AmateurMovieReviews.com

The first time I heard the title Akeelah and the Bee, I thought it was an animated film with a bumblebee as one of the main characters. That's because it never entered my mind that someone would decide to make a movie about a spelling bee. After all, how interesting would it be to watch grade school kids spelling words for nearly two hours? Well, it turns out I was wrong on both points. Akeelah and the Bee is indeed about spelling bees, and screenwriter Doug Atchison managed to make the story very compelling.

The main character in this film is an 11-year-old girl named Akeelah, played by Keke Palmer. She attends school in one of the worst districts in the Los Angeles area, and isn't a particularly outstanding student except in one respect: she has never missed a single word on any of her spelling quizzes, despite the fact that she doesn't study for them. Akeelah's teacher notices this, and encourages her to participate in the school's spelling bee. The winner will automatically advance to the regional round, with the chance to keep advancing all the way to the finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.

Akeelah had never heard of the event and is not very interested. She sees herself as just a regular kid with enough problems as it is. The last thing she wants to do is get labeled as some sort of "braniac" because that will just invite more bullying from other students. However, Akeelah's school principal, played by Curtis Armstrong, makes her choice very simple. Either participate in the spelling bee or serve detention for her other infractions.

As you might expect, Akeelah wins her school spelling bee easily. She is given a tape of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, and after watching it, she allows herself to dream of someday winning the tournament. The only problem is that Akeelah doesn't have a coach or any other kind of support system. Her father was killed when she was a young child, and her mother, played by Angela Bassett, is far too busy with her job and other children to help out or even take much notice of Akeelah.

That's when the principal brings in the help of an old friend, Dr. Larrabee. Dr. Larrabee is a professor at UCLA, but is on sabbatical for personal reasons. Laurence Fishburne infuses this character with intelligence, toughness, and compassion, which is exactly the kind of influence that Akeelah needs in her life. Their partnership starts off on the wrong foot, but they eventually come to understand each other more than they ever thought possible.

The rest of the film deals with Akeelah's journey to Washington, D.C. and how she comes to embody the hopes and dreams of not only the people that help her, but also her entire community. Does she have what it takes to win the national spelling bee? You'll have to watch for yourself in order to find out!

The lead actors in this movie, Palmer and Fishburne, turned in fabulous performances, which was of critical importance since they are in so many scenes together. I'd seen enough of Fishburne's other work to know he would be good, but I was pleasantly surprised by Palmer, whom I'd never heard of before. I also thought the supporting performances by Bassett and Armstrong helped the film along too, as did the young actors that appeared throughout as Akeelah's spelling bee friends and competitors. They were all believable and very convincing, which is exactly what you hope for from the casting department.

Overall, I thought this was a gem of a movie that I almost overlooked simply because of its title. As surprising as it may sound, the film moved along at an excellent pace throughout. There weren't many slow spots at all, which was unexpected given the subject matter. In fact, I didn't even notice how much time was passing while I watched this movie -- and I'm the kind of person that constantly checks my watch during most films!

If you want to immerse yourself in a truly heartwarming story that is family-friendly entertainment at its best, I recommend checking out Akeelah and the Bee. The film was very inspirational and is the kind of thing I wish Hollywood would produce more of.