From All Movie Guide: A movie designed to give audiences -- specifically women -- the quintessential "good cry," The Secret Life of Bees springs from the same home-cooked, heartwarming, bittersweet, girl-power primordial ooze that produced genre classics like Fried Green Tomatoes and The Color Purple. Dakota Fanning stars as Lily Owens, a 14-year-old living in a small Southern town, who is haunted by the guilt of accidentally shooting her mother when she was a little girl. When her emotionally distant father (Paul Bettany) goes one step too far during a fight, she sets off with their black maid (Jennifer Hudson) -- who recently tried to take advantage of the just-passed Civil Rights Bill, but was beaten by a mob for registering to vote -- for the place where the one picture Lily has of her mom was taken. Once there, under the guidance of wise beekeeper August Boatwright (Queen Latifah) and her sisters -- the high-strung May (Sophie Okonedo) and the analytical June (Alicia Keys) -- Lily learns valuable life ...

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