The Secret Life of Bees

In The Secret Life of Bees, Lily, as portrayed by Dakota Fanning, is a 14-year-old girl searching for someone to nurture her in the absence of her deceased mother and her disturbed father. Following a hint on a relic belonging to her mother, she arrives at the bright pink Boatwright home in South Carolina, where she eventually finds everything she needs.

Queen Latifah brings warmth to the tale as matriarch August, a woman gracefully fighting for her rights. Unfortunately, Latifah is not allowed to shine as brightly as she is capable, relegated to the stale role of the "wise elder minority". The gentle additions of fragile May (Sophie Okonedo) and aspiring Rosaleen (Jennifer Hudson), greatly compliment the several stronger roles. Hudson quietly steals the picture with one line: "Apologizing to those men would only be a different way of dying, except I'd have to live with it."

On the verge of being overly sentimental, with one too many bee references, this film is saved by its cast and a few unexpected turns, not to mention a divine 1960s style.