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Movie Review - Akeelah and the Bee (2006)
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(What this rating means)
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| Director: |
Doug Atchison |
| Starring: |
Keke Palmer, Angela Bassett, and Laurence Fishburne |
| Rated: |
PG (for some language) |
| Length: |
112 minutes |
| Genre: |
Comedic Drama |
| Tagline: |
Changing the world... one word at a time. |
| Studio: |
Lions Gate Films |
| Website: |
Akeelah and the Bee |
| Release: |
April 28, 2006 |
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PLOT
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A young girl named Akeelah from South Los Angeles tries to make it to the National Spelling Bee and soon finds
that she has an entire community rooting for her. Spelling ensues.
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JOHNNY'S TAKE
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Akeelah and the Bee? Considering this is a Lions Gate film, a studio known primarily for their horror
films, I initially wondered if this was some sort of weird anime flick. "Is Akeelah a Japanese girl who has to
fight a huge bee?" I thought to myself. Maybe I'm making unfair assumptions regarding what Japanese anime is
all about, but that was truly my original assumption. So I looked into it and read the plot summary.
When I found out it was about a girl competing in the Spelling Bee I rolled my eyes and hurriedly started trying
to find alibis for every single night there was going to be a screening. "Whew, I think I'll pass on that
sleeping pill," I arrogantly scoffed.
I simply had zero interest in seeing this film. I did not want to go, not even out of curiosity. But acquaintances
and friends kept telling me it was good. Inspiring. Uplifting. Insert your clichéd feel-good quote here.
Well, it was an internal struggle to the bitter end, but I finally (and reluctantly) forced myself to go to
the last screening. And you know what? I enjoyed nearly every minute of it. I know; I'm as shocked as you are.
Almost as shocked as the time I heard a Billy Bob Thornton song and thought, "Hey, that wasn't that bad."
The movie's funny, it features charming performances from a couple of non-annoying kid actors (Keke Palmer and
J.R. Villarreal), it holds your interest, and I'll admit that it lives up to any of the clichéd feel-good quotes
you want to attach to it.
I have to tip my hat to any movie that manages to create legitimate tension during Spelling Bee scenes. Whenever
Akeelah would slowly work her way through a difficult word during the competition, the audience sat in stone
cold silence. As Akeelah finished the word, sighs of relief were heard throughout the theater. I often
found myself spelling along with the contestants. Quick note - it's best not to do this out loud.
Sure, there are times when the movie goes for the obvious pulling of the heart strings through the use of soaring
music and inspirational speeches, but so what? Plenty of people eat that stuff up, so I can easily let
that slide.
I won't go so far as to suggest that you recommend this one on guy's night out because let's face it, that
would just be gay and most likely get you banished from the group. However, if your sweetie wants to see it then
go ahead and agree. You might be as pleasantly surprised as I was. And if you have kids then a movie stressing
the importance of education and proper grammar ain't gonna be no hurtin' 'em none.
Oh, and to all my friends and acquaintances who kept telling me I should check the movie out, well, I would
like to apologize. Sorry about the "Up yours, fairies." In retrospect, I admit that response was perhaps a bit
brusque.*
*Brusque - from the Latin "bruscus," meaning "markedly short and abrupt" as in "Johnny was a little brusque in
mocking people who liked the film even though he had yet to see it." Brusque - B-R-U-S-Q-U-E - brusque.
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ODDS & ENDS
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- Amazingly, this doesn't appear to be inspired by a true story. I'm baffled.
- Johnny Betts won his school Spelling Bee when he was in 4th grade. The winning word was "thirteen." There was
a small amount of controversy over whether he spelled it with 3 e's. Little Johnny insisted that he spelled it
with only two e's. The runner-up was asked what she thought, which we know has no potential to be inaccurate or
anything, and she surprisingly conceded defeat and said she thought Johnny only used two e's.
- Johnny won a stupid decorative pencil for his victory.
- Rather than start memorizing the dictionary and attempt to recognize his lifelong dream of becoming a world
champion speller, Johnny labeled the Spelling Bee "for nerds" and refused to compete again until forced to do so
in the 7th grade.
- The nerd in me was genuinely interested in the scenes where Fishburne trained Akeelah and guided her through
the etymology of various big words.
- One of my favorite moments of the movie probably won't register with most viewers. If you watch Jason Lee's
hilarious My Name is Earl then you know who "Crabman" (Eddie Steeples) is. He has a small role in the
film as the rough-around-the-edges Derrick-T. There's a scene where he and his friends are greeting each other
with "what up." "What up, Terrence?" "What up, Derrick-T?" I immediately pictured a scene in My Name is
Earl and thought, "What up, Crabman?" I laughed silently, yet heartily.
- Crabman also has a funny scene where he's watching the Spelling Bee on TV and decides to do a little trash-talking
when the ESPN announcers are discussing the Asian boy who is favored to win the contest. "Kick his butt, Akeelah,"
he yells, "B-U-T-T. Butt!" Earl and Randy would've laughed.
- Look for Booger from Revenge of the Nerds as the school principal.
- In their continuing attempt to take over the world, Starbucks has slapped their name and logo at the beginning
of the movie.
- There are no actual bees in the movie.
- Keke Palmer was in Barbershop 2: Back in Business with Troy Garity who was in Milwaukee, Minnesota
with Josh Brolin who was in Hollow Man with Kevin Bacon.
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MAMA'S APPROVAL
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Mama won't really have any problem with the movie, but there is one use of the "s" word by a kid that is totally
unnecessary. This is a clean PG-rated family film, why throw that in there? I just thought it was weird.
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TRAILER COMPARISON
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It's a good gauge of what to expect. It's not like there's really anyway a trailer can deceive you into thinking
this is anything other than a movie about a kid in a Spelling Bee.
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THE GIST
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If you're all about family-friendly inspirational films then you'll definitely love Akeelah and the Bee.
If you are resisting it, thinking there's no way a movie about a Spelling Bee can be entertaining, well, you just
might be surprised. I was.
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