Akeelah and the Bee is a pretty standard "kid does well in school competition" melodrama. Think Searching for Bobby Fisher or Finding Forrester or Little Man Tate. It's the academic equivalent of the high school sports film.
Akeelah (Keke Palmer) is a good speller from a single parent home in South Central LA. She's bored at school and doesn't apply herself. Her mother, Angela Bassett is angry that she's not doing well in school and doesn't want this spelling thing to be a distraction. Mom doesn't have much time to devote to Akeelah as she has to work and deal with her teenage son who's spending too much time on the streets. The principal is played by Curtis Armstrong and I kept thinking Booger from Revenge of the Nerds is now the principal? He wants the school to be well represented in the spelling bee and connects Akeelah with a spelling coach in the form of Laurence Fishburne. Morpheus as your spelling coach, that's pretty intense.
Of course it's not really about spelling but about growing up and learning what's important. The characters have perhaps a few too many issues to get over but the film works and should be enjoyable by all. This is a drama that was able to be made because of the success of the documentary Spellbound. I liked Spellbound better but this was fun too.
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