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I invite everybody to participate in the weekly MEME and write about any movies, television or big screen, that you’ve seen over the past week and write about it.  Please feel free to use the above logo photo in your post and/or link back to the site.  I will post every Sunday Night or Monday Morning on the movie I’ve seen from the past week.  I’m hoping that there are other movie buffs out there who will enjoy the MEME as much as I’m hoping to!  The only small request that I have is that you rate the movie out of 5 bags of popcorn (so, 1 bag out of 5, 2 bags out of 5, and so on). 

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Movie:  The Secret Life of Bees

Starring:  Dakota Fanning, Queen Latifah, Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys, Sophie Okonedo, Paul Bettany, Nate Parker, Tristan Wilds

Genre:  Drama

Runtime: 114 Minutes

MPAA Rating:  PG-13

Directed By: Gina Prince-Bythewood

I just recently completed my review of the book The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd.   After reading the book, I was anxious to see the movie.  This movie was released in October of last year and has won 11 awards inlcuding the People’s Choice Award for Best Drama.  With an all-star cast, this movie had GOOD written all over it.

Unfortuntately, for me, it wasn’t a great movie.   Why?  Because I just didn’t feel that the movie was as good as the book.  Also, the characters that I had dreamed up in my mind looked much different than the ones that were cast in this film.  That is, except for Queen Latifah and Dakota Fanning.  For me, these two ”fit the bill.”  The others were just younger than I imagined, especially Jennifer Hudson and Alicia Keys.  This is not to say that their performances weren’t good… because they were.  However, they were just so different than what I played out in my mind that I was distracted by it.  I must say, on the opposite side of that is QUEEN LATIFAH.  Is there anything that this woman CAN’T DO?  I am such a fan of hers and just think the world of her.   She was perfect for the character and the movie.

If I had never read the book and was viewing this story for the first time, I believe I would have liked the movie much more than I did.  I think that maybe this problem is inherit to me with the ”book into a movie thing.”  But, then I ponder more and think about The Reader; I loved both the book and the movie…. same with Gone With the Wind.   There are so many other movies that I feel the exact opposite about… what’s a girl to do?  Like a moth to a flame, I will continue to see the movies based on the books I love.  If I get one out of ten that the movie measures up… then, it’ll be worth the time investment.

Oh, and by the way… there are a couple of cases where I liked the movie more than the book!  See?  I’m wierd!

If you’ve got a free Sunday afternoon, this would be a great rental or one to look out for on cable.  If you’ve never read the book, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.    Out of 5 bags of popcorn, genre drama… I give this:

Please add your reviews into Mr. Linky!

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