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 first film to be produced by Starbucks Coffee.

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Goofs

At the national bee, Javier, Akeelah and Dylan are wearing the numbers 28, 36 and 62, respectively. Since all three come from the same region, their numbers should be within one of each other.

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Quotes

Akeelah: [Javier has just kissed her] Why'd you do that?
Javier: I had an impulse. Are you gonna sue me for sexual harassment?
[pause, then they both laugh]

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Connections

Referenced in Zombie Apocalypse (2010)

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Soundtracks

Day by Day
Written by Stephanie Jones (as S. Jones)
Performed by Stephanie Jones
Courtesy of Stephanie Jones

User Reviews

Feel Good MOVIE to the tenth POWER!

I loved this movie. I was fortunate to see it at the Phx Film Festival and Lawrence Fishburn was at the movie doing a Q&A afterwords. The movie was great. The little 11 year old black girl, Akeelah was amazing and brave. Angela Bassett delivered the goods as the mother. This is the 2nd time she has worked with Lawrence. The best part of the movie was when they were in the garden and talking about Dr. Larabee's wife and daughter. It was also amazing when he was trying to make her concentrate by smashing things and making her jump rope. The scene where the MOM storms into the auditorium was intense also. Of course, BOOGER from REVENGE OF THE NERDS stole the scenes that he was in. He played a normal principal. Very good movie all the way around. Very good.