Akeelah and the Bee (2006)

This is just a terrific movie. I rented it for my daughter when she was much younger. We watched it twice when she was around the age of 4 or so. Thoroughly enjoyed it then. I mentioned it to her recently and she didn't really remember it. Consequently, we watched it again a short while ago (she is now 11). She really enjoyed it and I did too. I almost never watch movies more than once. This one I have seen three times and enjoyed it each time. Highly recommended.

As a libertarian who understands, more or less, the powerful causal factors that work from the outside to keep the down-and-outers down and out, it still does my heart good to recognize that any individual is capable of rising above his circumstances. In the case of Akeelah, the way out is through language. One sees very quickly that not only is the spelling competition mostly about language, the development of superior language skills is mostly about morality. If I had to pick another movie that exemplifies the truth of the previous sentence, it would be Hoop Dreams... also focused on poor black children trying to move ahead through special skills.In Hoop Dreams, more generally than in Akeelah and the Bee, you see how lack of English ability—particularly reading and writing, yet also as one's speech reflects the ability to think clearly—is the crucial determining reason for failure economically......For my complete review of this movie and for other movie and book reviews, please visit my site TheCoffeeCoaster.com.Brian Wright Copyright 2009

I watched this movie in my English class a couple of days before school ended.On the first day when I watched it,we didn't have enough time to finish it.But I wanted to.Lucky for me,we finished the rest of the movie the next day.This movie was excellent.Keke Palmer does a wonderful job as Akeelah Anderson.Plus,this movie has a great message for teens.I forgot what it was,but I know that there is a good message in this movie.I guess I'll have to watch it again.When Akeelah was spelling the words in the spelling bee,I had no idea if she was going to lose or win,so it was a little suspenseful.Overall,this is a great movie that has Oscar written all over it.

At first glance, I was put off by Akeelah and the Bee. It's just that a movie about competitive spelling did not seem to appeal to me, and I really did not care about seeing it, ever. I did not know anyone in the cast either and never heard much about it from others. After my friend, who also thought it would not be that great, watched it and told me they absolutely loved it, I thought about giving it a try. Let me tell you all in my honest opinion, it is not a film you should disregard or think about disregarding so quickly, and it is now one of my favorite movies of all time.The movie is just so wonderfully put together; I adore it. The characters and plot have a nice flow and real feel to them that make the watcher comfortable with everything that happens or where I could even relate to it in some way. It starts off with Akeelah, a young African American girl from Los Angeles, who is shy and unsure of herself around her community. She progresses into having a relationship with her tutor, Dr. Larabee, and grows to become more confident in herself as she practices for the National Spelling Bee.I just could not stop cheering for Keke Palmer's character throughout this movie. She's witty, sassy and lovable in all her charms, and Keke Palmer gives an incredible performance. The rest of the cast are superb, and the movie, like I said, has a nice pace and throws in a lot of twists and subtleties, especially making the viewer feel the sense the writer and director is wanting you to feel strongly, such as melancholiness or joyousness. There is a lot of fun involved in this movie when it comes down to it, no matter how serious it takes itself at times, which everything just works out for the better in terms of how the movie is handled.