Akeelah And The Bee Review

"Akeelah And The Bee" reviews

Movie

Akeelah And The Bee

Author

anonymous

Date reviewed

2007-03-29 21:54:41

Rating

2.5/5

Provider

CinemaSource

Review

Akeelah and the Bee musters up all the excitement it can about an underdog from the 'hood spelling impossibly difficult words. Formulaic, yes, but an admirable effort.

Story

Akeelah Anderson (Keke Palmer) is a precocious 11-year-old girl from South Central Los Angeles, who acts tough and skips school but can actually spell like the dickens. She gains the attention of the school's principal (Curtis Armstrong), who wants her to represent the school at the regional spelling bee, but Akeelah balks, deeming it too lame for her. Slowly but surely, however, she realizes her potential, especially under the tutelage of a former English professor, Dr. Larabee (Laurence Fishburne). Now all she has to do is convince her mother (Angela Bassett) that her time isn't being wasted, try to earn a coveted spot at the Scripps National Spelling Bee and get her neighborhood to rally round her. There's even a local drug dealer helping Akeelah memorize words. How sweet.

Acting

What's Love Got to Do With It's stars Fishburne and Bassett team up again to add instant credibility to the film. As Larabee, Sir Laurence sports his usual stern persona, pouring on the tough love as he gets Akeelah to realize she's one smart cookie, even while dealing with his own personal turmoil. The always good Bassett also does a nice job as the overworked mother, just trying to do right by her kids. But the film rests squarely on little Palmer's (Madea's Family Reunion) shoulders, and she handles the burden well as Akeelah. She shows every emotion on her expressive face, especially the concentration involved in spelling words like "pulchritude" and "prospicience" (look them up if don't know what they mean; I had to).

Direction

Writer/director Doug Atchison makes a decent attempt at the sports genre. Akeelah is a lot like all the rest, but its also filled with plenty of heart and soul, which keeps the momentum going. And thanks to last year's documentary Spellbound and indie film The Bee Season, Akeelah continues to shine light on the highly competitive spelling bees and the pressures it puts on its young contestants. But watching this film only reminded me of a better film of its ilk, Searching for Bobby Fischer--about a sweet little boy with a big open heart, who also happens to be a chess prodigy. Akeelah follows a very similar formula but lacks the flair and style Fischer possesses. Perhaps Atchison just needs a few more years experience.

Bottom Line

Hollywood.com rated this film 2 1/2 stars.

Movie

Akeelah And The Bee

Author

anonymous

Date reviewed

2006-08-11 15:00:31

Provider

Review

You might have thought the brilliant documentary Spellbound said all there was to say about the world of competitive spelling. But Akeelah And The Bee is the second drama to arrive in its slipstream. Doug Atchison's film should fare better than the largely ignored Bee Season, if only because of its compelling feel-goodery, stoked by its setting amid the underprivileged of South Central LA and a brilliant performance in the title role from 11-year-old Keke Palmer, one of four children born to Tanya (Angela Bassett),.

Her siblings are variously in the air force, on the fringes of gang life and trying to cope with premature motherhood. Wary of being tagged a 'brainiac', Tanya keeps her genius for words - learnt from her Scrabble-obsessed father - a secret, but is gradually coaxed into the open by Dr Larrabee (Laurence Fishburne), a university professor on sabbatical.

The film is full of familiar plot devices - bumps that appear in the road simply to provide minor diversion for Tanya - but what it lacks in art Akeelah And The Bee makes up for in heart, while the contests themselves, never fail to crank the dramatic tension up to eleven. Fishburne and Bassett, two old pros reunited for the first time since playing warring partners as Ike and Tina Turner, know to leave well alone when Palmer has the screen, contributing in their own way to her outstanding showing. Akeelah And The Bees is more than just a worthy underdog story. It's a human drama that pulls at the heartstrings even as you see the puppetmaster's hands at work.