"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?"
Excellent ('ek-s(&-)l&nt): very good of its kind : eminently good. Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin. However you spell it, the movie Akeelah and the Bee is an exsellant film (bell dings, incorrect spelling).
Akeelah (Keke Palmer) is an eleven year old girl living in sound Los Angeles and attending the always short of funds Crenshaw Middle School. Akeelah is having problems in school since she is bored and skips classes frequently. Her home life is also not so good since her father is dead, her mother Tanya (Angela Bassett) works all the time to support the family, brother Devon (Lee Thompson Young) is in the army, and other brother Terrence (Julito McCullum) is a potential gang-banger.
However, Principal Welch (Curtis Armstrong) sees potential in her and wants her to enter the first Crenshaw Middle School spelling bee. He invites his old school chum Dr. Larabee (Laurence Fishburne) to observe the bee. Akeelah wins the bee, but is quizzed by Dr. Larabee on much harder words. Dr. Larabee thinks she has potential to get to the national bee but needs coaching.
I don't have time for insolent little girls
Akeelah goes to his house to try and get the coaching, but her headstrong attitude gets in the way and she decides that she can coach herself. She competes in the Los Angeles School District spelling bee and makes a new friend named Javier (J. R. Villareal). She appears to have lost that bee when an interesting turn of events occurs and she places. She visits Javier’s school to join up with his spelling club and also runs into her main competition in the form of driven speller Dylan (Sean Michael Afable).
She thinks better of her coaching herself since she wants to go to the Regional spelling bee which she has to win to make it to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. and approaches Dr. Larabee again. With her attitude changed, he agrees to coach her this time. However, all of this has been going on behind her mother’s back since Akeelah signed her late father’s name to the permission forms.
Mom shows up at the Regional bee and all seems to be lost, but she does consent to let Akeelah continue on. She, Javier, and Dylan are all on their way to Scripps. Soon the whole neighborhood is coaching Akeelah in her spelling, but can she out spell Dylan?
Akeelah and the Bee is an excellent film. I found myself rooting for this underdog little girl. The story is not an unfamiliar one (underdog character rises to glory), but the spelling bee setting and excellent acting just pushed it over the top for me.
My kids, who I wouldn’t have thought would be interested in a movie about spelling, were also riveted to the screen. Keke Palmer is a wonderful actress. This also marks a reunion of sorts with Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett working together for the first time since What’s Love Got to do with it.
The supporting cast is also wonderful. I especially thought that Curtis Armstrong did a good job (Booger from Revenge of the Nerds no more. He’s shaping into a fine dramatic actor with this and Ray under his belt).
Mom finds out what's been going on behind her back
However, if you want to spell along don’t leave on the subtitles since they give away the correct spelling when the prompter tells the kids which words to spell.
Akeelah and the Bee is presented in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) and enhanced for 16x9 televisions. A fullscreen version is also available in a separate release. Special features include the 22 minute “Making of Akeelah and the Bee.”
It has interviews with director Doug Atchison, producers Danny Llewellyn, Sid Ganis, Michael Romersa, and Nancy Hult Ganis, Keke Palmer, Laurence Fishburne, Angela Bassett, Curtis Armstrong, actor Eddie Steeples, Lee Thompson Young, George Hornedo (real spelling bee competitor and has a cameo in the movie), Sean Michael Afable, J. R. Villareal, spelling bee director Paige Kimble, spelling bee prompter Jacques Bailly, and Cecilia Hornedo (George’s mom).
Next is the 4 minute “Two Peas in a Pod” which is about how director Atchison and Keke Palmer are alike. Followed by the 6 minute “Inside the Mind of Akeelah” which shows some behind the scenes direction of Keke. Finally there are 4 minutes of deleted scenes, a 2 minute gag reel, the 3 minute “All my Girlz” music video by Keke Palmer, and some trailers.
Will Akeelah win?
Who knew that you could enjoy a movie about spelling so much? I sure didn’t and was shocked that my kids did. Akeelah and the Bee is a feel good movie that will have you cheering for this precocious speller.
Akeelah and the Bee is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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