Akeelah and the Bee Widescreen 2006 Staring Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett

Selected Product:

Akeelah and the Bee (Widescreen Edition)

DVD
Format: Widescreen
Director: Doug Atchison
Publisher: Lions Gate
Release Date: August 2006
UPC: 031398195962
List Price: ~~$14.98~~

Average Customer Rating:

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Summary:
There aren't enough superlatives in the dictionary to describe the excellence of Akeelah and the Bee. Superbly written and directed by Doug Atchison, this PG-rated family drama covers the same dramatic territory as the acclaimed 2002 documentary Spellbound and the 2005 drama Bee Season, but the fictional story of 11-year-old Akeelah Anderson (Keke Palmer) is, if anything, even more entertaining, inspiring, and full of hope for the potential of children everywhere. Although reluctant at first (and fearful of being labeled a "brainiac" by classmates at her under-funded middle school in South Central Los Angeles), Akeelah grows determined to win the district, regional, and ultimately the Scripps National Spelling Bee, aided by the able coaching of an English professor (Laurence Fishburne) who, like Akeelah's overworked single mother (Angela Bassett) is slowly recovering from a devastating personal loss. Structured like a conventional sports drama, Akeelah and the Bee rises above its generic trappings to become an uplifting and deeply moving study of friendship, pride, fair play, and above all, the value of self-confidence and realization that there's more to life than winning. As played by the young Palmer in an award-worthy performance, Akeelah is a winner in the best sense of the word, and so is this wonderfully positive movie. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Rating:

Word Magic	Customer Rating:
A great family movie, very well written; did not need the few "cuss-word" adjectives. Would have received five (5) stars.

Feel-good movie with wit and heart

Customer Rating:

Akeelah charms audience with wit and heart

Akeelah and the Bee had the misfortune to come out near the same time as Bee Season and several documentaries relating to the Scripps National Spelling Bee, covered annually by ESPN. Akeelah plays on the same clichés that govern other films based on competition, but it does so in a more endearing way. The title character is a middle school student in inner-city Los Angeles. She aces every spelling test without trying. School comes so easy for her, she does not always make it to class and still make the honor roll.

More difficult for Akeelah is her home life. Angela Basset portrays her mother, working odd hours and unable to be there for her children when they could use parental guidance. Her father was killed, leaving the family almost parentless. The only adults that seem to believe in her is the white school principal excited to have one of his students succeed at anything, let alone a national tournament; and a former UCLA professor (Laurence Fishburne) who just happens to live in the same neighborhood as the spelling prodigy. Along the way Akeelah's friends and even family serve to distract her from her ambition--possibly the only good thing every to happen to this gifted young girl.

In going further into the contest, Akeelah can no longer rely on natural talent alone. She must learn Latin and Greek root words, which children at the elite suburban schools have been doing for years. In just a couple months there are many thousands of unpronounceable vocabulary terms that would stump the best graduate students in the country. Her main rival is Dylan Chiu, who has been runner-up in the previous two national contests.

There are no surprises in the end, but the journey is enlightening. Along with Roots (Four-Disc 30th Anniversary Edition) and Stand and Deliver this is the rare gem of a film worth interrupting class time so that every student can enjoy it. Akeelah Anderson is a natural role for young Keke Palmer, who has a very bright future in acting. Doug Atchinson took 10 years to develop Akeelah and the Bee and for audiences the wait is well worth it.

Dianne in Tallahassee.	Customer Rating:
This is an uplifting and deeply moving study of friendship, pride, fair play, and above all, the value of self-confidence and realization that there's more to life than winning.

What a movie ! Buy it !!

Customer Rating:

The movie is about a spelling contest but don't let that discourage you. Once you get through the five minutes or so opening you will be hooked. Guaranteed. Excellent performances as usual by Laurence Fisburne and Angela Basset. But the young Keke Palmer just steal every single scene she is in. Great young performer.

The movie has great moral story which emphasizes on Honesty, Fair play, sportmanship, Hard work and all the good ingredients to make a decent human being.

The DVd is has excellent picture transfer (Wide Screen) and since 90 % of the movie is talking so not much surround activities but dialogues produced clearly on the center channel. Not much extra though.

Like I said earlier, after reading this review, do not hesitate, go online or to your local store and buy one for yourself then force your relatives, friends to get one for themselves. Do not lend it to them, chances are you are not getting it back. Highly recommended DVD!

So good until the final fifteen minutes.

Customer Rating:

Akeelah and the Bee (Doug Atchison, 2006)

Why, Doug Atchison? Why did you have to take what looked like it was going to be a really good little inspirational story and turn it into a piece of emotionally manipulative dreck? You were doing so well there for a while, and then... but I get ahead of myself.

The story concerns Akeelah Anderson (Cleaner's Keke Palmer), a junior high student from South Central LA whose late father (Wolfgang Bodison, in flashback) instilled a love of words in her. Her teacher is trying to get her to enter the school's inaugural spelling bee, but she isn't interested until she sees a snippet of the National Spelling Bee on ESPN. Then she starts thinking about it. Once she's on her way to regionals, the school principal knows she's going to need a coach, so he hooks Akeelah up with Larabee (Laurence Fishburne), a retired professor with problems of his own. None of this is making Akeelah's mother (Angela Bassett) terribly happy, especially when Akeelah starts hanging out with her new spelling-club friends, all of whom live in much swankier parts of the city.

All well and good, and while there's some obvious audience manipulation in the first two-thirds of the film, it's tolerable; there's a kind of Real Women Have Curves feel to it for a while, the whole "local girl makes good" shtick that plays so well. But then comes the final third of the film, and it takes a wrong turn down a blind alley. Atchison, who also wrote the script, throws any pretense at subtlety out the window, coming up with the one ending that feels like a complete cop-out. Of all the things he could have done with it, wow. The ending is just brutally bad.

The rest of the film, however, is well worth watching. Do yourself a favor and stop it about fifteen minutes before it actually ends. **