Angela Bassett, Jeff Marlow, Keke Palmer

Akeelah Anderson is a precocious 11-year-old girl from south Los Angeles with a gift for words. Despite the objections of her mother Tanya, Akeelah enters various spelling contests, for which she is t...( read more  read more... )utored by the forthright Dr. Larabee; her principal Mr. Welch and the proud residents of her neighborhood. Akeelah's aptitude earns her an opportunity to compete for a spot in the Scripps National Spelling Bee and in turn unites her neighbors who witness the courage and inspiration of one amazing little girl.

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74% liked it

16,454 ratings

Critics

83% liked it

131 critics

PG, 1 hr. 52 min.

Directed by: Doug Atchison

Release Date: April 28, 2006

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DVD Release Date: August 29, 2006

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Flixster Reviews (3,749)


  • August 17, 2009
    like the karate kid but with spelling...
  • July 6, 2009
    Akeelah And The Bee is the story of a very smart 11 year old girl from South Los Angeles, and her journey to the Script's National Spelling Bee.
    The story was predictable, but that is what I expected from this type of story. Maybe it was my inner nerd shinning through, while I w...( read more)as watching it.What can I say, I have been known to sit and watch The Script's National Bee on ESPN, and few can beat me at Scrabble. So, I really enjoyed this movie.
    I have always been an Angela Bassett fan. She is a phenomenal actress. Keke Palmer did a wonderful job playing Akeelah in this film. It was nice to see "Booger" Curtis Armstrong all grown up, playing the principle. Not many films can you say..." Damn that Laurence Fishburn for making me cry."
    Akeelah And The Bee is a good family film. There is something to enjoy for all ages.
  • June 13, 2009
    I have never enjoyed a PG-rated film like I have this one. This may be classified as a "kid's film" but I disagree. It's such a great and inspiring film. I have never been that excited in a movie since I watched Seabiscuit. Keke Palmer does a terrific job, especially for her bein...( read more)g so young. She is the movie. I was also happy to see Fishburne and Bassett reunite for the third time in this film. They are always wonderful, but are better when in the same scenes for most of the movie. I recommend this movie to everyone because it truly is inspiring, especially if you come from a lower-class, low-income family like Akeelah. She is a strong girl and it shows in the movie. She has great integrity and the most powerful scene is when she reads the quote off of Fishburne's office wall. "Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate, but that we are powerful beyond measure."
  • March 19, 2009
    It follows a formulaic plot structure, but I really liked how it explored the cultural and social divisions amongst classes in Los Angeles.
  • July 14, 2008
    Dr. Larabee: "Where do you think big words come from?
    Akeelah: People with big brains?"

    11-year old Akeelah Anderson (Keke Palmer) has a gift for words. It's probably genetic: her dad (who was shot to death when she was a little girl) played scrabble, probably with...( read more) expertise. Ever since her dad's death, she, and her two brothers, have been kept alive by her overworking mother (Angela Bassett). The gift for words isn't exactly a blessing to Akeelah. She usually gets A's in her spelling tests; A's she would quickly hide out of embarrassment. Crenshaw, her South L.A. public school, isn't really the school where you can brag your intellectual achievements. Mediocrity pervade the educational system; bullies would terrorize those who achieve or mock at any notion that someone is excelling in something.

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    Akeelah and the Bee is the story of Akeelah's journey from being the closet gifted speller to the champion of the Scripps Spelling Bee in Washington D.C.. The story isn't exactly original. You've seen it before, in many different shapes. The Sister Act films showed unlikely chorale singers succeed to impress non-believers. Director Ron Howard has a few of these films under his belt (most of which would win numerous awards): A Beautiful Mind, Cinderella Man. Like all the cited films, Akeelah would have to face all the adversities (her lower middle-class neighbourhood, her bullies, her rapper-wannabe brother, the Korean-American rival) in her life to reach her goals.

    Of course, she doesn't do it alone. She gets help from university professor Dr. Larabee (Laurence Fishburne) who is also hiding a painful tragedy in his life. In one of the spelling bee competitions, she meets Javier (J. R. Villareal), overly friendly spelling bee competitor and Latino lover-in-the-making. It's all very formulaic which might be the reason why it's also quite harmless as opposed to the other fictional spelling bee films released after the hit doc Spellbound (Jeffrey Blitz, 2002). Akeelah and the Bee seems very safe and trite in comparison.

    Everything falls into place. Director Doug Atchison knows his material is Hallmark-quality fluff and directs it as such. The film looks satisfyingly polished. There's an abundance of generic preachiness; the film quotes a lot from Mandela and Dr. Larabee seems persistent on incorporating greatness in the simplicity of spelling and word deconstruction. It all feels very fuzzy and nice. The niceness is upped by Keke Palmer's surprisingly good performance (if a little girl upstages Fishburne and Bassett, you do know she's special or that the screenplay has been unfairly underwritten for the supporting cast).

    Overall, Akeelah and the Bee is embarrassingly cute - spelling bees, little kids stealing kisses from little girls, whole neighbourhoods (the gang-banger neighbourhood, at that) rallying behind the unlikely champion. Atchison seems to want something deeper from the entire bee business, but his sugar-coated confection can barely rise beyond its genre to say anything out of the ordinary. Still very much worthy.
  • November 6, 2009
    Filme com uma história previsível, mas nem por isso deixa de ser muito bom.

    O mais interessante são as lições que as crianças dão aos adultos e a diversidade étnica e social dos personagens.

    Dica importante para quem gosta de assistir filmes é desconsiderar os títulos tradu...( read more)zidos, algumas vezes de muito mau gosto.
  • October 29, 2009
    Girly film, teen girl film....
  • September 7, 2009
    Nothing about this movie was unpredictable.
  • September 2, 2009
    Recommended by ElaineJoy1
  • September 2, 2009
    A simple but great tale of overcoming against the odds, this film charts 11 year old Akeelah's journey to the US national spelling bee - and the impact her success has on her wider (ghetto) community. A surprisingly well-crafted and amiable family movie - with a good plot develo...( read more)pment and characterisation but few real surprises.

    A film reuniting Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne deserves far more fanfare than this film has been given. Given that it's also excellent, I'm surprised it's so far under the radar. A feel-good film technically (you'd need a heart of stone not to be moved), but if a film about a kid's spelling test can have me on the edge of my seat and cheering like it's the Olympics, and has legendary actors sharing the screen, it must contain more than a little magic. Insightful, exciting and entertaining and Keke Palmer is definitely one to watch - one for the family archives.

Critic Reviews


April 28, 2006
Claudia Puig, USA Today

... it's easy to overlook that contrivance, because the movie's heart is so clearly in the right place. full review

April 28, 2006
Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times

Keke Palmer, who's been working in television and movies for the past few years, is a natural on screen. full review

April 28, 2006
Kyle Smith, New York Post

Akeelah and the Bee is so warm and well-meaning that you may find yourself wanting to like it more than you really do. full review

April 28, 2006
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

The story of Akeelah's ascent to the finals of the National Spelling Bee makes an uncommonly good movie, entertaining and actually inspirational, and with a few tears along the way. full review

April 27, 2006
Colin Covert, The Minneapolis Star Tribune

An old-fashioned but thoroughly good-hearted tale of academics, achievement and uplift ... full review

April 21, 2006
Nick Schager, Slant Magazine

A sentimental attempt to piggyback on the continued popularity of Spellbound. full review

View more Akeelah and the Bee reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


  • AussieJenni
    February 3, 2008
    Official Site for Akeelah and the Bee (2006)


    http://www.akeelahandthebee.com/splash.html
  • aszand58
    January 19, 2008
    who is the actor that played the boy she hung out with? the one she kissed on the cheek? he did such a good job...
  • mzririyouknow
    November 17, 2007
    this movie is soooooo touching
  • rayman0071
    March 19, 2007
    This was one of the best films of 2006 and righteously so. I'm surprised that it wasn't even Oscar nominated since Keke Palmer was brilliant in this picture. This was a movie that showed African-American children in a positive light and also showed them being in a exceptionally good atmosphere when it came to learning and dealing with other things.
    "Akeelah And The Bee" gave us the goods here and then some in one of the best films to grace the screen in years. Kudos to Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett for making it happen. Not to mention a rare cameo appearance by Samuel L. Jackson too. A film that was highly praised by parents,teachers,and children and was highly recommended by the National Education Association and several groups including the NAACP and other organizations.
  • paulysha
    December 30, 2006
    cant get enough of this movie! u go keke! and maybe tell javier that u prbably cant hav a bf at the moment!
  • ybovn
    December 19, 2006
    oh i love this movie its really good !!!!
  • crazyboy11
    October 4, 2006
    ooooooooooooooooh I love this movie funny and real funny movie..........nice movie....*
  • thebeautyeyesvera
    September 29, 2006
    ohhhhh I love this movie real funny movies lol we make me happy haha
  • abbx
    August 27, 2006
    real funny movie lol
  • elkeomar
    July 15, 2006
    okay

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

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Akeelah and the Bee Trivia


  • Which movie has this tagline : " Changing the world... one word at a time "  Answer »
  • What moie did a 11 year old girl make it to a National Speeling Bee??  Answer »
  • In the movie "Akeelah and the Bee", did Akeelah win the National Spelling Bee?  Answer »
  • Who was Corbin Bleu's co-star in The Movie "Jump In"?  Answer »

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