The Secret Life of Bees Review

This review comes from Fox News. There is a link if you want to read it for yourself off their site.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,418062,00.html

Dakota Fanning, Divas Get Buzzing

The only bad thing about a wonderful new drama called "The Secret of Life of Bees" is that when it opens, the word "buzz" is going to be overused to ridiculous length. Let's be the first and get it out of the way now. The buzz is very, very good.

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What more could I want from a film? It stars Queen Latifah, Alicia Keys, Sophie Okonedo and Jennifer Hudson in Sue Monk Kidd's novel about a young white girl — Dakota — in 1964 South Carolina who runs away from an abusive father (well played by Paul Bettany) and goes to live with these ladies.

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It's a beautifully balanced, extremely nuanced drama that never gets overly sentimental. Director Gina Prince-Blythewood makes sure this is no chick flick either — there are no traveling pants here. "Bees" is a gritty story and Prince-Blythewood doesn't mind that. The director's genius here is that she doesn't mess with the author's tone. The feel is a lot like the way Mira Nair made "The Namesake." There's respect for the material.

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The real revelation is Dakota, who's 14 and still has to endure the misery of "Hound Dog" being released shortly. She carries the film with a quiet dignity. Not since Jodie Foster has a child actor made this kind of impact. I wouldn't be surprised if she's nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress. She's that good. She seems to know innately about stillness as an acting technique, more than most adult actors. Whatever planet she's from, I wish they'd send a few more like her.

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This takes nothing away from the trio of R&B divas, plus Okonedo. Keys, Latifah, and Hudson do not sing in this movie, although Keys and Latifah do harmonize for a few seconds in character. The four women — they play sisters — are remarkably well cast and perform beautifully as an ensemble. Hudson probably has the "award" role, but Latifah is just as forceful. Alicia proves with this film there is nothing she cannot do. Okonedo — an Oscar nominee for "Hotel Rwanda" — gets to do some nice character work. They are each terrific.

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"Bees" is maybe the first real Oscar possibility of 2008. Sweet as honey? Yes. But that real honey, nothing store bought or calculated. As the "buzz" comes and goes now on a parade of films, keep this one in the back of your head. It's a (bee) keeper.