17/08
Top CriticThrough it all, Fanning more than keeps up with the big girls.
10/17/08
Top CriticThose who were moved by the book are likely to find this adaptation affecting and emotionally satisfying.
10/17/08
Top CriticQuite a bit of honey is applied to make the awful truths palatable, but The Secret Life of Bees curtails the sappiness with performances -- especially Fanning's -- that are grounded in reality.
10/17/08
Top CriticPrince-Bythewood makes you care about the characters and hope they live happily ever after.
10/17/08
Top CriticPrice-Bythewood has encouraged fairly broad performances from these formidable actresses for characters who aren't terribly well developed in her script.
10/17/08
Top CriticAs for Fanning, she continues to prove herself a natural who can handle anything thrown her way. It's worth wondering, though, if she should have to.
10/17/08
Top CriticA wonderful film about family, independence and the transcendent power of love, The Secret Life of Bees brims with honest emotion without spilling over into cheap sentimentality.
10/17/08
Top CriticWhat's being sold here is the movie equivalent of the honey-drenched sweet potato biscuits that are forever being passed around on-screen. Their nutritional value may be nil, but they sure look comforting.
10/17/08
Top CriticThe Secret Life of Bees is a deeply felt, well-intentioned film about race and reverence in the summer of '64. Like the ambrosia at the center of the plot, it moves slowly and tastes sweet.
10/17/08
Top CriticNone of this, as you might guess, is shot through a glass darkly.
10/17/08
Top CriticThere's a quiet charm to The Secret Life of Bees, a family movie that dares to tackle some serious subjects along the way. It's feel-good most of the time, feel-bad some of the time, and well made throughout.
10/17/08
Top CriticThe Secret Life of Bees maintains a smartly calibrated balance between the personal and the historic, between nature and culture.
10/17/08
Top CriticThe Secret Life of Bees insists so strenuously on its themes of redemption, tolerance, love and healing that it winds up defeating itself.
10/17/08
Top CriticJennifer Hudson adds some grit to a project that might have worked better as a Hallmark TV special.
10/17/08
Top CriticPrince-Bythewood demonstrates a lovely gift for capturing the unsaid.
10/17/08
Top CriticLatifah is, as always, pure pleasure to watch.
10/16/08
Top CriticAs a realistic portrayal of life in rural South Carolina in 1964, The Secret Life of Bees is dreaming. As a parable of hope and love, it is enchanting.
10/16/08
Top CriticLatest News for The Secret Life of Bees
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