DAKOTA FANNING - MOVIE REVIEWS THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES

MOVIE REVIEWS THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES

In reviewing The Secret Life of Bees , starring Dakota Fanning, Jennifer Hudson and Queen Latifah, Roger Ebert indicates that the standards by which films are ordinarily judged can sometimes be set aside. He writes "If I sense the beginnings of a teardrop in my eye during a movie, that is evidence more tangible than all the mighty weight of Film Theory. "The immediate experience," one of the wisest of critics called it. That's what you have to acknowledge. I watched the movie, abandoned history and plausibility, and just plain fell for it." But several other critics are not willing to so distance themselves. "The film insists so strenuously on its themes of redemption, tolerance, love and healing that it winds up defeating itself," writes A.O. Scott in the New York Times. And Rick Groen in the Toronto Globe and Mail concludes "If you like your sentimentality sweet and sticky, then The Secret Life of Bees is definitely your jar of honey."

NOTE Summaries of reviews of additional new movies will appear here on Monday.

17/10/2008