I generally enjoy stories of young people trying to establish an identity for themselves as they come of age, so despite the apprehension I felt about The Secret Life of Bees being too much of a “chick flick” for my tastes, I went to see it with a group of female friends on a recent Girls’ Night Out. The film ended up being a lot more interesting and engaging than I expected it to be, and yet it wasn’t wholly enjoyable because of the pat ending that wrapped everything up a bit too neatly.

Plot summary (with possible spoilers): Lily Owens (played by Dakota Fanning) is a 14-year-old girl living in South Carolina in 1964 with her alcoholic, abusive father T. Ray (Paul Bettany). Lily’s mother Deborah (Hilarie Burton) died years ago, and Lily only has incomplete memories of her. Unfortunately, what she does remember has been haunting her for more than a decade: she has a vision of her father and mother struggling, arguing about whether or not Deborah will leave T. Ray. A gun is produced, but slips to the floor during the skirmish. Four-year-old Lily picks up the gun, and accidentally shoots her mother dead.

Since then, Lily has pretty much been raised by Rosaleen (Jennifer Hudson), a young black woman who works as T. Ray’s cook and housekeeper. T. Ray takes little notice of Lily except when he’s in one of his drunken rages, at which point he berates her and blames her for her mother’s death. Moreover, T. Ray delights in saying that Deborah wasn’t even coming back for Lily on that day. She was just coming to get her stuff so she could leave again.

After Rosaleen is nearly beaten to death by a group of white men and after Lily suffers through another abusive episode with T. Ray, the girl decides to run away. She breaks Rosaleen out of the hospital, and the two set off with very little money between them and no place to stay. While at a store, Lily notices a bottle of honey with a picture of a black Virgin Mary on it. Intrigued, she asks the shopkeeper about the origins of that label, and he tells her that it was produced by August Boatwright (Queen Latifah), who doesn’t live too far away. Lily decides to ask August for a place to stay.

August agrees, and from there the film shows how Lily and Rosaleen slowly become a part of August’s family, along with sisters June (Alicia Keyes) and May (Sophie Okonedo). Along the way, Lily learns more about her mother, discovers why August took her in so readily, and comes to terms with her past so she can get a fresh start on her future.

My Reaction: Having never read the book that this movie is based on, I wasn’t expecting much out of my viewing experience, so I was pleasantly surprised with this one. I found the characters to be quite interesting for the most part, and particularly liked Sophie Okonedo’s turn as May. She was terrific in that role, setting us up for an absolutely heartbreaking scene when she decides to sleep in the river. In fact, I didn’t even realize how much I had grown to like the character until that scene, and I could really understand August and June’s reactions to what their sister did.

I’ve never been a big fan of Dakota Fanning, so I had reservations about being able to sit through a film in which she has such a major role. But here again I was surprised at how much I liked her. She actually seemed like a 14-year-old in this film, both because of her looks and her actions. I hate it when young actors look way too old for the roles they’re playing or when their characters are just far too precocious for the age they’re supposed to be. Dakota Fanning was right on the money on both counts, which made the movie a lot more fun to watch.

Too bad the same can’t be said of her love interest, Zach (Tristan Wilds). That guy looked like he was at least 19, so it was a bit skeevy seeing him make out with such a young-looking Fanning. I thought that was a bad casting decision right there, and it bothered me throughout the film.

I was also bothered by the ending, particularly when T. Ray confesses to Lily that her mother was indeed coming back for her as well. That just seemed way too out of character for this man, especially since it was established that he enjoyed making Lily suffer. Two minutes before that, he was saying good riddance about Lily wanting to stay with the Boatwrights. Then he goes and gives Lily the closure that she needs in order to get on with her life? Nice ending, but it didn’t make sense for the T. Ray character.

Overall, The Secret Life of Bees was much more enjoyable than I thought it would be. It’s definitely a chick flick, though, so I doubt that many men out there would be willing to sit through this one. I give it 7.0 stars out of 10.