Uplifting story about a young girl who's father has died, her mother works to support her and the girl seems alone in the world in many ways. She goes to school in a poor neighborhood that doesn't have all of the resources for her to have the best education possible. One thing that she does have is words. Her intellect and her knowledge for words are great and her school needs help with getting it on the map and they want to use Akeelah to help show that their children at the school need the same advantages other students get. Akeelah wins a spelling bee and then is coached by a man telling her that she needs to learn different words and to be able to break them down and know their origins...Akeelah eventually learns a lot about herself, her family, her neighborhood and she reaches for the stars and doesn't let fear hold her back.I always thought it was just a stupid kids film about a spelling Bee, but I watched it and was rather touched by the message here. No one should let the place they come from or the people around them stop them from dreaming big and trying to do the best they can in life. Life is not written in stone for you when you are born and anyone has the power to rise above.Laurence Fisburne, Angela Bassett, Curtis Armstrong and Keke Palmer do wonderful jobs acting here.This is a good drama and it has some powerful messages. 6/10 stars

My first reaction to this movie when I heard of it was that it was just another of the now typical "underdog overcomes the odds" type of movie that's all too common today. I expected it, therefore, to be a decent movie (most of them are) but not really great. I was surprised. This movie really was superbly put together. It has an air of authenticity about it even though it's not based on reality, and I was absolutely blown away by young Keke Palmer, who played Akeelah perfectly. Akeelah is an 11 year old girl and spelling phenom who attends a rundown inner city school in South Los Angeles. Her principal recognizes her spelling prowess and convinces her to enter the competition leading to the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Palmer truly was Akeelah. She was likable and drew me into the movie the way many more experienced actresses would never be able to do. Lawrence Fishburne was also quite good as Dr. Larabee, a former UCLA English professor who becomes Akeelah's coach. He wasn't as dominating as Palmer, but that was in keeping with the nature of his character - Larabee being a troubled man dealing with demons of his own. Kudos also to Angela Bassett for a good performance as Akeelah's mom.Although it was not stated, I assumed this was based at least loosely on a true story, and found out afterward that it wasn't. That was a bit of a letdown, but since the movie never claimed the contrary I have nothing to complain about, although that does leave me free to mention a couple of plot points that otherwise (had they been true) would have been acceptable. The first revolved around the character of Dylan. It seemed to me that the portrayal of his family (and especially his dad) was an overly stereotypical portrayal of the Chinese family insisting on perfection from their children, whether it made their children happy or not. The other (since this never happened) is the overly happy ending to the whole thing. The ending was just too perfect - life generally isn't. Overall, though, this really was a superb movie that held me tight from the very beginning. 9/10

At first glance, I was put off by Akeelah and the Bee. It's just that a movie about competitive spelling did not seem to appeal to me, and I really did not care about seeing it, ever. I did not know anyone in the cast either and never heard much about it from others. After my friend, who also thought it would not be that great, watched it and told me they absolutely loved it, I thought about giving it a try. Let me tell you all in my honest opinion, it is not a film you should disregard or think about disregarding so quickly, and it is now one of my favorite movies of all time.The movie is just so wonderfully put together; I adore it. The characters and plot have a nice flow and real feel to them that make the watcher comfortable with everything that happens or where I could even relate to it in some way. It starts off with Akeelah, a young African American girl from Los Angeles, who is shy and unsure of herself around her community. She progresses into having a relationship with her tutor, Dr. Larabee, and grows to become more confident in herself as she practices for the National Spelling Bee.I just could not stop cheering for Keke Palmer's character throughout this movie. She's witty, sassy and lovable in all her charms, and Keke Palmer gives an incredible performance. The rest of the cast are superb, and the movie, like I said, has a nice pace and throws in a lot of twists and subtleties, especially making the viewer feel the sense the writer and director is wanting you to feel strongly, such as melancholiness or joyousness. There is a lot of fun involved in this movie when it comes down to it, no matter how serious it takes itself at times, which everything just works out for the better in terms of how the movie is handled.

OK, let me say right off the bat that I really enjoyed the movie. It was a lovely story and well told BUT it is incredibly predictable and clichéd. It really feels like a Hallmark special or a midday movie, made for TV type film. It is somewhat reminiscent of Spellbound and has some of the charm but although it makes you feel like it may be based on a true story it just doesn't quite ring true. The clichés - 1. the poor, working class, unappreciated but intelligent minority girl who triumphs over all odds, 2. the hard-working tough-exterior single mum who wants Akeelah to get her head out of the clouds but is eventually won over 3. The brother getting into trouble hooking up with the wrong crowd 4. the brilliant but irascible professorial type who is carrying his own baggage but learns to come to grips with his challenges through the medium of the bright young courageous heroine 5. the cold, heartless driven Asian types who must win at all costs (BTW - a bit racist that) Is there room to squeeze in just one more cliché...??? Well, yes there is - the young, single mum older sister, the geekiness of the other spellers, the early failure only to be saved at the last minute by the disqualification of a cheat... If you took the clichés out of this movie there's be nothing left. I thought Javier was great, Akeelah was stunning, Larabee played a great role, and it was good to see Booger back on the screens - that college education really paid off for him going on to be a school principal.