Review of The Secret Life of Bees

This movie was disappointing. I had just finished reading the book (which was excellent!) when I watched the movie, so I had very high hopes and expectations. Unfortunately, the movie was just not true enough to the spirit of the book to do it justice. First, there was not enough time spent on character development to make you really care about Lily's well-being, or the tension between Lily & June, or to truly despise T Ray and his evilness. August is not portrayed as being as wise as she seems to be in the book, and I don't think that it was from a lack of acting ability by Queen Latifah. I understand that Hollywood sometimes feels it has to cut out or combine characters from a book to make a movie "work", but by minimizing the role of the Daughters in the movie and their impact on Lily, we lost a large portion of the idea of "sisterhood" and "family" not only applying to blood relatives. Other things from the book were included without seeming necessary. Why bother mentioning Jack Palance and the "colored woman" who are expected in town? That information ultimately has no bearing in the scene where Zack is arrested, although it is the motivation for the white men and black boys being in town (outside the theater) in the book. The final scene where Lily asks her father about her mother is also disappointing and has been "Hollywood-ized". In the book, Lily did not ask if her mother had come back for her--she already knows that her mother was coming back for her the day that her mother died. What Lily asks T Ray is if she was actually the one who killed her mother, since she has always been unsure whether or not T Ray was telling her the truth. It may seem like a minor difference, but Lily has spent 10 years searching for the truth and questioning whether she is to blame for her mother's death--not wondering if her mother loved her enough to come back for her. As a last note I will just say that if you enjoyed the movie, please read the book--it is SO much better!