Review for Akeelah And The Bee
April 2nd 2010 10:08
This movie is special. I had heard about how special it was when it debuted and I just watched it for the first time the other day. I almost cried at least TWICE! It is so heartwarming and uplifting without being preachy or overdramatic! The acting seems so natural and we can easily identify with the characters.
The movie is about a young girl named, Akeelah Anderson (KeKe Palmer) comes from a working class family living in South Los Angeles. Her life is not easy: her father is dead, her mom, Tanya (THE Angela Bassett) ignores her, mainly because her mom has her hands full with her brother, who runs with the local gangbanger. Akeelah is a bright girl, especially when it comes to words, but finds life at poor Crenshaw Middle School boring and unchallenging, so she doesn't try. Responding to a threat by her school's principal, Akeelah participates in a spelling bee to avoid detention for her many absences. Much to her surprise and embarrassment, she wins!
Akeelah learns she needs a coach, for the more prestigious regional bee, hers to be in the form of former spelling bee competitor and UCLA English Department Chair Dr. Joshua Larabee (THE Laurence Fishburne, who starred with Angela in "Boys in the Hood"...together again...in the hood!) who teaches Akeelah not only the memorization techniques of typical spelling bee words, but how to use English in all its glorious facets. As the possibility of making it all the way to the Scripps National Spelling Bee looms, Akeelah could provide her community with someone to rally around and be proud of (and boy, are they proud of her!) but only if she can overcome her insecurities and her distracting home life. She also must get past Dr. Larabee's demons, and a field of more experienced and privileged fellow spellers.
The ending of this movie is awesome! It leaves feeling like you can conquer the world (and there is a moment of nervous, nail-biting too!) I give this movie a rating of 4 "bees" out of five! Check out the trailer!
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