DAKOTA Fanning plays another traumatized young woman who is assisted by what Spike Lee refers to as “Magical Negroes” in “The Secret Life of Bees.”
While it’s by no means as dire as Dakota’s last such effort, the despicable melodrama “Hounddog,” it’s surprising that a promising African-American director like Gina Prince-Bythewood (“Love & Basketball”) would choose a story in which the black characters exist primarily to help the white protagonist.
Instead of coping with a rape, as in “Hounddog,” Fanning’s character, Lily, as a 4-year-old, accidentally shot her mother to death. Again, she’s provided with an abusive father (Paul Bettany) from whom she flees as soon as she turns 14 in 1964 North Carolina.
Taking along her housekeeper, Rosaleen (Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson of “Dreamgirls”), after an ugly racial incident, they seek refuge at the pink home of three beekeeping sisters.
The oldest, the wise, aphorism-spouting August (Queen Latifah), runs the thriving honey business; June (Alicia Keys) is a civil rights activist initially resistant to Lily’s charms; and May (Sophie Okonedo of “Hotel Rwanda”) is a little slow and inevitably headed for a tragic ending.
Price-Bythewood has encouraged fairly broad performances from these formidable actresses for characters who aren’t terribly well developed in her script, which is based on a best seller by Sue Monk Kidd.
In the end, this schmaltzfest is all about Lily and her attempts to connect with her long-dead mother.
“The Secret Life of Bees” showcases Fanning, who is growing into an impressive teenage actress – even if a scene where she licks honey off an older boy’s finger is, well, creeptastic.
THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES
Sticky as honey.
Running time: 110 minutes. Rated PG-13 (child abuse, racial violence). At the Harlem USA, the East 19th Street, the East 86th Street, others.