Akeelah Anderson (Keke Parker), an 11-year-old girl whose father died forcing her mother to work double shifts to keep the family afloat, has a knack for spelling. When she wins her school spelling bee, she's paired with a retired college professor (Laurence Fishburne) to help her train for the National Spelling Bee in Washington, DC, but first, they'll have to overcome a lot of obstacles.
I was honestly a little disappointed with this movie. The rating for the film on this site is an impressive 7.8 but I just don't agree with that. The film was way too predictable and the characters weren't engaging enough to make it anything more than mediocre. Predictability is a forgivable flaw if there is a heart to be found in the product. However, the majority of the emotional scenes just seemed fake and the film was rarely ever emotionally engaging. The screenplay was completely formulaic with more than a few cheesy speeches and the dialog was cringe worthy at times.
The lead character was actually a likable person. She did get a little annoying but I'm glad the character actually resembled a real person and not a cloying little kid in the vein of Dakota Fanning. The film makes it easy to root for Akeelah because she is a nice kid and there's very little reason not to root for her. However, since the ending could be telegraphed from the beginning, I lost interest in the film after the midway point. The first half of the movie was decent enough but the last third had me checking my watch constantly because the film was taking forever to finish. They could have easily eliminated some of the scenes and characters to save time. Also, some of the characters were just bad stereotypes and it showed how generic the writing became after awhile.
The acting was decent enough although not good enough to really raise the film above average. Keke Palmer was surprisingly good as Akeelah and she should do well in the future. She actually had a few impressive scenes. Laurence Fishburne was also good and he had a nice chemistry with Keke which was the most appealing thing about the film. Angela Bassett was good although a little wasted in her role. The other performances were adequate except for a few of the child actors although none of them were bad enough to really damage the film. Overall, Akeelah and the Bee is far from an awful film. It actually does feature a few nice performances and touching scenes just don't expect anything amazing. Rating 6/10
I was honestly a little disappointed with this movie. The rating for the film on this site is an impressive 7.8 but I just don't agree with that. The film was way too predictable and the characters weren't engaging enough to make it anything more than mediocre. Predictability is a forgivable flaw if there is a heart to be found in the product. However, the majority of the emotional scenes just seemed fake and the film was rarely ever emotionally engaging. The screenplay was completely formulaic with more than a few cheesy speeches and the dialog was cringe worthy at times.
The lead character was actually a likable person. She did get a little annoying but I'm glad the character actually resembled a real person and not a cloying little kid in the vein of Dakota Fanning. The film makes it easy to root for Akeelah because she is a nice kid and there's very little reason not to root for her. However, since the ending could be telegraphed from the beginning, I lost interest in the film after the midway point. The first half of the movie was decent enough but the last third had me checking my watch constantly because the film was taking forever to finish. They could have easily eliminated some of the scenes and characters to save time. Also, some of the characters were just bad stereotypes and it showed how generic the writing became after awhile.
The acting was decent enough although not good enough to really raise the film above average. Keke Palmer was surprisingly good as Akeelah and she should do well in the future. She actually had a few impressive scenes. Laurence Fishburne was also good and he had a nice chemistry with Keke which was the most appealing thing about the film. Angela Bassett was good although a little wasted in her role. The other performances were adequate except for a few of the child actors although none of them were bad enough to really damage the film. Overall, Akeelah and the Bee is far from an awful film. It actually does feature a few nice performances and touching scenes just don't expect anything amazing. Rating 6/10