Review of The Secret Life of Bees (2008) by Ben H — 17 Aug 2009

Not bad, not "Oh my gosh, so amazing!" either, but I enjoyed watching it.

This was a great step up role for Dakota Fanning, which the focus of the piece is, and that focus should've been on her. I was so impressed with her in this role, like in a proud father kind of way. To see her grow up from that little girl in Hide and Seek and War of the Worlds, to now being a teenager with love interests, deep secrets and scars from her relationships with her parents. I was impressed by her ability, and I'm so happy for her to be moving up in her field. Not many child actors can make the switch into adulthood and she's making the transition quite well!

This movie is the reason why Queen Latifah will now walk with her head extra high and say she's a serious actress because she can do serious arthouse and not just commercial. She'll rub this in your face from now on and "just know" that she deserves respect. Although in this film I wasn't dramatically moved by her role, it was "pretty good", or "not bad", but not "SPECTACULAR!! YOU JUST HAVE TO SEE THIS MOVIE!!". I saw an ad for her trying to run for an academy award, you not hearing anything of her possibly getting a nomination is proof of all this that I'm saying. Or at least a good reason to support it, since this industry is entirely opinionated.

The same with Alicia Keys, "take me serious, see, I can do a serious role too!" However, I do think having her play an instrument was kind of expected from the filmmakers. To have a famous musician play an instrument in your movie. It didn't really come off as positive as the filmmakers wanted you to feel from it. I said to myself, "Oh, real original!" Regardless of how beautiful and heart felt it may have sounded and felt. However, if it was THAT good, this wouldn't even have come to mind for me to say any of this.

The entire connection of the story to bees wasn't all the way clear with me. I knew the immediate significances as to how it literally brought the characters to meet, but I couldn't find the overall meaning that tied it all together. It was the very essence of the movie, hence the title otherwise they wouldn't have named it after the bees. But I just couldn't find it. I probably need to watch it again to get it, which isn't good for a viewer to say after watching your moive. But then again, "I really don't feel like watching it again, once is enough" isn't good either ... which is how I feel.

I kept wondering what was going on with wall of stories. I knew its significance with the film's characters, but I didn't see the overall connection that brings the story full circle and having it all work together to give you a good message. To me, it felt like a very heart warming piece of information floating around in a much bigger story, a log in the river. And I'm wondering where this floating log in the river came from, how it ended up in the river, why there are beavers living in it, etc.

I'd recommend it for anyone, particuarly a girl, looking for a nice heart felt movie, to feel good afterwards. It's not amazing, yet it's not horrible either.

Not bad, not "Oh my gosh, so amazing!" either, but I enjoyed watching it.

This was a great step up role for Dakota Fanning, which the focus of the piece is, and that focus should've been on her. I was so impressed with her in this role, like in a proud father kind of way. To see her grow up from that little girl in Hide and Seek and War of the Worlds, to now being a teenager with love interests, deep secrets and scars from her relationships with her parents. I was impressed by her ability, and I'm so happy for her to be moving up in her field. Not many child actors can make the switch into adulthood and she's making the transition quite well!

This movie is the reason why Queen Latifah will now walk with her head extra high and say she's a serious actress because she can do serious arthouse and not just commercial. She'll rub this in your face from now on and "just know" that she deserves respect. Although in this film I wasn't dramatically moved by her role, it was "pretty good", or "not bad", but not "SPECTACULAR!! YOU JUST HAVE TO SEE THIS MOVIE!!". I saw an ad for her trying to run for an academy award, you not hearing anything of her possibly getting a nomination is proof of all this that I'm saying. Or at least a good reason to support it, since this industry is entirely opinionated.

The same with Alicia Keys, "take me serious, see, I can do a serious role too!" However, I do think having her play an instrument was kind of expected from the filmmakers. To have a famous musician play an instrument in your movie. It didn't really come off as positive as the filmmakers wanted you to feel from it. I said to myself, "Oh, real original!" Regardless of how beautiful and heart felt it may have sounded and felt. However, if it was THAT good, this wouldn't even have come to mind for me to say any of this.

The entire connection of the story to bees wasn't all the way clear with me. I knew the immediate significances as to how it literally brought the characters to meet, but I couldn't find the overall meaning that tied it all together. It was the very essence of the movie, hence the title otherwise they wouldn't have named it after the bees. But I just couldn't find it. I probably need to watch it again to get it, which isn't good for a viewer to say after watching your moive. But then again, "I really don't feel like watching it again, once is enough" isn't good either ... which is how I feel.

I kept wondering what was going on with wall of stories. I knew its significance with the film's characters, but I didn't see the overall connection that brings the story full circle and having it all work together to give you a good message. To me, it felt like a very heart warming piece of information floating around in a much bigger story, a log in the river. And I'm wondering where this floating log in the river came from, how it ended up in the river, why there are beavers living in it, etc.

I'd recommend it for anyone, particuarly a girl, looking for a nice heart felt movie, to feel good afterwards. It's not amazing, yet it's not horrible either.