Akeelah and the Bee (2006)

A young girl from South Los Angeles tries to make it to the National Spelling Bee.

Director:

Doug Atchison

Writer:

Doug Atchison

Stars:

Angela Bassett, Laurence Fishburne, Keke Palmer

12 wins & 14 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Keke Palmer	...	Akeelah
Laurence Fishburne	...	Dr. Larabee
Angela Bassett	...	Tanya
Curtis Armstrong	...	Mr. Welch
J.R. Villarreal	...	Javier (as JR Villarreal)
Sean Michael Afable	...	Dylan
Sahara Ware	...	Georgia (as Sahara Garey)
Lee Thompson Young	...	Devon
Julito McCullum	...	Terrence
Erica Hubbard	...	Kiana
Eddie Steeples	...	Derrick-T
Dalia Phillips	...	Ms. Cross
Tzi Ma	...	Mr. Chiu
Jeris Poindexter	...	Steve (as Jeris Lee Poindexter)
Sara Niemietz	...	Polly

Storyline

Eleven year-old Akeelah Anderson's life is not easy: her father is dead, her mom ignores her, her brother runs with the local gangbangers. She's smart, but her environment threatens to strangle her aspirations. Responding to a threat by her school's principal, Akeelah participates in a spelling bee to avoid detention for her many absences. Much to her surprise and embarrassment, she wins. Her principal asks her to seek coaching from an English professor named Dr. Larabee for the more prestigious regional bee. As the possibility of making it all the way to the Scripps National Spelling Bee looms, Akeelah could provide her community with someone to rally around and be proud of -- but only if she can overcome her insecurities and her distracting home life. She also must get past Dr. Larabee's demons, and a field of more experienced and privileged fellow spellers.

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Plot Keywords:

spelling | spelling bee | national spelling bee | school principal | middle school | 

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Taglines:

Changing the world... one word at a time.

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for some language

Details

Official Sites:

Lions Gate Films [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 April 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

A som i Akeelah

Filming Locations:

Berkeley, California, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$6,011,585, 30 April 2006, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$18,811,135, 16 July 2006

Company Credits

Production Co:

Out of the Blue... Entertainment, Reactor Films, Cinema Gypsy Productions

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The actors who play Javier and Daniel also acted together in Cold Case: The Plan (2004), the Cold Case military school boys swim team story.

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Goofs

On Akeelah's spelling test with a grade of 100%, word 3 is spelled "bacause".

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Quotes

Dr. Larabee: Where do you think big words come from?
Akeelah: People with big brains?

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Connections

Referenced in Zombie Apocalypse (2010)

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Soundtracks

Effervescent
(1978)
Written by Bootsy Collins
Performed by Bootsy Collins
Courtesy of Bootzilla Productions Inc.

User Reviews

A great, inspirational, feel-good movie

The commercial made me smile. It made me think 'That looks like a good kids movie', but at the same time it made me think 'It kind of looks stupid...' Boy, I was wrong. Akeelah and the Bee is an inspirational movie, and is definitely great for those who share an interest in spelling bees.

I went to the movies with my friends for her birthday, expecting little about the bee at all and more about a love relationship between Akeelah and her newfound friend, Javier. Surprisingly enough, very little of the content was anything to do with romance, and thank goodness.

The acting, oh my goodness. It was wonderful. Especially Keke Palmer's performance. Her face told the story, really. Facial acting was wonderful, no doubt. Keke's performance perfectly matches up to her being as good as young Dakota Fanning, without her having to bawl out crying in any scenes. And the rest of the cast was great, too. The ending is very sweet, but I certainly won't spoil it for anyone.

Overall, a very inspirational movie. 10/10